International

European Union - Overall Animal Health and Welfare

March 2007

• Introduction
• Animal Health:Community Animal Health Policy & Animal Health Strategy (2007-13)*
• Animal Welfare:Community Action Plan on the Protection and Welfare of Animals (2006-10)

Purpose - EU Overall Animal Health and Welfare -

Animal health is increasing in importance due to the:

• Financial costs of disease outbreaks
• Growing ethical concerns over the mass slaughter of animals during a disease outbreak
• Potential impact of certain animal diseases on humans
• Risk of a pandemic, such as Avian Influenza (AI)
• Animal health priorities include:disease eradication/surveillance, research and development, control of illegal importing of high risk materials and biosecurity
• To support a guiding philosophy of the European Commission (EC) with respect to food safety: " From the Farm to the Fork"

Context - EU Overall Animal Health and Welfare -

Political Structure

The EC (Commission of the European Communities), is the executive body that governs the European Union (EU) together with the European parliament and the Council of the EU. The EC is made up of 27 commissioners, (one from each state/county yet each commissioner is independent of any member state/country), with an administrative team of 23,000 civil servants. On behalf of the entire EU (rather than for individual member states/countries), the EC proposes and implements legislation, negotiates international trade agreements). The compliance of member states/countries is also monitored by the EC.

History

The EU has grown from 12 to 27 member states/countries of predominantly rural farmland. New diseases have emerged recently that threaten animal and human health, such as: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Foot-and-Mouth disease (FMD), Bluetongue and AI. Other disease outbreaks such as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), Foot and Mouth Diseases (FMD), Classical Swine Fever (CSF) and animal feed contaminations (i.e. Dioxin) have reinforced the need to address the economic and political impacts of animal health problems, according to the EC. In addition to disease risks, consistent legislation throughout the EU will facilitate the trade of animals and animal products among member states/countries as well as across international borders.

The first legislation on farm animal welfare was introduced in 1974. This legislation focussed on the stunning of animals before slaughter. Subsequently, additional legislation has been developed to enhance the protection of animals, particularly animals during transport, on farms and at the time of slaughter.

General animal health and welfare rules, as stated in a 1998 EC Directive, have applied to the protection of many species including fish, reptiles and amphibians and animals raised for the production of: food, wool, skin or fur, or used for other purposes.

Resources:

http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/welfare/farm
http://ec.europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/s82000.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commission
http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/diseases/strategy/roadmap_en.htm
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/animal/index_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/diseases/strategy/cahp_termsref_en.pdf
http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=45506&lastestnews=1