Beekeeper is fined for using imported drug
Antibiotic shipped from US via web
A Perthshire beekeper, whose hives have been placed on Royal estates since the 1980s, has been fined £2500 for importing an “unauthorised veterinary medicinal product.”
Sixty-one-year-old Murray McGregor, Scotland’s largest beepkeeper with almost 3000 hives, admitted accessing an antibiotic from the United States via the internet and using it to fight a disease which had the potential to decimate the industry.
Perth Sheriff Court was told that he initially had to burn 169 colonies, each containing approximately 30,000 bees, as he tried to halt the spread of European Foulbrood disease (EFB).
He admitted that between July 1, 2009, and January 1, 2010, at Denrosa Apiaries, Blairgowrie - and elsewhere in Scotland - he administered Terramycin 100MR to a honey bee in contravention of several regulations.
He also pled guilty to being in possession of the antibiotic between the same dates - and having it in his possession.
Solicitor Kevin Lancaster told the court that in 2009 Mr McGregor identified that some of his colonies of bees were showing signs of EFB.
The scale of the outbreak was “unprecedented” and there was no procedure in place to deal with an outbreak on that scale.
“The disease, if left unchecked, would effectively decimate the bee industry,” he said.
In a statement issued after the court case, Mr McGregor revealed that there was no full-time government inspection service and no preparedness in place for such an unanticipated event.
The Scottish Government, however, quickly put together a team from a standing start to address the problem.
“This was all done with the full cooperation of the bee industry as this was a huge crisis and required all to be pulling together to prevent the destruction of the professional bee sector and probable eventual spread into all sectors.
“At all times during this event we played a leading role in this cooperation, and assisted the government in development of a plan to contain the spread of the disease and to provide temporary medically-aided protection pending a proper assessment.
“It was anticipated it would take until the spring of 2010 for a full assessment of colonies to be undertaken.
“The problem was so large, and the state of preparedness so poor, that it was impossible to deal with it all in the relatively brief window that was available to us in 2009.”
July and August are months when heather honey is being produced and it was “crucial” that no antibiotic was applied to bees at that time to prevent it entering the human food chain.
Treatment, therefore, could only be carried out in September and October, before winter conditions set in and the bees couldn’t be effectively treated or even diagnosed.
“The options available were destruction of symptomatic colonies, or treatment with oxytetracycline to keep it under control until the situation was clearer.
“The National Bee Unit website also specifies oxytetracycline, in the formulation Terramycin, as the medical treatment for control of EFB.
“From the moment it was agreed that a full programme of oxytetracycline treatment would be applied, we had concerns about timing.
“The medication was to be provided through the government inspectorate, who were doing their absolute best, but their team was still acquiring expertise and they feared the supply would be delayed.
“So, with it being agreed that oxytetracycline would be used for temporary protection during the outbreak, we took the step of ordering in a private supply, for use in the event the official supply would be delayed.
“The practicalities of performing three treatments per colony, which is the correct way it is done, on the largest bee farm in the UK, meant we needed the full eight-week window to do it.
“If we had not ordered it, and the official supply was delayed, we would have faced the possible loss of most of our bees.
“It would be too late to do anything about it once the delay was actually happening, so it was ordered, initially as a precaution.
“We ordered the correct recommended product, but did so without going through all the proper protocols.
“We had already had to burn 169 colonies of our bees, the problem was spreading rapidly, and had to do our very best to save the rest.
“To not be prepared for such an eventuality would have been a dereliction of my duty to protect the bees.”
The product sourced was Terramycin, which is a brand name for oxytetracycline.
The statement continued: “This was not a secret, it was widely known we had done this - and we were at all times open about it.
“By September, the official supply had not appeared, and so we initiated our treatment using the privately sourced product, mixed and administered at exactly the same strength and dosage and in the identical manner to the agreed method for the supplied product, on which we all received official training.
“As soon as the official supply arrived (part way through September) we moved over to that product and never used the private product again.
“This was an officially sanctioned treatment using oxytetracycline, a recommended treatment for EFB. What we used was no different.
“Despite press reports to the contrary this is not a banned medication. The status is rather that it does not have a specific approval for general use on bees but can be used for EFB if prescribed.
“Oxytetracycline was prescribed for this case!”
Mr McGregor stressed that at “no time” did any OTC enter the food chain.
He added: “All our honey is tested multiple times and there has never been a problem with anything we have supplied, despite misleading initial press reports.”