Health Canada is advising animal owners, who have not already done so, to establish a veterinary-client relationship.
Effective December 1st all medically important antimicrobials currently available over the counter for veterinary use, including those used in companion and food animals and in all dosage forms, are being moved to prescription status and antimicrobials will no longer be used for growth promotion.
Dr. Mary Jane Ireland, the Director General with the Veterinary Drugs Directorate with Health Canada, says this is the next step in addressing concerns related to antimicrobial resistance.
In May of 2017 regulatory changes were made to the Food and Drug regulations to address antimicrobial resistance in the veterinary drug context and these changes focused on four key measures. There is now increased oversight on the personal importation of unapproved veterinary drugs for food producing animals. This means that only those drugs that Health Canada has determined do not pose a risk to public health or food safety can be imported and only in limited quantities. Second there is a requirement for manufacturers and importers to report annually their sales of medically important antimicrobials for veterinary use to support our surveillance programs in Canada.
We’re also increasing regulatory oversight on the importation and quality of active pharmaceutical ingredients for veterinary use by requiring compliance with good manufacturing practices and establishment licenses to conduct these activities. Finally we’ve introduced an alternative less burdensome pathway for companies to import and sell low risk veterinary health products like vitamins and minerals as additional health management tools in animals including food producing animals.
We know that promoting the health of animals today can help reduce the need to use antimicrobials tomorrow.
~ Dr. Mary Jane Ireland, Health Canada
Dr. Ireland notes, after December 1’st producers will need to work with a veterinarian and have a prescription before being able to buy an antimicrobial.
