Horse owners in the United States, Ireland, and England have been able to purchase deworming medication without a veterinary prescription for years. In Ireland, that will change on January 28, 2022, when a veterinarian will be required to prescribe deworming medications for horse owners; they will no longer be able to order them online or purchase them at their local farm and fleet store.
Current European Union regulations require dewormers to be available only by prescription.
The Irish Department of Agriculture and the Health Products Regulatory Authority identified conclusive evidence of widespread resistance to wormers: benzimidazole, levamisole, ivermectin and moxidectin are becoming increasingly ineffective at treating worms.
The new Irish regulatory measure is an attempt to slow drug resistance in the country by ensuring the dewormers are only being used when necessary.
There is concern among horse and farm owners that veterinarians will try to capitalize on the tightening of dewormer access as there are no mechanisms in place to remove or limit the economic incentive from medical sales. Smuggling dewormers into the country is also a concern.
Read more at AgriDirect and Westgate Labs.
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