Title
Toxicity of diclofenac to Gyps vultures
Author(s)
Swan G.E., Cuthbert R., Quevedo M., Green R.E., Pain D.J., Bartels P., Cunningham A.A., Duncan N., Meharg A.A., Oaks J.L., Parry-Jones J., Shultz S., Taggart M.A., Verdoorn G., Wolter K.
Published
2006
Publisher
Biology Letters
Abstract
Three endemic vulture species Gyps bengalensis, Gyps indicus and Gyps tenuirostris are critically endangered following dramatic declines in South Asia resulting from exposure to diclofenac, a veterinary drug present in the livestock carcasses that they scavenge. Diclofenac is widely used globally and could present a risk to Gyps species from other regions. In this study, we test the toxicity of diclofenac to a Eurasian (Gyps fulvus) and an African (Gyps africanus) species, neither of which is threatened. A dose of 0.8mg kg -1 of diclofenac was highly toxic to both species, indicating that they are at least as sensitive to diclofenac as G. bengalensis, for which we estimate an LD50 of 0.1-0.2 mg kg-1. We suggest that diclofenac is likely to be toxic to all eight Gyps species, and that G. africanus, which is phylogenetically close to G. bengalensis, would be a suitable surrogate for the safety testing of alternative drugs to diclofenac. © 2006 The Royal Society.
Keywords
diclofenac; bird; dose-response relationship; drug; livestock; scavenging (feeding); toxicity; animal experiment; article; bird; drug sensitivity; gyps africanus; gyps fulvus; nonhuman; priority journal; teratogenicity; Acute Toxicity Tests; Alanine Transaminase; Animals; Diclofenac; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Extinction, Biological; Falconiformes; Lethal Dose 50; Uric Acid; Veterinary Drugs; Asia; Eurasia; South Asia; Gyps; Gyps africanus; Gyps bengalensis; Gyps fulvus; Gyps indicus; Gyps tenuirostris
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PUB12215