The Australian Industrial Hemp Alliance says that Australian regulators missed the formal deadline for establishing rules on hemp use in pet nutrition products.
The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, or APVMA, was contacted by the AIHA in April of this year to request clarification and reform regarding such products. A formal response had been requested within thirty days. The APVMA updated its website in May to include hemp as a “Food or Supplements Excluded from Nutritional Use” (END).
Early in August, at a conference between AIHA-APVMA the Director of Veterinary Medicines for APVMA stated “All END Products are VCPs”. VCP is short for “veterinary chemicals products”. As such, they would need to be registered — and none have, essentially making hemp pet nutrition products sold in Australia illegal.
It was confirmed by the APVMA’s legal counsel that END-products are not VCPs when criteria is met. According to The Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act (Cth), Section 5: An exemption may be granted for products that meet the END criteria.
On the first of this month the AIHA wrote a second letter to the CEO APVMA regarding missing a deadline to reply to the Alliance on agreed actions for progressing determining an ingredient.
HempPet (owned by AIHA Treasurer Arthur Wajs) claims that the hemp industry has lost $20 million since 2022. There are now fewer hemp products available for pets.
Clarity is needed to move innovation forward in the natural pet healthcare industry.
The following is a commentary published on Australian Dog Lover Wajs, earlier in the month:
The APVMA updated its website in May, and we hoped that this would be a sign of a new direction. However, the truth has been a confusing series of contradictory comments from senior officials.
AIHA urges the APVMA for a formal and immediate clarification that END products used exclusively as nutritional supplements are not classified under VCP. It also wants to see the Authority endorse flaxseed’s streamlined hemp pathway and strengthen its communication protocol.