ABSTRACT
Veterinary medicines are widely used to treat disease and protect the health of animals. Dietary-enhancing feed additives (growth promoters) are also incorporated into the feed of animals reared for food in order to improve their growth rates. Release of veterinary medicines to the environment occurs directly, for example, from the use of medicines in fish farms. It also occurs indirectly, via the application of animal manure (containing excreted products) to land or via direct excretion of residues onto pasture (Jørgensen and Halling-Sørensen 2000; Boxall et al. 2004).
