Conflicts of interest – should vets dispense medicines?

One of the European Commission’s Actions to fight antimicrobial resistance was to “Strengthen the regulatory framework on veterinary medicines and medicated feed.” Does this mean that they are considering stopping vets dispensing antibiotics? One of the concerns expressed in the antibiotic debate is that vets have a “conflict of interest” – when they use antibiotics they make money out of selling them to the client and this causes them to try to sell even more. In De