Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 72: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects the ban on specific fluke treatment in dairy cows to be lifted. [12026/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Responsibility for the authorisation of veterinary medicines rests with the Irish Medicines Board. Accordingly, it will be a matter for that body, on the basis of applications to vary marketing authorisations from pharmaceutical companies, to determine in specific cases if and when the restrictions, which have recently been placed on the use of certain flukicides in dairy cows producing milk for human consumption, can be lifted. However, any restrictions cannot be lifted until maximum residue limits for the substances concerned in milk have been fixed at EU level. I understand that IMB has already engaged with the pharmaceutical companies concerned and with the relevant EU agency (the European Medicines Agency) with a view to advancing this process.