Adam and Graham have recently published a study evaluating the potential environmental risks that may result from the use of zinc oxide based medicated feeds for weaning piglets. The study considered a number of generic scenarios representing the main pig farming regions in the UK, and also included two site specific assessments to evaluate the reliability of the generic scenarios. We considered both historic sources of zinc in agriculture and assumed the use of the medicated feeds over 50 years. To do this we used a model developed by researchers at UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) that predicts the accumulation of metals in soils and also their transport into surface waters. The published open access paper can be found here.
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