Veterinary Medicinal Products
Lexikon
Any product used to treat a disease in a bee colony is a veterinary medicinal product and must have gone through a state authorization procedure.
Any product used to treat a disease in a bee colony is a veterinary medicinal product and must have gone through a state authorization procedure. Alongside the authorization of an individual product, there was for a long time the standard authorization, which legalized not a single product but a formulation. For honey bees this covered formic acid 60 percent, lactic acid 15 percent and oxalic acid dihydrate solution, each ad usum veterinarium. With the European Veterinary Medicinal Products Regulation, this route ceases to apply. Preparations that were previously lawfully placed on the market may, under the transitional rule of the Veterinary Medicinal Products Act, still be supplied until January 29, 2027, after which every product needs its own authorization.
The products differ in their point-of-sale classification. Over-the-counter preparations are available from beekeeping suppliers, pharmacy-only ones only from a pharmacy, and prescription-only ones only against a veterinary prescription. Among the synthetic varroacides, the flumethrin-containing preparations are pharmacy-only, the amitraz-containing ones prescription-only. The documentation requirement in the colony register applies equally to all three groups.
It is important that a product may only be applied as specified by its labeling, that is, in the stated amount, dosage and duration of application. Anyone who wants to deviate from this or use a product outside its authorization needs a veterinarian. Organically certified operations may not use synthetic varroacides.
Which preparations are currently authorized changes over time. What is binding is the authorities' authorization database, in Germany the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety, and for centrally authorized products the product database of the European Union. Austria and Switzerland have their own authorization lists; a product authorized in Germany is not automatically permitted there.
Quellen (4)
- LLH Bieneninstitut Kirchhain: Infoblatt Varroazide, Zulassungsarten und Verkaufsabgrenzung
- Emmerich, I.: Zugelassene Arzneimittel für Honigbienen in Deutschland, Berliner und Münchener Tierärztliche Wochenschrift 2018
- BfArM: Wortlaut der Standardzulassungen für Bienentherapeutika
- Tierarzneimittelgesetz, Paragraph 92, Übergangsvorschriften