Following on from our recent article on The Hidden Cost of Flea Treatments: Protecting Our Rivers, we have now signed an open letter to the Environment Minister put together by Songbird Survival, BugLife International and Wild Fish Conservation.
The letter calls for urgent action by the government to deal with the immediate threat from fipronil and imidacloprid to the environment. There is a substantial and growing body of scientific evidence that fipronil and imidacloprid from pet parasiticides are contaminating our environment and likely to be having a significant effect on the aquatic ecosystem.
Collectively we are asking the government to:
– Provide a clear timeline for the Veterinary Medicines Directorate’s review of distribution categories for pet parasiticides containing fipronil and imidacloprid; and
– Reclassify pet parasiticides containing fipronil and imidacloprid as prescription only, ensuring appropriate veterinary advice is given upon prescription.
The letter also calls for a number of measures designed to address systemic failures in the regulation of veterinary medicines and the evaluation of their environmental impacts.
You can read the open letter here. This story has been covered in the The Guardian newspaper where you can read more about the issue and the new research from the University of Sussex that shows these chemicals are found in the feathers, eggs and chicks of common garden birds.