Law Library Articles

Minor Animal Species Remedies & the Minor Use and Minor Species Animal Health Act

Background

What are minor animal species remedies? Minor animal species remedies are products intended to treat diseases and conditions in minor animal species. Minor animal species are animals other than "major species," identified by the US Food and Drug Administration as dogs, cats, horses, cattle, swine, chickens and turkeys. Many companion animals are included in minor animal species such as ornamental aquarium and garden pond fish, reptiles, birds, and small mammals such as hamsters and gerbils. Farmed fish, wildlife and zoo animals are also minor animal species.

While there is a great variety of minor animal species, they all share a significant need for pharmaceutical tools to improve their health and welfare. Due to the nearly complete absence of drugs to treat each of these minor animal species, most animals either go untreated or treatment is delayed. Delayed treatment leads to decreased treatment success. The result is increased suffering, loss of use, and loss of life. The emotional and economic impact of these losses for individual families and the public can be significant. The sheep industry loses nearly $45 million worth of sheep each year and the catfish industry estimates their losses at $60 million from disease conditions for which therapeutic medicines are unavailable. Internationally, the availability of drugs to treat minor animal species is much greater.

In the early 1990s, APPA became involved in this issue when it represented aquatic remedies manufacturers who came under federal scrutiny as a result of a barred sale of a tropical fish remedy to a food fish producer. At that time, the Aquatic Remedies Steering Committee was created. APPA members agreed to improve packaging and formulations of aquarium fish remedies in order to avoid the possibility of misuse by consumers. Specifically, packaging, formulations, labeling and other mechanisms are to be employed in order to discourage people from using the products for other than their intended purpose, i.e., for aquarium use only and not intended for human consumption or for consumption by food fish species.