Improving the Translation from Science to Environmental Policy Decisions

摘要

Veterinary use of didofenac, a drug highly toxic to vultures, was recently approved in Spain, where most of Europe's vultures live. This highlights the inadequacy of the current system of risk evaluation for veterinary pharmaceuticals. Widespread veterinary use of didofenac in the Indian subcontinent led to the near extinction of three vulture species. Evidence first published in 2004 resulted in prompt government action to ban this use of the drug in 2006 in India, Pakistan and Nepal. Despite this experience, the authorities in Spain, which holds over 95% of Europe's vultures, approved the use of diclofenac on animal species likely to be scavenged by vultures (cattle, pigs and horses) in March 2013.