Experts warn of dangers of veterinary pharmaceuticals to wildlife

Experts from across Europe and the USA are calling for a 'one health' approach to the use of veterinary pharmaceuticals (VPs). In advance of a key European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommendation to the European Commission on the use of diclofenac in livestock, they are warning of the dangers that veterinary pharmaceuticals pose to wildlife. In Spain, the use of the veterinary pharmaceutical diclofenac is placing Europe's fragile vulture populations at risk, and should be banned, according to a paper published by a team of veterinarians, biologists, and conservationists this week. Dr Lisa Yon, from The University of Nottingham's School of Veterinary Medicine and Science is the Chair of the European Wildlife Disease Association (EWDA). She said: "It is clear from the lessons learned on the profound impact of diclofenac on vultures in India that we need to take a more integrated, 'One Health' approach to our use of VPs, and the larger impact they have on non-target species, and on the environment. This is and will continue to be an issue of increasing concern for a wide variety of VPs, and one for which there needs to be greater responsibility taken across the range of stakeholders." Diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, has already been banned for veterinary use in several South Asian countries, but was recently approved for use in Spain and Italy. Traces of diclofenac in livestock carcasses are lethal to vultures who eat them, and contamination of fewer than 1 per cent of dead animals led to the near extinction of three Asian species.