JEDDAH, 12 November 2005 — An Arab News investigation has revealed that the practice of selling veterinary medication unregulated over-the-counter can have serious consequences to the general public’s health. According to a prominent Jeddah veterinarian, “We are consuming meat that is loaded with antibiotics.”
Farmers who lack proper veterinary training make up the majority of clientele who frequent the veterinary pharmacies located across the street from the Ministry of Agriculture’s building at Kilo 10.
According to Dr. Deborah Zahid, owner of Tahlia International Veterinary Clinic, those who purchase and administer these medicines, including antibiotics, are not even following the proper dosage requirements or the simple instructions on the bottle.
A bottle of Terramycin, obtained by Arab News at one of these pharmacies, states that the milk of the animal being injected should be discarded for seven days following the administration of the medication and that the animal should not be slaughtered for human consumption for at least 21 days.
“The unregulated sale of medications such as Amoxicillin, Jentomycin, Penicillin, Neomycin and others, is posing a serious health threat to local consumers. Local farmers are administering a cocktail of antibiotics and other medicines to animals that we eventually end up eating. There is a problem, in that, if we consume the animal before it has had time to process the medication; it is passed on to us, when we eat the meat, or drink the milk,” Dr. Deborah explained.
“This is very serious. The problem with human consumption of live stock that has not expelled the antibiotics from its system is that we become immune to the antibiotics themselves. So if we get sick, antibiotics will not be as effective as they should be, should we need to take them at a later date.
“If we take the example of bird flu, which has been detected as close as Kuwait, a farmer here may acquire and administer a vaccine to his chickens incorrectly with improper dosages and then not be aware of how that may influence not only the health of the chicken, but the humans who end up consuming them.
“The farmer unwittingly slaughters his chickens for sale with the antibiotic still present in the animal’s system. A human who then consumes this same meat and later succumbs to bird flu will be taken to hospital and given an antibiotic which his body is now immune to, due to having eaten it through animals that were slaughtered too early,” Dr. Deborah said.
The Ministry of Agriculture has properly defined regulations for the monitoring of live produce that is to be sold for public consumption. These regulations are there for the public’s protection. A very simple solution could be provided for the local farmers, according to Dr. Deborah.
“Medications should be confiscated from these pharmacies and the farmers who wish to purchase them should only be able to obtain them through the Ministry of Agriculture. The ministry can then send a qualified veterinarian to assist the farmer in properly treating and monitoring his livestock,” she explained.
