31 Mar 2025
A senior VMD official has warned BSAVA Congress delegates against “unintended consequences” from reducing usage on environmental grounds.
Image © Ermolaev Alexandr / Adobe Stock
Clinicians have been urged to be cautious over any moves to reduce the use of veterinary parasiticides, despite fears environmental harms could be linked to them.
The plea was issued to BSAVA Congress delegates who also heard regulators argue that greater “clarity” was still needed about the true extent of the problem.
But veterinary sector groups said a collective “change of mindset” would be needed to drive any substantive change, as they called for wider collaboration on the issue.
The issue was highlighted during a one health symposium, held on the second day of the Manchester event, following growing concerns about the impact that companion animal parasiticides could have on the planet.
Earlier this year, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) backed plans for a review of international guidelines on the issue after a study raised concerns that the products could be harming bird populations.
Although a firm timetable for the process remains to be set, that stance was reiterated by VMD senior environmental safety assessor Francine Fernandez as she acknowledged the potential dangers linked to products containing chemicals such as fipronil and imidacloprid.
But she argued current evidence on the subject was “conflicting” and further studies were needed to provide “clarity” on whether those products, or others, were the source of contamination.
She told delegates: “This is something we need to understand better – especially because of the benefits of effective parasite control for pet health and public health.
“We need to be mindful of the unintended consequences of changing the use of these medicines without fully understanding the risk.”
She added that additional evidence would enable a balanced assessment to be carried out and assist in the development of future policy.
But she was challenged after warning against what she described as “knee-jerk decisions”.
A delegate speaking from the floor suggested there had not been a proactive approach to treatments, adding: “Ten years is not a knee jerk”.
Some vets backed calls for a ban on the use of fipronil and imidacloprid, plus other substances, in veterinary medicines when a campaign for legislation was launched by Pesticides Action Network UK in the autumn of 2023.
But Jonathan Newman, a senior policy advisor to the Environment Agency, said the body did not support the idea, despite fipronil topping its chemical risk register for more than a decade, because of the products’ importance to pet health.
He said: “We don’t really want to stop them because they have a valid use.”
However, in their latest submission to the Competition and Markets Authority investigation, the BVA, BVNA, BSAVA, SPVS and VMG said the whole small animal sector, including product manufacturers and regulators, needed to work together to determine what responsible use now looked like.
The groups said a “one size fits all” approach to health care plans was no longer suitable because of environmental and resistance concerns. They also argued it “should not be acceptable” for non-clinical staff to promote or sell packages containing POM-V products, including flea and worm treatments.
They added: “To shift away from routine parasiticide use, a change in mindset of both veterinary professionals, veterinary business owners and animal owners is needed.”
