Isabel Hurley

HORSES treated with a wide range of almost 100 veterinary medicines (excludingphenylbutazone/bute) can be eventually slaughtered for human consumption once a six-month withdrawal period is observed.

The European Commission’s recent announcement on tightening up horse passports and identification rules across the Eurozone in a bid to ultimately protect the food chain, also referred to a six-month slaughter rule for animals treated with “essential substances’’ and “specific veterinary medicines”.

This rule essentially ensures that horses, ponies and donkeys can receive appropriate treatment without being permanently excluded from the food chain, thereby safeguarding their health and welfare treatment.

This 22-page Commission document allows for a long list of therapies to adequately treat horses - without compromising the high level of consumer protection from eventual food-chain animals.

Broadly, the essential substances listed fall in five main categories including pain-killers; sedatives; antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and antiprotozoal agents.

Commonly known drugs and families of drugs on the EU list include acepromazine (sedative), morphine and pethidine (pain relief) and the corticosteroids (anti-inflammatories).

In all, the Commission’s list contains 88 “essential substances’’ that can be used on equidae that have passports and are properly identified in accordance with EU legislation.

*Any equidae that have been administered phenylbutazone (bute) must have their passport stamped up stating this and remain permanently excluded from the human food chain on health grounds.