Update on the current drug law situation in the pharmaceutical therapy of foals without equine passports

摘要

Foals without an equine passport are to be treated as food-producing animals. At the same time, the use of medicinal products that are listed in the "positive list" for food-producing animals, of which some are explicitly described for the use in foals, is prohibited. This regulatory gap complicates the correct, and, above all, legal treatment of sick foals. According to official statements by German Public Authorities, euthanasia of the foals was proposed as the only legally compliant, albeit extremely ethically questionable, alternative to illegal treatment. In order to enable the legally compliant use of necessary medicinal products, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in cooperation with the German National Federation (FN), developed a solution proposal that involves the application of emergency transponders by the horse breeder or the treating veterinarian and the subsequent registration of used medications. The so-called HIT-system with its models A and B is carried out in only a part of the German federal states. For the most part, special regulations for the described problem are lacking. The receipt of transponders for identification is not only not regulated uniformly across the country, but also depends on the individual breeding associations. In addition, the treating veterinarian's awareness of the existing conflict is often lacking, which often results in treatment with illegal medications. The federal states, which are already successfully using the HIT-system, have consistently confirmed its practicability. To the authors, a nationwide regulation for dealing with foals without an equine passport in need of treatment and raising awareness for legally compliant action in the German veterinary profession is a very urgent goal. In order to ensure the correct identification and traceability of pharmaceutical applications in foals without equine passport, reference is made above all to the HIT model B, in which the treating veterinarian is authorized to apply an emergency transponder and asked to subsequently transmit data of applied medications. Compared to model A, model B has the decisive advantage that the eventual accumulation of excess transponders, which can be annually ordered by the breeder, can be avoided. In the best case, the implantation of a transponder that was not intended for the use in an individual horse can be avoided (Lagershausen 2020c). An additional goal should be to raise awareness amongst German horse breeders to apply for equine passports as early as possible.