LONDON (Reuters) - An anti-inflammatory livestock drug that has already been linked to a dramatic decline in vulture populations in Asia is also a threat to vultures and other carcass-eating birds in Europe, regulators said on Friday.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said its experts had confirmed European birds were at risk from residues of the drug diclofenac, which has been authorized for animal use since 1993 and is used in cattle, pigs and horses in some EU countries.
Conservationists have campaigned for some time for a ban on veterinary diclofenac in Europe, where vulture populations in Spain and other places are small and vulnerable. Consuming diclofenac-laced carcasses can lead to kidney failure in birds.
The London-based EMA said it had sent its assessment recommending that measures be put in place to protect the birds better to the European Commission, which will decide on the next steps.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler, editing by David Evans)
