Govt dithers on banning drug responsible for vulture deaths

Jaipur, Mar 17 (UNI) The Centre and, the state government are not unprepared to ban drug diclofenac, despite having known that it is responsible for extinction of gyps vultures in India.

For the past three years, it is a recognised fact that the catastrophic decline in population of white-backed vulture is due to drug diclofenac, which is used as an anti-inflammatory pain killer for sick cows.

The vultures feed on the carcasses of these cows and presumably succumb to visceral gout - the deposition of uric acid crystals throughout the visceral cavity say scientists saay.

As a result, white-backed vulture population has been reduced to a few hundred and is now largely found in northern and central India.

Moreover, their breeding sites are not being reported on a regular basis, bird watcher Harshvardhan said.

In Rajasthan, the situation is acute. The number of pairs of w hite-backed vultures breeding in Keoladeo National Park dropped from 353 in 1987-88 to 150 in 1996-97 to 25 in 97-98 and to 20 in 1998-99.

State Animal Husbandry secretary U K Thanvi while admitting the rapid decline in population of vultures, said, ''The phasing out of diclofenac can only happen slowly and steadily. It cannot be banned suddenly.'' The state government's attitude indicates no firm decision has yet been taken to phase out the drug despite the National Board of Wildlife's deadline of September last year.

Although the alternative drug Meloxicam, a drug similar to diclofenac, has been found to be effective in treating sick cattles and pose no significant danger to vultures, no steps have been taken to put it use. The circulars to this effect had been issued to all district-level veterinary doctors.

In a report published in the British journal PLOS Biology, a team of scientist from South Africa, Namibia, Britain and India have found Meloxicam to be very effective.

A small Jaipur-based NGO 'Help In Suffering (HIS)' has been using the Meloxicam for the past five years.

''Once we came to know about the dangers, diclofenac poses to vulture population, we started using Meloxicam. Although it is three times more expensive, it has proved to be very effective,'' Dr Sunil Chawla, chief veterinary surgeon, HIS said.

A 100 ml of diclofenac costs Rs 56 while 30 ml of Meloxicam is available for Rs 48. ''Diclofenac also causes side effects as gastroenteritis in animals,'' Dr Chawla.

Drug manufacturing companies are hesitant to replace diclofenac.

Three years ago they urged the Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Environment and Forest, to be phase out this drug.

When 90 per cent of vultures in India - a crucial link in the environment are already extinct, and smaller NGOs have successfully managed to phase out diclofenac, the question still remains, why is the government hesitant on taking a firm stand on banning diclofenac? UNI RRT AD RK0920