UNREASONABLE interference was in danger of turning the veterinary profession into just another business, said Hereford vet Peter Jinman in his presidential lecture to the British Veterinary Association Congress in Edinburgh.

It was ironic, said Mr Jinman, that at a time when the Gov-ernment had ambitious plans for developing an animal health and welfare strategy, it should be necessary to have to argue the case for getting vets on to more farms, more often.

Amid increasing concerns over the number of practices considering quitting large animal work by 2013, Mr Jinman said that while business must make a profit, safeguarding the health and welfare of the UK's livestock should receive paramount importance.

The right to practise veterinary surgery was balanced against the responsibilities of the profession to do so by acting professionally and with the utmost integrity. There was, however, a responsibility for the public through the Government to ensure the profession was put in the position where it could properly discharge that duty.

"Unreasonable interference is in danger of turning our profession, into just another business. It is to be hoped the Government doesn't realise too late the delicate balance existing between protection of the public interest and over-regulation that acts to the detriment of the profession, then the public and the animals under our care."