BVA President calls for microchipping amid horse meat scandal

U.S. horses corralled and tagged for slaughter.

Farming UK reports:

The President of the British Veterinary Association (BVA) has used his annual London dinner speech last night to urge the government to back their call for all horses to be microchipped.

He addressed current issues including the horsemeat scandal, where he backed calls for clearer welfare labelling.

The audience included parliamentarians, veterinary surgeons and representatives from the agri-food industry, pet industry, welfare charities and veterinary education.

“The headlines about horsemeat will no doubt continue, but what is already clear is that in a very short space of time the news has undermined confidence in the food chain” Jones said.

“It has called into question the veracity of the horse passport system, which is clearly not fit for purpose.”

“We need to look ahead now and agree what we need from the passport system and how we can achieve that – for both animal and human health.”

“We would renew our 2009 call for all horses to be microchipped – not just foals – and for a single, national equine database. These measures may not be cheap but what price can we honestly put on regaining confidence in the food chain?”

The President of the British Veterinary Association misses the point entirely.

HORSES ARE NOT RAISED AS FOOD ANIMALS

Horses are not raised as food animals. It will not matter what sort of identification process is used. There is no proof that microchipping will be any more successful than the failed passport and equine identification document programs used to track slaughter horses. They may argue that microchipping works for other food animals. Perhaps it does. However, traditional food animals are destined for slaughter from birth. They are not companion animals, working animals or sporting animals first before they are sent into the human food chain as horses are. If they were, animal agriculture would have the exact same problem.

Insofar as drugs, did you know that in the U.S. a reportedly 80% of antiobiotics sold are used on animals slaughtered for meat? See “The Meat Industry Now Consumes Four-Fifths of All Antiobiotics“. Who knows what impact this has on human health?

BUTE

Horse meat turning up in food products labeled as beef and lamb has sounded an alarm around the world. Mislabeling is one thing, but what about the Bute?

While the focus has been on Bute because EU regulations for one state that no animal treated with Bute in their lifetime can ever enter the human food chain, what about the other drugs that are also banned in the same category?

According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the following drugs are prohibited for use in horses intended for human consumption[1]:

Ingredient Name: acepromazine maleate
Trade Name: PromAce (Fort Dodge)

Ingredient Name: boldenone undecylenate
Trade Name: Equipoise (Fort Dodge)

Ingredient Name: omeprazole
Trade Name: GastroGard

Ingredient Name: ketoprofen
Trade Name: Ketofen (Fort Dodge)

Ingredient Name: ivermectin
Trade Names: EQVALAN (Merial), Zimecterin (Merial), Equell (Pfizer), IverCare (Farnam)

Ingredient Name: xylazine HCl
Trade Names: Anased (Lloyd), Sedazine (Fort Dodge), Xyla-Ject (Phoenix Pharmaceutical)

Ingredient Name: hyaluronic acid (sodium hyaluronate)
Trade Names: Hyalovet (Fort Dodge), Hylartin V (Pharmacia & Upjohn), Legend (Bayer Animal Health)

Ingredient Name: pyrantel tartrate
Trade Name: Strongid C and Banminth (Pfizer), Purina® Horse & Colt Wormer (Virbac AH, Inc.)

Ingredient Name: nitrofurazone
Trade Names: NFZ Puffer (Hess & Clark, Inc.), Fura Ointment (Farnam Companies, Inc.)

Ingredient Name: polysulfated glycosaminoglycan (PSGAG)
Trade Name: Adequan (Luitpold Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)

Ingredient Name: clenbuterol HCl
Trade Names: Ventipulmin® Syrup (Boehringer Ingelheim)

Ingredient Name: tolazoline HCl
Trade Name: Tolazine (Lloyd, Inc.)

Ingredient Name: moxidectin
Trade Name: Quest® 2% Equine Oral Gel and Quest® Gel (Fort Dodge)

Ingredient Name: ponazuril
Trade Name: Marquis™ Antiprotozoal Oral Paste (Bayer Animal Health)

Ingredient Name: boldenone undecylenate
Trade Name: Equipoise (Fort Dodge)

Ingredient Name: omeprazole
Trade Name: GastroGard

Ingredient Name: ketoprofen
Trade Name: Ketofen (Fort Dodge)

Ingredient Name: ivermectin
Trade Names: EQVALAN (Merial), Zimecterin (Merial), Equell (Pfizer), IverCare (Farnam)

Ingredient Name: xylazine HCl
Trade Names: Anased (Lloyd), Sedazine (Fort Dodge), Xyla-Ject (Phoenix Pharmaceutical)

Ingredient Name: hyaluronic acid (sodium hyaluronate)
Trade Names: Hyalovet (Fort Dodge), Hylartin V (Pharmacia & Upjohn), Legend (Bayer Animal Health)

Ingredient Name: pyrantel tartrate
Trade Name: Strongid C and Banminth (Pfizer), Purina® Horse & Colt Wormer (Virbac AH, Inc.)
ttp://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/animaldrugsatfda/details.cfm?dn=042-888

Ingredient Name: nitrofurazone
Trade Names: NFZ Puffer (Hess & Clark, Inc.), Fura Ointment (Farnam Companies, Inc.)

Ingredient Name: polysulfated glycosaminoglycan (PSGAG)
Trade Name: Adequan (Luitpold Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)

Ingredient Name: clenbuterol HCl
Trade Names: Ventipulmin® Syrup (Boehringer Ingelheim)

Ingredient Name: tolazoline HCl
Trade Name: Tolazine (Lloyd, Inc.)

Ingredient Name: moxidectin
Trade Name: Quest® 2% Equine Oral Gel and Quest® Gel (Fort Dodge)

Ingredient Name: ponazuril
Trade Name: Marquis™ Antiprotozoal Oral Paste (Bayer Animal Health)

This is only a partial list. Please visit the FDA’s website for more information on the proper use of medication for horses. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/animaldrugsatfda/

Drugs in slaughter horses is a much larger issue than Bute simply taking American horses into account. However, these same or similar drugs are used in other countries as well.

Yet the U.S. government knowingly allows the export of U.S. horses for slaughter for human consumption by the hundreds of thousands.

CONCLUSION

Call the horse meat scandal a mislabeling problem or a failed medication documentation problem if you will. The fact of the matter is this. The only way to eliminate both of these issues is to ban horses from entering the human food chain. Period. The way to accomplish this with a 100% success rate is to ban horse slaughter. Nothing else will really do.

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[1] Vets for Equine Welfare, http://www.vetsforequinewelfare.org/prohibited-drugs.php