🙋 During June this year, “Elsie” proposed a motion on the government’s e-petition platform, titled: “Veterinarians must lawfully utilize human medication to treat animals, and the medical treatment of animals should comply with specialized checks made by veterinarians.”

At the Executive Yuan’s monthly participation officer meeting, the motion passed the ballot to become the subject of the 53rd Collaborative Meeting. On August 16th, the collaborative meeting was convened and livestreamed.

🤝 The meeting produced several recommendations that was agreed upon on all sides during the meeting, that the organizers, namely the Council of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, must publicly respond on the online participation platform with the specific details of the selection situation before October 20th.

In addition to the recommendations, all participating agencies had already achieved some considerable common understanding during the meeting, in regards to the clarification of the relevant legal aspects:

⚖️ Firstly, the agencies agreed that the «Draft Proposal for The Regulations Governing the Use and Management of Human Drugs on Dogs, Cats, and Non-economic Animals» does not contradict the «Pharmaceutical Affairs Law».

The presentation made that day by the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine clearly stated, “The proposed Regulations were stipulated in accordance with Article Four, Paragraph Three of the «Animal Protection Law», which also include the regulations for selling and distribution.”

During the presentation, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) also pointed out that: “In regards to the administrative scope of the use of human medication being used to treat animals, Paragraphs Two and Three of Article Four of the «Animal Protection Law» state that the Council of Agriculture’s administrative range already includes the distribution and selling of human medications for animal use. Therefore, regarding regulations for distribution and selling of such medications, we should prioritize the application of the «Animal Protection Law».”

💊 Second, the 597 types of pharmaceuticals that have been publicly announced which can currently be used for the treatment of animals, will not be affected by «Good Distribution Practice for Pharmaceuticals» (PIC/S GDP), ensuring their continued supply.

On May 21st, the TFDA sent an official notice to the guilds for pharmacists, pharmaceutical companies, and the pharmaceuticals marketing agents to explain that before the proposed Management Regulations come into effect, in order to safeguard the rights and interests of animal medical treatment, you can still currently obtain human medication for use in treating animals, with the assistance of veterinarians. This is in accordance with Article Two, Rule Four of the «Animal Protection Law», which sets the categories of human medications that can be used on animals.

📲 Furthermore, this collaborative meeting innovated on the invitation procedure in order to reach more people.

Besides the proposer, seconder, colleagues of related departments, representatives of the pharmacists and the veterinarians guilds, and interested parties such as experts and scholars, we have specially invited the administrator of the Facebook group “CrazyCat Club” and the Forum Moderator of the /cat/ board on the PTT Bulletin Board System to attend and participate in the discussions.

🇰🇷 Finally, the time period of the collaborative meeting just happened to coincide with Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) coming to Taiwan to shoot a special report on the subject of opening up government and social innovation.

Because of this, aside from the live Internet broadcast of the entire event, the open discussion period provided the EBS team with footage and interviews.

✨ The producer of the EBS team said to me many times that day: “This kind of scene, it’s beautiful.”

🌈 I sincerely hope that aside from sending back the information gained from the meetings to their own social groups, all of the participants can bring the feelings of that day into more of the follow-up discussions.