Regulatory and Legal Considerations of Anesthetics and Analgesics Used in Food‐producing Animals

An Exploration of Analgesia Options for Australian Sheep

“…Lignocaine is currently the only single-agent local anaesthetic registered for use in sheep in Australia. This differs from other countries' requirements such as in the European Union where lignocaine is not available (versus procaine) for use production animals [20]. In all three studies that utilised a pre-calibrated 1.5 mL subcutaneous dose of lignocaine via the Numnuts ® device, analgesic effects were confirmed when the device was correctly used [64][65][66].…”

“…The use of these non-registered drugs is permitted in many biomedical studies since these animals would not be allowed to and are highly unlikely to exit research facilities prior to humane killing or euthanasia. While this may be the case in Australia and other jurisdictions, this can contrast with other international regulations such those found in the United Kingdom may prevent the use of a more appropriate drugs (cascade system) or in Europe where the use of some analgesics may not be easily permitted even biomedical settings [20]. There is a high likelihood that out of all the non-traditional, unregistered or formally untested drugs described in this research that some may prove to be important alternatives or primary agents in alleviating on-farm, biomedical and veterinary clinical management of pain in sheep.…”

“…Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), opioids, local anaesthetics, α 2 adrenoreceptor agonists, and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists are classes of analgesic drugs reported in the literature. Depending on the national jurisdiction (e.g., the European Union), analgesia options may be different, limited, or unavailable [20]. In Australia, there are only six analgesic formulations registered (also known as 'licensed') for use in sheep: lignocaine (2%); Tri-Solfen ® (lignocaine hydrochloride 40.6 g/L, bupivacaine hydrochloride 4.2 g/L, adrenaline (as acid tartrate) 24.8 mg/L, and cetrimide 5 g/L); ketamine (as hydrochloride 100 mg/mL); xylazine (as hydrochloride 20 mg/mL); and oral transmucosal and injectable formulations of meloxicam (20 mg/mL) [21].…”

Palliative Farming

“…There is reason to think that residue from anesthetics is less harmful than residue from antimicrobials. Anesthetics almost entirely dissolve within a few days and do not have negative knock-on effects like antibiotic resistance (Passler 2014 ). Given the limited amount of animal-based food that most people consume in a day, it is unlikely that, through residue, consumers would receive doses sufficient to cause a significant impact.…”