Australian Wool Innovation has adopted a new flystrike prevention policy, conceding it won't meet the 2010 deadline to phase out the practice of mulesing.
However, AWI says it is still committed to an "ethical and sustainable approach to support the safe and successful phase out of the procedure over time as R&D and breeding progresses".
In a statement to the media this morning, AWI said its new policy would support a "scientific fact-based approach to ensure the optimal health, welfare and productivity of Australian sheep, and to ensure they are protected from the risks of disease and death".
But it conceded that the 2010 mulesing deadline was unlikely to be reached "for welfare reasons, based on scientific grounds".
It said that pursuing a deadline approach phasing out mulesing was not based on "sound health and welfare science", and would risk a "serious deterioration in the welfare of sheep and/or a critical negative impact on the production and supply of wool".
According to AWI, whose statement listed 16 references to support its case, scientific publications show that without mulesing, the risk of attack of flystrike is 40-100 percent, and 1-3pc with mulesing.
It said the new policy had been adopted after consultation with woolgrowers, industry representative bodies and other stakeholders, and was based on the scientific evidence regarding the risk of suffering and death from flystrike in the absence of mulesing, the availability of effective analgesia, the state of development of alternatives and the production status of the industry.
AWI says this evidence shows that sheep in Australia remain highly vulnerable to flystrike due to the Lucilia cuprina blowfly, and that mulesing plays a crucial role to prevent the disease and to support wool production.
And while there has been progress to remove the need for the procedure through genetic research and breeding and the development of alternative methods of breech wrinkle removal such as clips and intradermals, AWI says these options are not sufficiently developed to support a wholesale cessation of the procedure in 2010.
On the issue of retailer demands for mulesing to be phased out, AWI says that is a problem between buyer and seller.
It says the National Wool Declaration enables farmers to declare their wool as either Non-Mulesed (NM), Ceased Mulesed (CM wool comes from farms where farmers no longer practice mulesing) or pain relief treated (PR).
AWI will recommend to AWEX that the National Wool Declaration also include a category for wool from clip treated sheep.
"This provides transparency and choice in the marketplace," the AWI statement says.
"This issue is now fundamentally a transaction between buyer and seller, and will be resolved by the laws of supply and demand.
"Customers that wish to source non or ceased mulesed wool, as well as wool from sheep treated with pain relief, can do so through the AWEX National Wool Declaration document.
"Australian Wool Innovation is a research, development and marketing organisation. It is not empowered to impose any deadline to phase out the practice of mulesing.
"AWI supports all wool growers in their choice of best practice made in the interests of their animals."
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