Marit Paulsen kicks off our cover feature on animal health by saying that the commission’s proposed law is of “great importance” for public health. As parliament’s rapporteur on the EU’s new animal health legislation, the ALDE deputy warns that “70 per cent of our infectious diseases are common for animals and humans”, and cites Salmonella as a prime example, able to spread from pigs and dogs to humans “at great costs for national healthcare systems”. Paulo Testori Coggi, director general of DG Sanco, stresses that new animal health rules should be “simple and smart” and that, together with commission proposals which aim to “optimise the single market” for medicines, can help to foster a more “competitive farming sector”. Meanwhile, UK deputy Alyn Smith insists that a “comprehensible” Europe-wide animal health strategy is of “fundamental importance” to the EU.