PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Livestock: Hormone Treatments (13 April 2017)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what evidence her Department has collected on prevalence of the use of pregnant mares' serum gonadotropin in (a) British farms and (b) meat sold in the UK.

Asked by:
Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

Usage data for veterinary medicines is not collected and recorded on a national basis. The Government however does collect sales data for all medicines sold in the UK. These data are received from the companies marketing the products at intervals of up to 3 years.

According to the sales data held by the Government, it is estimated that, between the years 2010 and 2015 (the last year for which full sales data for these products is currently available) approximately 19,000 animals each year (across the 4 authorised species of cattle, pigs, sheep and dogs) were treated with products containing pregnant mares’ serum gonadotrophin (PMSG).

The Committee for Medicinal Products for Veterinary Use (CVMP) has also assessed PMSG for its suitability for use in food producing animals and concluded that PMSG offers no risk to the consumer.

Answered by:
George Eustice (Conservative)
24 April 2017