Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 35
1 Q. By antibiotics?
2 A. Yes.
3
4 Q. Just coming back to warble fly and organophosphate
5 treatment, yes? Is the organophosphate treatment, you said
6 about Europe, is that also used in the UK as well?
7 A. It could be. We had almost got rid of warble fly.
8 I think now the Ministry is advising that it has to be
9 watched for because I think it is coming back from
10 countries where it has not been eradicated.
11
12 Q. When was warble fly a significant problem in the UK?
13 A. Oh, within the last 10 years, I would say. It
14 declined. It went up. It depends a lot on the weather and
15 the conditions but within the last -----
16
17 Q. When did it cease to be significant?
18 A. I would say in last five years it has declined
19 appreciably.
20
21 Q. Before that it would have been a significant -----
22 A. It would have been appreciable, yes.
23
24 Q. At that time was it treated with organophosphate?
25 A. Yes.
26
27 Q. You said something about what we might call routine
28 recourse to antibiotics being a sign of bad husbandry.
29 Could you just explain, does that relate also to, say, the
30 treatment of warble fly or worms?
31 A. In the case of worms, helminths, farmers can reduce
32 this possibility by alternating their grazing. It is a
33 problem of intensified use of grazing, building up
34 populations of worms. It is a problem now because there
35 are only really three types of worming compounds for use
36 with cattle and sheep. Although there are loads and loads
37 of actual preparations which, of course, confuse farmers
38 because they are not pharmacists, and the danger is now
39 that is happening in all the areas where you get this sort
40 of cultivation, Australia, New Zealand and now the UK, one
41 is getting resistance to these drugs. Once again it is a
42 problem -----
43
44 Q. In cattle?
45 A. In cattle and sheep because very often cattle and sheep
46 share their worms.
47
48 Q. Let us forget sheep.
49 A. No, no, but I am only saying that you can hardly --
50 many farms obviously have cattle and sheep, and the cattle
51 suffer from sheep diseases and the cattle give the sheep
52 diseases.
53
54 Q. What I am asking is, say, for example, the organophosphate
55 treatment for warble fly that was a significant problem
56 until fairly recently; would that fall into your category
57 of a sign of bad husbandry or would that be the only way
58 you can treat -----
59 A. There are other ways, but you were asking me about 10
60 years ago, five, 10 years ago. Some of the drugs that
