No Mandate On Pain Reliever

The Age

Saturday March 22, 2008

Lorna Edwards

THE Minister for Agriculture, Tony Burke, has ruled out making the use of pain relief compulsory for mulesing to appease European retailers boycotting Australian wool.

Woolgrowers and buyers have called on the Government to enforce the use of pain relief, after more than 60 European retailers boycotted Australian wool because of cruelty concerns. But Mr Burke has told Sweden's channel TV4 that he does not consider it necessary.

"In terms of mandating, there's not a need for a Government mandate at a point where industry is driving real change," he said.

Representatives of the drug company Bayer, who met Swedish retailers this week, said many had agreed to lift their bans if a new pain-relief spray, Tri-Solfen, was used after mulesing.

Mulesing is the removal of a patch of skin from lambs' rears to prevent the often fatal condition of flystrike. The procedure is usually performed without anaesthetic.

The Sheep and Wool Industry Taskforce, accused of not promoting the pain-relief option in negotiations with retailers in Europe last month, yesterday announced its support for its use in the lead-up to the 2010 phase-out of surgical mulesing. Last month a taskforce consultant was caught offering a free trip to an anti-mulesing campaigner on condition she not speak out against the industry on TV4. -- LORNA EDWARDS

© 2008 The Age

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