The Horse Trust has welcomed the announcement from Defra to introduce new controls on the online sale of veterinary medicines.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate, a Defra agency, has announced that from April 2012 only approved websites will be able to legally sell veterinary medicines. These controls have been introduced to crack down on ‘rogue’ websites that sell veterinary medicines without providing advice. Approved websites will display a logo to help people avoid rogue websites.

“We are delighted that Defra has taken this vital step to prevent the irresponsible sale of veterinary medicines,” said Jeanette Allen, Chief Executive of The Horse Trust. “Once the regulations come into force next year, we would encourage horse owners to look out for the new logo when making veterinary medicine purchases online.”

Last year, The Horse Trust raised the issue of websites dispensing equine wormers without providing veterinary advice.

“We are particularly concerned about websites that sell equine wormers without providing advice due to the growing problem of drug resistant worms,”