NFUS hits out at permanent loss of sheep scab treatment

THE loss of a major sheep-dip chemical from the UK market was met with disappointment by farmers' representatives yesterday.

NFU Scotland hoped cypermethrin, temporarily taken off the market in 2006, would have played a vital role in the battle to eradicate sheep scab.

After the temporary withdrawal, NFUS worked with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency on trials to gauge the risk of polluting watercourses, leading the union to believe the chemical would be re-introduced.

However, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), which authorises the use of animal pesticides, refused this. As a result, the manufacturers of cypermethrin products yesterday announced they would cease to produce them.

According to the NFUS, this makes their availability to sheep farmers extremely unlikely at any point in the future and increases producers' reliance on a limited number of products such as organophosphate dips, pour-on controls and injectable treatments.

NFU Scotland vice-president Nigel Miller, a sheep farmer and qualified vet, described the decision as a "major blow" which ignored the positive results of the trial work.

He said: "We believe there were clear options to allow the use of cypermethrin dips with the safeguards of added controls on their use and training.

"Despite the opportunity for the VMD to react positively to our suggestions, its intransigence left the manufacturers with little option but to withdraw from their production in the future."

Miller added that the Scottish Government, in partnership with industry stakeholders, is about to launch a sheep scab eradication policy underpinned by a new statutory order. He added: "I believe that the impact of that initiative is undermined by the VMD's uncompromising position on cypermethrin dips."