New Delhi: The Government of India has amended the Drugs and Cosmetics Act to affirm the existing ban on diclofenac, giving a major boost to vulture conservation efforts in the country.

The notification issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on July 5 this year states that it “prohibits the manufacture, sale and distribution of diclofenac for animal use”.

This is a significant victory for wildlife conservationists who have long argued that the use of the drug to treat livestock has brought the once thriving vulture populations to the brink of extinction.

Vultures, being voracious scavengers, play an important role in the environment. By feeding on carcasses left in the open, they facilitate their decomposition and prevent outbreak of diseases. Their role in maintaining this balance, make them an indispensable ecological asset. Moreover, traditions of the Parsi community among others depend on vultures for disposing off their dead.

However, about a decade ago, unnatural deaths of vultures in large numbers alarmed the conservation community. More than 95 percent reduction in the population of vultures in India, Nepal and Pakistan, within a decade since early 1990s, was reported by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).

Diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug used on cattle prior to the ban, was scientifically established to be the reason for this drastic decline in vulture populations. The scavengers suffer from renal failure and visceral gouts after consuming the carcasses of the animals treated with the drug.

Following the revelation of this link, conservationists appealed for ban on diclofenac. Another drug, meloxicam, which has the same effects on the cattle but without the negative effects on vultures, was suggested as an alternative.

The Vulture Advocacy Programme of the BNHS effectively lobbied with the government to outlaw diclofenac.

The Drug Controller General of India in May 2006, issued a circular to the Drug Controllers of all states ordering withdrawal of licenses issued to the manufacturers and phasing out of the drug. Similarly, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Agriculture also issued a directive to State Veterinary Departments to “not purchase diclofenac for veterinary use”. Pharmaceutical companies were also ordered to promote meloxicam. However, lack of awareness among consumers, availability of diclofenac for human use and lack of enforcement allowed its continuation despite the ban.

The amendment in the section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 will enable effective enforcement of the ban ordered by the Central government in 2006.

Dr Nita Shah, Advocacy Officer, Vulture Advocacy Programme, BNHS said, “This is a great step towards vulture conservation and we appreciate the action of the Government of India.”

Nine vulture species are recorded in the Indian subcontinent. Three among these, the white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis), long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus) and slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris), were classified as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in 2000. Two years later, they were also listed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.