DEAR SIR: As and from January 2022, farmers will not be able to purchase wormers for use in food-producing animals without a veterinary prescription, as a result of regulation changes in the EU, according to the Irish Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA).

This change will obviously add further costs and hardship to farmers in an already difficult scenario, which could lead to potential animal welfare issues by having to get a prescription from a vet. The changes proposed mean that licensed merchants who already supply wormer products will be able to stock them, but will not be permitted to sell them to farmers without a veterinary prescription present.

Licensed merchants have trained and are continuously training their staff on animal health products.

Britain and Ireland previously used the same regime for the distribution of these types of animal health products.

But now, as a result of Brexit, the Republic and Northern Ireland will have two separate systems.

The merchant in Northern Ireland will still be able to sell wormers without the need for prescriptions, while the Republic of Ireland suppliers will need a vet’s prescription. Irish and Northern Irish merchants have trained “responsible persons’’ to the same standard. The Department of Agriculture in the Republic has passed the course as fit-for-purpose.

So why change a system that is not broken? Why add extra costs just to be the same as the rest of EU? Do vets want the extra burden?

I doubt it, as they have enough problems trying to keep the service they have already fully operational. What about some common sense, or has that gone out the window completely?

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