Regulatory proposals decided

Published on
information-circle This article is more than 3 years old

Violative drug residues are a minor food safety problem, because they involve the tissues of less than one percent of all animals slaughtered. The Council on Veterinary Service, in an effort to further reduce the risk of violative residues, recommended that the AVMA continue to take a strong stand on the largest contributor to these incidents.

The council is concerned with the percentage of violative residues that might be caused through extralabel use by nonveterinarians. Studies have shown that drug usage by nonveterinarians accounts for most violative residues.

Violative residues usually result from failure to adhere to withdrawal times on the drug label.

The board agreed and, as recommended by the council, will ask the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service to step up surveillance efforts for violative drug residues and ask the FDA to increase its efforts to prevent the extralabel use of drugs by nonveterinarians.

Another recommendation, this one from the Council on Biologic and Therapeutic Agents, called for the board to recommend that the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics form an advisory committee to ensure feedback from a diverse group of stakeholders on key biologic issues. The board approved this proposal.

Currently, biologic manufacturers and the Animal Health Institute give the most input to the center. Veterinary input is also important, because the center's activities affect practitioners who administer biologics. These activities include biological product licensing, labeling, and adverse event reporting.

The Steering Committee on Judicious Therapeutic Antimicrobial Use submitted a recommendation that the board approve partial funding of $79,200 for a surveillance system for antimicrobial susceptibility in animal pathogens. Although AVMA president, Dr. Leonard F. Seda spoke persuasively for its support, the motion failed.