Brexitwill impactvets

WITH election fever gripping the country, the impact that Brexit will have in all different areas of life are under the spotlight.

The veterinary community have started to consider the impact that leaving the EU might have.

One significant area of concern centres on recruitment. New entrants to the veterinary workforce have always come from a combination of UK and overseas graduates.

Last year, nearly 60% came from overseas with roughly half from Europe and half from the rest of the world.

Any significant impact on immigration could have a serious impact on the profession and especially fields such as T.B. testing and official vets at abattoirs which traditionally rely most heavily on overseas vets.

The pharmaceutical products that we prescribe are all subject to EU licences. This is the formal process by which pharmaceutical companies prove the safety and effectiveness of medicines. Leaving the EU could lead to the withdrawal of medicines that we have become used to prescribing and also delays in the availability of new products.

Most of the UK’s legislation relating to animal health and welfare, and public health, derives from Brussels – including legislation on disease control and monitoring surveillance.

Animal welfare legislation that governs food safety, farm animal welfare, livestock identification and record keeping are all handed down from the EU.

Almost all livestock exports from the UK are to the EU and EU legislation governs this.

For pet animals, The EU Pet Passport Scheme has proved immensely popular, allowing the free travel of cats and dogs throughout Europe without the need for quarantine.

At Donaldson’s vets, we have issued over 500 Pet Passports and many of our pet owners take their pets on multiple trips to the continent every year.

Love it or loathe it, the EU and EU legislation has become intertwined into the fabric of the veterinary industry like all other walks of life and the scale of the task to untangle us from the grip of EU legislation looks daunting.