45 TOXICOVIGILANCE OF PESTICIDES IN WILDLIFE: EXPERIENCE OF THE SAGIR NETWORK P. Berny, Toxicology Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, F-69280 MARCY L’ETOILE France. p.berny@vet-lyon.fr Introduction Toxicovigilance is a new concept in animals and in wildlife especially. A recent definition has been given (Lelièvre et al., 2002). It is the gathering of information on a product and its advserse effects on humans, animals or the environment. It implies three steps: 1. identification of the adverse effect. 2. estimation of the impact of the adverse effect on populations. 3. prevention of the adverse effect. This concept has not been implemented in animals. We developed a specific network, based on the wildlife disease surveillance system existing in France (SAGIR). The purpose of this presentation is to describe the network and present some results regarding pesticide poisoning in wildlife. Material and Methods The SAGIR network is organized under the authority of the Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage (ONCFS - National Hunting and Wildlife Office) and is primarily made of the regional hunting federations. Hunters and local network representatives are the keystone of the network. They are primarily responsible for the submission of wild animals found dead to a local veterinary diagnostic laboratory. There are SAGIR representatives in every part of France and, consequently, the network has a nation-wide impact. At the laboratory, necropsy is performed and bacteriological, parasitological or histopathological examinations are eventually performed. Samples may be submitted to the toxicology laboratory, with information on the circumstances of exposure and results of examinations already performed. Procedures are being implemented for the entire network, in order to work on a standardized basis. Once a case is completed, all the data are sent to the centralizing Laboratory (AFSSA French Agency for Food Safety – Wildlife Pathology Laboratory) in Nancy. This organism serves as the central laboratory for the evaluation of the SAGIR network. (Figure 1) At the toxicology laboratory, the samples are analyzed according to our internal procedures and with validated methods. Mainly crop, gizzard and liver are used for toxicological examination. The laboratory analyzes biological specimens for the detection of insecticides (mainly organophosphate and carbamate insecticides, pyrethroids, organochlorine insecticides, fipronil and imidacloprid according to Berny et al. (1999) and rodenticides, primarily anticoagulant compounds according to Berny et al. (1995). Based on exposure information, other products may be analyzed specifically, but most of them are not acute toxicants and less often involved in suspected poisoning cases. Each suspected poisoning case received at the toxicology laboratory is recorded on a specific computerized database to enter data regarding the species, number of animals involved, gender, age, date and location of death, clinical and necropsy findings, analytical results. The database was set up in 1990 and more than 10,000 suspected poisoning cases have been included over the last 6 years (including domestic species). In order to confirm a suspected poisoning case, exposure information (treatment application, bait found etc.), clinical/necropsy finding (clinical signs suggestive of poisoning) and the presence and amount of a compound (in biological samples) need to be assessed and to be conclusive. Results and Discussion Overview of wildlife poisoning cases From 1995 through 2001, the laboratory received 12,015 cases involving domestic and wild animals. Among those cases, 2952 cases involved wildlife species, as can be seen in Figure 2.