No ban on over-the-counter pet flea treatments in Jersey

There are currently no plans to ban over-the-counter sales of pet and flea treatments in Jersey.

The chemicals used in them are water-soluble, and can easily spread into water when pet owners wash their hands, or pets go swimming.

Jersey Water said there was no evidence pet and flea treatments were present in the supply.

The Department for Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) in the UK is considering restricting access to spot-on treatments and collars to prescriptions provided by vets and avoiding preventative treatment where possible.

It follows concerns that the poisons are killing songbirds, which like to line their nests with dog and cat hair, as well as contaminating rivers and coastal waters and killing aquatic life.

The Government of Jersey's Animal Health & Welfare Team said while it was aware of conversations being had in the UK, there were "currently no plans to ban the over-the-counter use of these products" in Jersey.

However it also said that it had not "carried out environmental sampling for residues from these products to the same extent" as those carried out on the mainland, and that it would "closely monitor" Defra's findings.

Jersey does not have comparable rivers and waterways to those in the UK but it does have a number of reservoirs.

Jeanette Sheldon, head of water quality at Jersey Water said: "Contamination risk from these types of substances is one of the reasons that we do not allow dogs off leads around our reservoirs, so that we protect our stored water."

She said testing had not detected flea treatment products in treated drinking water.

She added: "Our monitoring of untreated and treated water shows no evidence of these substances being present in our supply."