Introduction
Livestock production in Canada depends on drugs and other chemicals to protect the health of animals. Food animals may, on occasion, be exposed to environmental contaminants or become the object of bioterrorism. To protect the Canadian public against adverse health effects, there are federal programs charged with the detection of chemical and drug residues in foods of animal origin. To reduce residues risks proactively, veterinarians need to be able to provide producers with accurate information on the disposition of drugs or chemicals in animals prior to slaughter. With financial support from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development Fund (CARD Fund) and veterinary medical and livestock producer groups, Canada has joined a global food animal residue avoidance databank program known as gFARAD. Based at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and the Faculté de médecine vétérinaire at Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, the Canadian gFARAD will provide information on residue avoidance to veterinarians.
Historical background
The FARAD concept was established in 1982 as a cooperative project between 4 United States veterinary colleges and the US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service as a way to reduce the rate of residue violations in animal products through education and information. The founding philosophy of FARAD was that information about residue avoidance from all sources should be available immediately from a scientific source. The FARAD was developed not only to contain information related to approved animal drugs but also to include information on extralabel drug use and environmental toxins. For this “one-stop shopping” information service to work, the FARAD information was collated into a searchable computer database, with residue and pharmacokinetic data being analyzed and interpreted by veterinary pharmacologists and toxicologists. Currently, the FARAD database includes over 1200 drugs and chemicals and over 20 000 pharmacokinetic records extracted from over 9000 citations. For 20 years, the US FARAD centers have been providing accurate and timely information to veterinarians to protect the US food supply.
gFARAD
For many years, the US FARAD centers provided limited consultation on residue avoidance to Canadian veterinarians. But, with the disappearance of trade barriers, it was apparent that an international clearinghouse of residue information was needed. In 1998, 11 countries, including Canada, embraced the concept of “global” FARAD centers, with multinational cooperative sharing of data on food animal drugs and residue avoidance. Each member country is responsible for establishing its own permanent national access centers. With a yearly subscription to gFARAD, each member country receives Web-based access to the FARAD database, along with customized software and technical training from the original US centers. In return, gFARAD members collect, standardize, and enter into the global database all relevant drug and chemical information and tolerance data from their respective country. This global partnership provides a single Web-accessible compendium of drug information and tolerance data, to which only member countries have access. This pooling of data greatly augments efforts to ensure that withdrawal recommendations and interspecies extrapolations are based on the best available scientific information. The gFARAD system will also aid in the harmonization of acceptable international standards for veterinary drug use.
With the development of the gFARAD system, the US FARAD centers discontinued consultations with Canadian veterinarians. For the past 4 years, limited residue avoidance information has been provided by veterinary pharmacologists and toxicologists at Canadian veterinary colleges. In order to bring Canada into the gFARAD cooperative, Dr. Tim Blackwell of the Ontario Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Dr. Patricia Dowling of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine petitioned the federal CARD Fund for start-up funding for a Canadian program. Dr. Michèle Doucet of the Faculté de médecine vétérinaire joined them in February 2000 to participate in raising funds from various veterinary and producer associations in order to complete the operations budget. In July 2001, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food announced the funding of the Canadian gFARAD program. Canada now joins the United States, Great Britain, France, and Spain as a full gFARAD member country.
Canadian gFARAD
The Canadian gFARAD is composed of 2 regional centers: the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in the west and the Faculté de médécine vétérinaire in the east. The western gFARAD center is directed by Patricia Dowling, professor of clinical pharmacology and a diplomate of both the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology, and supported by Drs. Barry Blakely and Mark Wickstrom of the Toxicology Centre. The eastern gFARAD centre is directed by Dr. Michele Doucet, associate professor of pharmacology and a diplomate of both the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology. Graduate veterinary students at both centers also participate in the center's activities.
gFARAD services
The Canadian gFARAD centers will provide expert-mediated decision support for any inquiry related to drug or chemical residues in food animals. Center personnel will assist veterinarians or government agencies with inquiries related to environmental contamination or bioterrorism. Extralabel drug withdrawal information will be provided only to veterinarians because of their privilege and responsibility in using or prescribing drugs in an extralabel manner. The purpose of gFARAD is not to promote extralabel drug use, but to protect the public safety when it is necessary for veterinarians to use drugs in an extralabel manner. Accurate information regarding the condition being treated is also critical for gFARAD personnel to determine the impact of disease on residue depletion. Because the gFARAD withdrawal recommendation is not an official withdrawal time and is based on data that has not been reviewed or approved by the Veterinary Drugs Directorate, responsibility for residue violations rests with the prescribing veterinarian. In the unfortunate event where a residue results from extralabel drug use, it is still advantageous for a veterinarian to have recommended a withdrawal interval that is based on the best scientific evidence available.
When contacting the Canadian gFARAD, a veterinarian should be prepared to give the following information:
Generic and trade name of the drug or chemical;
Dose administered (in mg/kg bodyweight), route of administration, and volume injected per site;
Number of doses given;
Dosing interval;
Species/class of animal involved;
Health status of the animal(s) involved; and
The veterinarian's contact information (phone, fax, e-mail, etc).
Once this and any other pertinent information is received, the gFARAD personnel begin the process of determining appropriate withdrawal recommendations. Typically, the first gFARAD database to be searched is the trade name file for label information on the drug and the vehicle and/or excipients used in the formulation that may affect drug elimination. After label information on the product has been found, the next database to be accessed is the file for maximum residue limits. If a tolerance for a compound has been established for meat, milk, or eggs, the information will be found in this file. Next, the pharmacokinetic database is searched for all information relevant to the specific residue problem being addressed. Other sources will be searched, as needed, for the necessary information. From this collection of information, gFARAD personnel will estimate an appropriate withdrawal interval, so that residues will not be detected and meat, milk, or eggs will be safe for human consumption. In some cases, the information that is available on particular drugs or chemicals may be insufficient for gFARAD personnel to make a withdrawal recommendation. Withdrawal recommendations will not be made for drugs whose use is banned in food animals in Canada (eg, chloramphenicol) or for compounded medications without a Drug Identification Number.
How to contact gFARAD
The initial funding support from the CARD Fund allows the gFARAD service to be available as a bilingual, 1-800 phone service. Once this support ends, user fees may be instituted to maintain the service. Inquiries to gFARAD may also be submitted by FAX or e-mail. A specific Canadian gFARAD Web site is under development. Routine inquiries are typically answered within 1 working day, while complex residue problems may take longer. During nonworking hours, messages can be left 24 hours a day. For more information, call 1 (866) 243-2723 after October 1, 2002.