The veterinarian’s role as guardian of public health

An interview with the Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Michael Monaghan, in this issue of the Irish Veterinary Journal puts on record the concerns of many vets about the decline in farm practice and government workload. According to the recently published report Agri-Food 2010, their will be 40,000 full-time farmers in Ireland at the end of this decade, a figure that reflects the general demographic slide in full-time farming numbers that has been gathering momentum over the last ten years. As the fundamentals of farm size change it is to be expected that a new type of farmer/client will emerge, one for whom animal health will be a matter of prophylactic medicine rather than the ‘fire brigade’ treatment favoured in the past.

It seems reasonable to anticipate that the farmer of the future, whether acting in a full-time or part-time capacity, will strive to go as far as possible toward self-sufficiency in terms of animal management and husbandry. There will be greater emphasis on farmyard hygiene, on computerised formulation of diets, on anthelmintic medication, on vaccination programmes and, as far as the law permits, on what might be called, "do it yourself medication". The determination of the farming community to assume sole responsibility for many preventative and remedial measures, traditionally the remit of the veterinary surgeon, is a matter of serious concern for the profession; it calls for wise and innovative responses by our leaders, particularly those responsible for the education and the mindsets of new graduates.

We have a serious moral obligation now - the need to play a constructive and public-spirited role in relation to the potential threat to the community-at-large posed by non-specialist use of antimicrobial drugs in food animals.

Overuse and inappropriate use of antimicrobials has been responsible for the emergence of more and more drug-resistant pathogens. A recent report issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) pointed out that almost all major infectious diseases of humans are, "slowly, but surely", becoming resistant and that, unless appropriate action is taken now, the control of the diseases will be lost. When the Director- General of WHO launched the report, he warned that, "…antimicrobial resistance will increasingly threaten to send the world back to a pre-antibiotic age".

The European Union and several of its member states have been at work to develop strategies that will affect the use of antimicrobials in agriculture and, in due course, legislation will be introduced to give effect to the agreed proposals. There is a strong push to regulate the use of antimicrobials in food animals by obligatory prescription. Should this recommendation be given legislative force, the practising veterinarian will occupy a central role in the effort to ensure prudent use of antimicrobial drugs. If that is the way things eventuate, it is to be hoped that producers will perceive practitioners as concerned citizens who are making therapeutic decisions with integrity and in the best interest of the community. Given the uncompromisingly cynical press that the practicing profession has endured in recent years, we cannot take it for granted that the producers will automatically see our actions in the favourable light that we would wish.

There is some basis for optimism: in essence, the situation will boil down to the quality of the relationship between the individual producer and the practitioner which, by-and-large, is one of respect and trust. However, the question has to be asked: has enough been done to dispel the media-induced miasma of distrust that could bedevil the process in other instances where strong interpersonal relationships between the practitioner and client have not been established?