[Ban on antimicrobial growth promoters: a safety advantage for consumers?]

The general ban of antimicrobial growth promoters seems reasonable and desirable to consumers, but is nevertheless problematic in a veterinary medical and political perspective. Rational risk management would imply that restrictive government decisions are evidence-based and provide the consumer with a higher safety level. The recent decision of the European Commission to ban avoparcin from the market was explicitly not based on scientific evidence, and apart from temporarily reducing consumer fears, the risk balance could even turn negative. The prejudicial nature of the avoparcin ban may encourage far reaching governmental interference on the market leading to the withdrawal of therapeutically important veterinary drugs on the basis of suspected side effects alone. Rational risk management would call for balancing the elimination of risks with the risks of elimination.