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AgVetLink: Number 60, February 2007

International visits

Debbie Morris and Warren Hughes visited the US FDA and EPA in Washington, DC in early December. Issues discussed ranged from information requirements to operate in the regulatory environment to technical matters such as product stability requirements, animal welfare issues and residues (including trade aspects of MRLs).

In addition, Warren Hughes attended the 5th International Fresenius Conference on Food Safety and Dietary Risk Assessment held in Koln, Germany, 11 and 12 December 2006. Topics of note were:

the continued work on probabilistic modelling, in particular in the area of acute dietary intake risk assessment;

the work of the OECD in harmonising residue information requirements;

progress of updating MRLs in EU and related issues; and

use of an MRL calculator to assist regulators in determining an appropriate MRL for active ingredient/crop combination.

Prior to attending this conference, Warren visited Boehringer Ingelheim, which is located near Frankfurt, Germany. This visit provided an opportunity to view the operation of a major international company in manufacture of pharmaceuticals. It also allowed for discussion on the regulatory environment in Europe and New Zealand with respect to registration of veterinary medicines.