AR-News: Russian government allows vets to use banned anesthetic

[=?windows-1255?B?8e7j+A==?=]

      http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040129/hl_afp/russia_animals_040129174213
      Russian government allows vets to use banned anesthetic   
      Thu Jan 29,11:42 AM ET  Add Health - AFP to My Yahoo! 
     


MOSCOW (AFP) - After an outcry from pet owners and an appeal from French animal rights campaigner Brigitte Bardot, Russian authorities relented and will allow vets to use the banned anesthetic ketamine during operations on animals. 

Ten vets were charged last month after police raided their clinics and found them in possession of ketamine, a drug widely used as an anesthetic for animals in other countries but banned in Russia since 1998 because of its sale and use as a recreational drug. 


But the deputy head of Russia's anti-drugs agency announced that use of the drug was now legal, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. 


"The justice ministry has registered a joint decree from the health and agriculture ministries adding to the list of narcotic and pschytropic drugs that can be used for veterinary purposes. Ketamine has been included once again," General Alexander Mikhailov said. 


The affair has angered pet-owners and animal rights activists since vets have been forced to choose between acting illegally or leaving the animals to suffer, either by not operating or by operating using another drug that immobilises the animal but does not ease its pain. 


Among the several personalities who have protested over the affair is Brigitte Bardot who wrote to President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), a dog owner himself, to intervene personally to lift the ban on ketamine. 


The vets, if found guilty of illegally possessing the drug, faced prison sentences of between six months and three years. 






the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe

"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. 
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."      Margaret Mead
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/attachments/20040130/80c699af/attachment.html