October 2015: Iran takes exemplary step to ban veterinary diclofenac

Iran’s Department of Environment (DOE) is proud to announce the formal prohibition of all veterinary use of diclofenac as well as its production, export and import to Iran. Diclofenac is not among Iran’s approved veterinary drug list, but this ban, which takes immediate effect should ensure that this remains the case.

It is hoped that this action will be effective not just for protecting Iran’s vultures but also the large variety of raptors occurring in this very large country. This achievement would not have been possible without the close cooperation between two governmental departments, the Department of Environment and the Iran Veterinary Organization, and also a non-government institute, the Tarlan Ornithology Group. Mahmoud Marashi and Alireza Hashemi have proactively taken this issue up and using many of the resources available from the SAVE website, (following up on a recent meeting between Alireza Hashemi and Chris Bowden at the July LIFE+ Egyptian Vulture meeting) they have very quickly been able to prompt this excellent step, which we hope can be replicated by other countries in Asia and elsewhere, where there are no such preventative measure in place.