THE heads of the two main veterinary organisations said yesterday that they believed the "angel dust" threat was almost over and there was little evidence to show it is being used on cattle.
Mr Tom Hanley, president of the Irish Veterinary Union, and Mr Diarmuid Dooge, president of the Irish Veterinary Association, said any farmer attempting to use clenbuterol on their animals would almost certainly be caught.
At a press conference at the organisations' joint congress in Killarney, they said the system of checks in place at factories and changes in the EU intervention system made its use dangerous and less attractive.
Mr Dooge said most of the cases now coming before the courts dated back several years.
On the BSE crisis, the heads of both organisations agreed the worst might be over in terms of the rate of infection in the national herd.
Any animals that were out there have been taken out of the system. We mopped up 36 cases this year and we expect the levels to fall next year," said Mr Hanley.
He said he believed BSE cases in the Republic were being detected earlier and they were coming out of the system more quickly than before.
He said he had been told by Department sources they expected an increase in BSE numbers this year, but by next year the problem should "literally almost vanish".
The number of cases of salmonella more than doubled in the Southern Health Board area last summer when vast quantities of poultry were imported from abroad to meet demand for poultry after the BSE crisis broke.
The association's president, Mr Dooge, who is also a food safety officer with Cork Corporation, told the congress the number of cases of salmonella jumped from 20 to around 50, an increase of more than 150 per cent.
Examination of chicken products imported from Britain found three positive samples of salmonella enteriditis, because Britain France, Germany and Italy to crated levels of salmonella which would not be allowed here.
"We have in this country a voluntary code of practice which voluntarily removes any breeding, broiler or egg flock found to be infected with salmonella," said Mr Dooge.
The poultry industry in Britain would be wiped out overnight if this code of practice was put in place there, he said.
The IVA last night elected a new president, Mr Aidan Foley from Kells, Co Meath, and today the IVU is expected to elect its first woman president, Ms Ann Scanlon, a vet who works in Co Meath.