The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Welfare of animals ‘not just an issue for farmers’
SEMINAR: Vets from around globe discuss role wider society can play in animal health
Animal health issues are the responsibility of society not just of farmers.
That was the premise discussed by the inaugural gathering of 140 international vets, economists and social scientists who have formed a new society to look at the economic consequences of disease control.
Senior animal health officials and chief vets from countries from as far afield as New Zealand, Congo and Cameroon met in Aviemore to discuss how the role of practical farmers needs to be given greater consideration in animal health decisions.
The chairman-elect of the newly formed International Society for Economics and Social Science of Animal Health, Professor Jonathan Rushton, professor of animal health economics at Liverpool University, said that understanding the socio-economic setting in which healthcare takes place was necessary in order to manage both animal and human health.
“A lot of animals are kept by farmers but we as consumers dictate how they’re kept through what we pay for them,” he said.
“We have responsibility by paying less or more for eggs, milk or even wool.
“We talk about human population increases, but every time we add more people, we add more animals and make food systems more complicated which can contribute to disease.
“So we see outbreaks of avian influenza, for instance, which can be a consequence of the way we keep our animals.”
Prof Rushton pointed out that farmers were under pressure to modify how they used antibiotics at farm level, but that came with knock-on consequences.
“That may involve feedback to consumers and may impact on food prices,” he said.
Conference organiser Professor George Gunn of Scotland’s Rural College said there was much more to animal health than disease.
“It’s about persuading people to take the right measures and currently much depends on the attitude of individual vets,” he said.
Prof Gunn predicted that more attention would be paid in future to farmers’ needs and the economic consequences of strategies for disease control.
He added: “Social scientists will be able to give them a wider view on consequences.”