EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2009 No. 1

 

Issued by Authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

 

Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994

 

Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Amendment Regulations 2009 (No. 1)

 

 

Subsection 6(1) of the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994 (the Act) provides, in part, that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code (the Code) to be prescribed by regulations within the meaning of the Code.

 

Subsection 5(1) of the Act provides that the Code set out in the Schedule to the Act may be referred to as the Agvet Code of the participating States and the Northern Territory.

 

Under current legislation, and for the purposes of paragraphs 14(3)(d) and 29(1)(d) of the Agvet Code, a veterinary chemical product for bovine intramammary infusion that contains any antibiotic substance must comply with regulation 10 of the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Regulations 1995 (the Principal Regulations). This regulation, which was introduced in 1996, requires that a blue dye marker (Brilliant Blue FCF) be included in intramammary antibiotic infusion products.

 

The use of blue dye was intended to give a visual indication of the fact that a cow’s udder had been treated with intramammary antibiotics. While it was known that the relationship between the excretion rate of the blue dye and the excretion rate of the antibiotic were not always consistent, the dye provided a ready indicator of the treatment status of the udder, thus assisting in preventing the supply of antibiotic contaminated milk to the market.

 

The Regulations remove regulation 10 from the Principal Regulations as use of the dye is no longer necessary with advances in knowledge and technology. The control was introduced long before the introduction of the on-farm Quality Assurance programs used by industry today and took account of the large numbers of less skilled workers on dairy farms at the time. In addition, the ability to identify and sanction producers of contaminated milk was more problematic at that time.

 

More recently antibiotic manufacturing companies have proposed that the inclusion of blue dye is not necessary. They argue that:

·        blue dye can produce false positive milk which can cost Australian dairy farmers money when milk has to be condemned because the blue dye is still present in the milk in the absence of any antibiotic residue;

·        with advances in knowledge and technology, and particularly the general use of on-farm Quality Assurance schemes, there are now new and better mechanisms for dealing with, and detecting, the presence of antibiotic residues in milk; and

·        since the inclusion of blue dye is not required by other major dairy producing countries, there is a disincentive for the formulation and supply of new and more effective treatments solely for the Australian market.

The Australian Dairy Industry Council supports the proposal that the requirement be removed as soon as possible. Industry and all state and territory dairy regulators also support this amendment.

 

Details of the Regulations are set out in the Attachment.

 

The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

 

The Regulations commenced on the day after they were registered.

 

0826793A-081209Z

 

ATTACHMENT

 

THE AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY CHEMICALS CODE AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2009 (No. 1)

 

Section 1 provides the name of the Regulations is the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Amendment Regulations 2009 (No. 1).

 

Section 2 provides that the Regulations commence on the day after they are registered.

 

Section 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Regulations 1995.

 

Schedule 1 – Amendment

 

Item [1] omits regulation 10. This removes the requirement for a blue dye marker (Brilliant Blue FCF) to be included in intramammary antibiotic infusion products.