Belgian pig industry fears immediate zinc oxide ban

Belgian piglets have been given a controversial drug since 2013 that, according to experts, is harmful to humans and the environment, report Het Laatste Nieuws and De Morgen. The EU Commission has confirmed the EU-wide ban on the use of zinc oxide at medicinal levels in piglet feed, but member states have up to five years to phase out its use. Belgium, however, is still on the fence as to whether it will introduce an immediate ban or give farmers a five-year respite.

Belgium's former health minister Laurette Onkelinx in 2013 granted pharmaceutical companies a license to import zinc oxide as a drug for the livestock sector. Zinc oxide is used widely across the EU to control post-weaning diarrhoea and disease in young pigs. The drug is controversial, however, because of concerns about the potential danger of zinc to soil.

"We are disappointed that the EU has not followed our position," says current health minister Maggie De Block. "Belgium was in favour of a ban, but with a phase-out period that is right for everyone."

According to Belgium's Farmers' Union, an immediate ban would have serious consequences to the sector and could prompt increased antibiotics usage.