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I)
Vulture-Killing drug banned
The drug that has
led to the near-decimation of vultures in the sub-continent
has finally been banned. On May 11, the Drug Controller
General of India issued an order to all the state drug
controllers to withdraw licences to manufacturers of the drug
‘diclofenac’ for veterinary use and ensure that its sale is
phased out within a period of three months.
Diclofenac is an
anti-inflammatory commonly administered to cattle and other
domestic livestock. Research has established that the alarming
decline in vulture populations in India, Pakistan and Nepal-a
95% of three species of vultures have vanished in over a
decade, from an estimated 80 million in the ’80s to 3,000 to
4,000 currently is because of the use of this drug. The drug
enters the vultures’ systems through the cattle carcasses they
feed on, causing renal failure and death within a few days.
The Drug Controller’s order comes more than a
year after prime minister Manmohan Singh said that diclofenac
should be banned, and after hectic campaigning in the past few
months by wildlife activists. “This is a very important and
positive step
in our
long struggle to save the vulture populations
from extinction,” said Asad Rahmani, head of the Bombay
Natural History Society (BNHS), which is spearheading the
campaign to save the vultures.
While welcoming the order, Rahmani cautioned
that the various state governments should now ensure that the
ban is implemented properly. “It should not be like the ban on
plastic bags, which was poorly implemented. The ban should
also be widely advertised.” Current stocks of diclofenac
should be withdrawn too, he added.
The drug
controller’s order cites the concern over vulture declines and
notes that “alternative safer and effective drugs” should be
used for the treatment of animals. The department of animal
husbandry and dairying under the Ministry of agriculture has
already issued directions to state departments not to purchase
diclofenac for veterinary use. 
The ban on diclofenac is the first step in
saving the vultures. The BNHS, along with the Royal Society
for the Protection of Birds, has set up two vulture breeding
centres in Haryana and West Bengal to nurture a viable
population back to life, but have pointed out that the birds
cannot be released into the wild if the environment is not
diclofenac free. “If we stop using this drug and whatever is
being used is withdrawn, then we are giving vultures a chance
to survive,” said Rahmani.
A modelling study showed that even if one
percent of cattle had diclofenac, it would lead to a decline
in vultures. “Recent sampling studies have now shown that up
to 10% of, our. cattle carcasses have di-clofenac,” says
Rahmani.
In Nepal, also equally affected by the vulture
crisis, the major diclofenac producer has already voluntarily
switched to a recently tested alternative-Meloxicam.
The recovery of the slender, long billed and
white rumped vultures in India may take long since vultures
are slow breeders, each producing just one offspring a year.
Source: The
Times of India, Mumbai Tuesday, May 23,2006 (Times News
Network)
II) Let
vulture live for our death: Parsis; “Community roots for
vulture conservation”.
Author: Deepa
Surya Narayan for details:
http://www.iipsenvis.nic.in/archives.htm
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