Northern Ireland is facing “significant risk and uncertainty to animal health, to farming, to pet owners” because of post-Brexit changes to the supply of veterinary medicines which come into force on January 1st, a Stormont committee has heard.
Mark Little, from the North of Ireland Veterinary Association, said “major regulatory change” was approaching “very soon”, but there was “almost incomplete” information.
“The blinkers are still on for vets on the ground, communication and guidance has been limited as well, and [there is] growing evidence that maybe the scale of discontinuation is greater than the [UK government’s] Veterinary Medicine Directorate is telling us,” he said.
Under the post-Brexit agreement between the European Union and UK, Northern Ireland must follow EU rules on veterinary medicines, rather than the rules which apply in Britain.
RM Block
A grace period, which allows veterinary medicines authorised in Britain to continue to be supplied in Northern Ireland, expires on December 31st.
From January 1st, veterinary medicines from Britain can only be supplied to Northern Ireland if these meet the full EU regulatory requirements or in exceptional circumstances.
Mr Little and his colleague in the veterinary association, Kirsten Dunbar, outlined their concerns to Stormont’s Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs on Thursday.
These include increased cost, the discontinuation of products, the additional burden placed on vets and the potential to increase the resistance to veterinary medicines.
They also highlighted the uncertainty and lack of information, saying that with just over a month to go until the changes, they did not know which products would be discontinued or how two UK government schemes to ensure the supply of medicines would work.
Though the scale of the impact is not yet known, they warned that “early signals already exceed the UK government’s modelling and their research, which assumes that only a small amount of products will be affected”.
The committee heard how many pharmaceutical companies in the EU that previously used UK warehouses had redirected that trade through the Republic to avoid additional regulatory and testing requirements in the UK.
Aside from those exceptions, “every veterinary medicine supply into Northern Ireland … is completely redirected from GB now – it has to be,” Mr Little said.
Asked if the changes could lead to increased levels of animal suffering, Ms Dunbar said the highest risk was regarding vaccines.
“If you have maybe three different vaccines, but only one remains, and there’s a problem with the production … that could be critical,” she said, citing examples such as salmonella, “which could have an impact on human health as well”.
Ms Dunbar made a number of recommendations, including for “Northern Ireland-specific, plain language operational guidance for vets, farmers, horse owners and pet owners as soon as possible, so that practices and vets can prepare in a consistent way”.
She also called for the creation of an implementation co-ordination group to support the transition.
Separately on Thursday, members of the House of Lords Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee wrote to the UK’s EU relations minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds, expressing “serious concerns” over the end of the grace period for veterinary medicines on December 31st.
