Clearly, leaving animals untreated where animals are under stress from parasites and no effective organically accredited treatment is available is unacceptable from a welfare perspective. Most organic accreditation systems provide for the use of nonorganic accredited compounds to treat animals under stress from parasites without compromising the overall accreditation of the
property. These provisions usually include conditions that the treated animals:

• Are removed from organically accredited land.
• Do not come into contact with other animals in the herd.
• Must not be sold into organic markets.

Producers should check with their accrediting body for specific guidelines on how to deal with heavily parasitised animals. It should also be noted that all commercially sold parasiticides, whether organic, biological or synthetic chemicals, must be registered before they can be legally applied to food animals. The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) considers that a product is likely to require registration if any claim is made on a label, advertisement or website that the product is intended to modify the health, production, performance or behaviour of animals.

For full details on what constitutes a veterinary chemical product contact the APVMA:
Phone: 02 6210 4700
Website: www.apvma.gov.au/about_us/contact.shtml

Acknowledgement

This article is courtesy of the Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries - Beeftalk magazine.