The newest report from the Tasmanian EPA has concluded that the use of florfenicol is supposedly a low risk to the environment. However, in an incredible move, the EPA chose to exclude the risk to bacteria. Bob Brown Foundation is calling for the EPA to ensure that the risk to bacterial and microbial communities is included in the risk assessment.
“Given the documented scientific evidence of the significant impacts of Florfenicol in Chilean waters, especially to bacterial communities, the conclusion by the EPA that Florfenicol is supposedly low risk while excluding assessing Tasmania’s bacterial communities, is extremely troubling,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine Campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation.
“Bacteria are foundational to any ecosystem. They play a critical role and seeing as antibiotics are designed to exclusively target bacteria, failing to include that risk is astonishing. Given the fact that in Norwegian factory fish farms, they used 500kg of Florfenicol in a full 12 months across the entire country, and here in Tasmania we used 3 tons in a single, small lease area, the risk to the bacterial foundation of the marine environment is anything but low. What is worse is that the EPA excluded bacteria from the risk assessment, so we don’t even know.”
“The factory fish farms permit to use Florfenicol was revoked by the federal government because the industry contaminated Tasmania’s waters so badly that florfenicol was found over 10kms away from the nearest fish farm and it risked other fisheries. It’s time to get these polluting fish farms out of Tasmania waters,” said Alistair Allan.
Study about the impact on Bacteria in Chile:
