Submission by the National Office of Animal Health
The National Office of Animal Health (NOAH) represents around 90% of the UK animal medicines industry.
Its aim is to promote the benefits of safe, effective, quality medicines for the health and welfare of all animals.
NOAH welcomes the chance to contribute to the EFRA Inquiry. This submission is primarily based on work done by NOAH in preparation for a conference it organised called “Feeding the World” held in February 2011. More details of presentations made at this event are available on request.
This submission chiefly addresses the area of the EFRA Inquiry where animal medicines have most relevance.
• The potential value and contribution of science and GM technology to UK food security.
As the world population increases, demand for food from animals grows, as do concerns about the environmental impact of livestock farming, animal welfare and food safety.
The world’s population is predicted to reach 9.1 billion by 2050 and the demand for food from animals is expected to increase by up to 100%. Most of the increased production needed will come from improvements and greater efficiency in production technology. The need for technology in livestock production is not only here to stay but needs to grow.
Meat consumption will increase as the world population increases and as emerging economies become more affluent.
Livestock are considered a major cause of greenhouse emissions. But livestock are essential because they utilise marginal land (hill farming in the UK for example); food from animals provide high quality protein and livestock provide an essential livelihood for world’s poorest communities.
For food security intensification and improvement of efficiency are necessary as modern farming methods can produce significantly more food than traditional systems through the use of improved genetics, improved nutrition, improved health and via economies of scale.
Animal welfare and productivity.
Animal disease can cause significant losses to the agricultural sector as well as impacting negatively on animal welfare.
In the UK during the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic more than 179,000 cattle were infected and 4.4 million slaughtered during the eradication programme.[]In recent years, outbreaks of Avian influenza resulted in the slaughter of over 100 million birds in Asia. Not only does animal disease cause suffering and death in animals, it also affects productivity. Overall, livestock efficiency is reduced by at least 20% by disease, meaning less food produced. Infectious disease in animals can also pose a threat to human health – up to 70% of human infectious diseases have their source in animals.
NOAH believes animal medicines have an important and essential role to play in addressing these issues: The development and effective use of veterinary medicines, particularly vaccines, to combat disease is the most direct route for the animal health industry to contribute to the efficient rearing of livestock without compromising animal and human health or the environment.
There are many factors that affect the welfare of an animal but the essential pre-requisite for the welfare of any animal, and indeed its productivity, is good health.
Overall livestock production efficiency globally is reduced at least 20% by disease (source: FAO; OIE)
Vaccination has been successful in the control of diseases such as Rinderpest (not endemic in the UK), which used to kill up to 90% of cattle in affected herds in the 1980’s, but in 2010 was entirely eradicated thanks to international co-operation and the use of a safe, effective vaccine. Fifteen years ago, to create a new vaccine for any disease would have always taken many years (the average time for livestock products is 8-12 years) but with modern technologies we have been able to bring a vaccine to the market within a year, as demonstrated by the Bluetongue Virus outbreak and its successful control in 2007/08. If Bluetongue, which had previously been exotic to Northern Europe, had taken hold in the UK up to 35 million sheep and 10 million cattle could have faced infection, which would have had a devastating impact on productivity, welcome and cost to the farming industry and indirectly the consumer. The prompt availability of an effective vaccine allowed farmers to take steps to protect their livestock by vaccinating.
There are a number of endemic diseases in the UK that we have still not controlled, for example BVD (Bovine Viral Diarrhoea) is estimated to be present in 70% of the UK dairy herd. It is not a zoonotic disease (ie one that is passed between animals and people) so there are no food safety issues, but is it very damaging to fertility and productivity. We have vaccines on the market to protect cattle, and whilst we accept that vaccination alone is not the solution, as it must be tackled in conjunction with better biosecurity. But through knowledge transfer and better awareness we could eradicate this disease. Many other member states have successfully achieved this goal and we can too – but we have to work together.
We could improve food productivity tomorrow if we put to use the existing medicines and vaccines we already have to their full potential and continued correct use. We must also make sure that those medicines are used responsibly and that is why NOAH is so closely engaged with, and committed to, the work of the Responsible Use of Animal Medicines Alliance (RUMA) which sets out guidelines for responsible use of antibiotics and anthelmintics.
Getting a veterinary medicine to market is a long process and quite rightly has many regulatory hurdles. Whilst safety is paramount we have to balance this with pragmatism and not overly apply the Precautionary Principle. We cannot live in a world of zero tolerance. A lot of the regulations our industry has to work under are derived from the human regulatory processes, many of which we consider are not necessary for animal medicines, therefore that is why NOAH and the collective animal industry are working through the European federation for animal health IFAH-Europe to put forward proposals to the next review of the European Directives to support a single regulatory process – the so called 1-1-1 concept of one dossier, one assessment, one decision. This will provide dedicated regulatory process for the animal medicines industry, with still the same high emphasis on safety, efficacy and quality – but also a true ‘common market’ by allowing all medicines authorised in any member state to be available on any member state market. This is needed to increase availability of medicines and speed up time to market. The draft legislation is expected from the European Commission in February 2014.
Research and Development for animal medicines is now truly global but nevertheless NOAH and the UK industry still plays its part. The UK Mirror group for the European Technology Platform for Global Animal Health, an organisation that brings together the animal medicine industry, the veterinary profession, farmers, and academic researchers to identify disease threats within Europe and gaps where treatments or vaccines are unavailable, (see DisConTools at http://www.discontools.eu/) has identified the key disease threats to the UK emanating from the global food chain and strives to get our centres of excellence for Research and Development in the UK working for and contributing to the needs of the market in the future as well as enhancing medicines and vaccines for existing endemic diseases in the UK.
Many vaccines still in use are derived from old technology (bacterins and whole virus preparations) despite the promise of molecular biology being so great. These have a proven track record – they are familiar, effective and safe
And although there have been some successes with new technologies bringing new vaccination solutions, biotechnology still has some hurdles to overcome, not least of which is perception and misconception.
Addressing misconceptions
Despite the benefits that animal medicines can bring, with the publicity surrounding BSE, Bird Flu, Foot and Mouth Disease etc, it was perceived that consumer anxiety over food safety had grown. In 2010 and in preparation for the 2011 NOAH ‘Feeding the World’ conference, NOAH decided to find out what the consumer knew and did not know about vaccines and to see what misconceptions existed. These misconceptions were explored further through another survey in 2012 (which was reported at a follow-up NOAH conference earlier in 2013 on ‘Addressing misconceptions about animal medicines’. It found although there is trust in the system regulating animal medicines, there is still misunderstanding among the public about their role in livestock production. One of the key concerns was that vaccines would be transferred to food, which of course is not the case. There is extremely rigorous testing overseen by an independent body, the Veterinary Residues Committee (VRC), reporting to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, to make sure harmful animal medicine residues do not get into the food chain. The VRC reports no residues of concern in UK food.
NOAH, along with others involved with medicines for livestock production, are working to see how best to provide information to help address misconceptions amongst consumers.
In conclusion:
Animal science has a part to play in food security today, and the potential to change lives for the better in the future. The animal medicines industry is working to stay ahead of the curve, and play its part in contributing to the future security of the world’s food supply.
December 2013