ALL ANTIOBIOTICS added to animal feed for fattening purposes have been banned in Cyprus as of January 1 with the implementation of a law that has taken effect in all 25 EU member states.
The ban, which is the culmination of a larger phase-out process, is part of the European Commission’s effort to respond to the emergence of bacteria and other microbes resistant to antibiotics that are used to treat human and animal infections.
The Commission claims that the resistant strains have emerged because antibiotics have been overused and exploited. The EU has already banned antibiotics used in human medicine as animal feed supplements.
Before January 1, four antibiotics were still permitted as feed additives to help fatten livestock. The four substances, which can no longer be used or marketed in the EU as feed additives, are:
l Salinomycin sodium—used for piglets and finishing pigs
l Avilamycin—used for young pigs, finishing pigs, chickens and turkeys
l Flavophospholipol—used for rabbits, laying hens, market chickens, turkeys, pigs, calves and cattle.
l Monensin sodium—used for market cattle
Veterinary Services Director George Neophytou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that livestock farmers in Cyprus were informed as of June 2004 that these final four substances would no longer be permitted for fattening purposes.
Neophytou emphasised, however, that these antibiotics would not be removed from the shelves since they also serve as therapeutic drugs.
“They can be used for therapeutic reasons assuming they get a permit from a veterinary,” Neophytou said. “If over the course of our inspections we find that they are using the antibiotics for fattening purposes, then they will be reported and penalised accordingly.”
But the director of the Pancyprian Cattle Organisation, Nicos Papakyriacou, told the Cyprus Mail that Cyprus cow farmers are “not at all affected” by the ban since antibiotics are not used in Cyprus for fattening purposes.
“For years we have not used these antibiotics in feed to fatten cattle,” Papakyriacou said. “The only time we have used them is for injections if the animal is sick. And we have strict guidelines on how many days or weeks the animal has to stay out of production after the injection is applied.”
Papakyriacou said that one of the reasons that fattening antibiotics are not used in Cyprus is because 85 per cent of cows in Cyprus are used for milk rather than beef.
Both the President of the Pancyprian Pig Farmers Association and the President of the Poultry Association claim they too will be unaffected by the ban since they only use antibiotics for therapeutic purposes.
Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection Markos Kyprianou said the ban was of “great importance, not only as part of the EU’s food safety strategy, but also when considering public health.”
“We need greatly to reduce the non-essential use of antibiotics if we are to effectively address the problem of micro-organisms becoming resistant to treatments that we have relied on for years,” Kyprianou said, adding that animal feed is a good place to focus on because it is the first step in the food chain.
