Previously UK beekeepers had been using Fumidil B which was the only medicine authorised in the UK for the treatment of Nosema. However this product has now been withdrawn from the market. Directive 2001/82/EC (the “Veterinary Medicines Directive”), only permits food producing animals to be treated with medicines whose pharmacologically active substances are listed in the Table of Allowed Substances in Commission Regulation EU No 37/2010. Fumagillin, the active ingredient in Fumidil-B, does not have a Maximum Residues Limit (MRL) status and is not included in the Table of Allowed Substances. Therefore the UK had no alternative but to act on CEVA’s (the manufacturer) request to expire the marketing authorisation for Fumidil B on 30 December 2011 as continuing to allow this medicine to be on the market would have been contrary to EU law.
Other EU countries where this product used to be authorised took action some years earlier to remove it from their markets because of the absence of an MRL and hence concerns regarding consumer safety.
