July 7, 2008

experts comment on the DEFRA announcement on Bovine TB

The Government has decided not to press ahead with plans for a cull of badgers to control bovine tuberculosis, following advice from the Independent Scientific Group, which was set up to examine evidence on the issue.

Prof Sir John Krebs, Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford, said:

“The Government has made the right decision on a very tricky issue. The ‘Krebs trials’ showed that killing badgers could have an impact in reducing, although not eliminating, TB in cattle. But in order to achieve this, killing would have to be on a very large scale and over many years. This would be neither practicable nor acceptable, and the benefits would not be guaranteed. The solution has to come from vaccine development combined with better cattle controls and biosecurity.”

Nick Blayney, President of the British Veterinary Association, said:

“The veterinary profession is deeply concerned about the ongoing lack of disease control and the resulting impact on cattle and badger health and welfare. Be in no doubt, to date measures directed at cattle alone have not led to disease control. While we welcome the commitment to increased funding for research on vaccines, there is little doubt that any progress is some years down the line and it is hard to see how the Minister can expect either cattle farmers or the veterinary profession to ‘move forward’ in tackling the disease when nothing, other than yet another group, albeit under a new name – the Bovine TB Partnership Group – is envisaged for the foreseeable future. Both badgers and cattle are significant animals in the spread of TB as all the science agrees.”

Dr Fiona Mathews, Lecturer in Mammalian Biology at the University of Exeter, said:

“This announcement is to be welcomed. Bovine tuberculosis places an intolerable burden on British farming, especially in the South West. There is an urgent need for a sustainable solution. The government is right to accept overwhelming scientific advice that a badger cull would not only fail to deliver benefits, but might even make the situation worse. Appropriately, much greater investment will now be directed towards the development of a vaccine. But many other aspects of the disease have yet to receive sufficient attention. Only through an integrated approach, in which the causes of susceptibility to bovine tuberculosis in both badgers and cattle are properly explored and managed, can we work together to solve the problem.”

Dr Orin Courtenay, Reader in Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, said:

“In our opinion, culling badgers to control bovine TB would not be a sound policy based on the cumulative scientific evidence. In tandem with the announced TB vaccine development, with BBSRC and Defra funding we are developing cutting edge molecular detection methods aimed to improve farm biosecurity and to help measure the outcomes of future badger TB vaccination programs.”