Drugs bought without check from vets in Northern Ireland could prove lethal if wrongly administered, the head of the recently-established Food Safety Authority of Ireland has said. When told of The Irish Times investigation, Dr Patrick Wall yesterday said the drugs involved put public health both here and in the North at risk.
"It is a scandal that someone in my profession can behave in this way in Northern Ireland and I would like action taken by the relevant authorities." Dr Wall has returned from the UK to head up the authority.
"The drugs which were obtained have a potential to cause great damage to human health, especially Micotil, which is a very strong antibiotic which should only be administered by a vet," he said. "Using these drugs, which are so freely available to non-professionals, means that they can get into the food chain . . . people who eat meat improperly treated by these drugs have no resistance to the new superbugs. "If these antibiotics get into the food chain they reduce human resistance to salmonellas and compylobacter which can prove fatal to humans," he said.
He was aware that the drug Colvasone could be used illegally by farmers to render bovine TB tests useless, which raised the question of the ability to guarantee beef under a quality assurance scheme. "I would like to see the Irish Farmers' Association president, Tom Parlon, deliver on his promise to marginalise those who would seek to use drugs illegally, as the organisation has done with angel dust," he said.
Mr Parlon said that the abuse of angel dust or uncontrolled antibiotics was not on. Farmers would have to adhere to the strictest standards available to assure consumers.
"I would like to see the Northern authorities move quickly to stop this trade and any farmer from the Republic buying drugs in the North in this way is doing no one any favour," he said.