The government has opened an eight-week consultation to address the presence of chemicals from flea and tick treatments in rivers and streams across the UK. You can help ensure that wildlife is protected by any future decisions on these chemicals.

Here is what the government said: “Many veterinary medicines containing fipronil or imidacloprid are currently classified as AVM-GSL, meaning they can be sold without professional advice, for example, in supermarkets. Given the emerging evidence of environmental contamination, the VMD is reviewing whether this route of supply remains appropriate. The review will explore whether requiring professional advice at the point of sale could support responsible use and disposal to help reduce environmental risks.”

Anyone can contribute to this consultation.

How to respond:

Using the Consultation hub Citizen Space tool OR, if you are unable to use Citizen Space, you can download the call for evidence documents and submit your response by email to [email protected]

Deadline: 11 June 2026 at 23:59

If you would like to respond:

If you would like to help bugs, you can submit a short response as part of the consultation, urging the government to follow Buglife’s recommendations on the topic which are stated here:

Reclassifying all veterinary products containing fipronil and imidacloprid as prescription only.
Improving guidance on environmental risks.
Prohibiting the online sale of all veterinary products that include harmful pesticides.
Ensuring a rapid transition to risk-based treatments.
Revising veterinary package offerings and promoting alternatives.
Revise the approvals process to ensure impact to the environment is adequately considered as part of the process

Tips for responding

If you only have 30 seconds: Answer Question 15: “Do you agree with a change in distribution category to restrict supply routes for these medicines?”

Suggested answer (feel free to change so you’re using your own words)

Strongly Agree through Prescription-only usage

The reason for needing a POM-V (prescription-only, supplied by a veterinarian) is because relying on promoting “correct use” through a lesser distribution category is unlikely to substantially reduce environmental pollution. The only measure we can be confident will lower levels of pollution is to reduce overall use. There is no evidence that following the current datasheet instructions will significantly reduce environmental pollution. There is ample evidence that indirect transfer, via down-the-drain, is causing pollution that wouldn’t be avoided by anything less than POM-V.

Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) © Charlie Jackson (Flickr, CC)

If you have 5 minutes: Answer Question 16 about impacts of the change. Please consider using your own words and talking about your own experiences with your pets and the environment Giving the reasons for your answer, will be very powerful.

You may wish to talk about if:

You have already stopped using spot-on treatments preventatively or completely;
Your use of alternative treatments;
You have spoken to your vet about risks and benefits of your pet’s flea and tick treatments;
You want safer products for wildlife and river;
Your concern about the environmental impact;
You support stronger regulation.

If you would like to learn more about this topic, or you would like to include more information in your response, check this out: Love Your Pet, Not Pesticides: New Report Warns of Flea and Tick Treatment Threat to Rivers – Buglife latest news

And to read the full Report or to include it in your response, you can access it here: The effects of veterinary tick and flea treatments on freshwater invertebrates and ecosystems

What happens after the review has ended?

The government has explained that the full review process is expected to take around 12 months, encompassing evidence gathering, stakeholder engagement, and impact assessment. A summary of responses will be published within 12 weeks of the call for evidence closing. Any regulatory decisions will be announced, with sufficient time for businesses and others to implement any required changes.

Buglife will continue to update supporters on our ongoing campaign to prevent further environmental harm from these pesticides.