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Opinion & Comment: Getting real on bovine TB
Posted by: JimEdwards on Jul 15, 2004 - 02:35 PM
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Source: The Vet Record COMMENT, 17th July 2004
IT IS interesting that, in its report on its latest inquiry into bovine tuberculosis (TB), the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRACom) should have concentrated on responses to the problem other than culling badgers. This probably reflects recognition by the committee that any policy that involves killing badgers is not a realistic option in the short or longer term. This interpretation is borne out by a comment from the committee’s chairman, Mr Michael Jack, at the launch of the report this week that, although many farmers argue that culling badgers is the only effective way to deal with the problem, ‘the reality is that culling will not be permitted in the near future and, if it is ever allowed, it will form only a part of the response to the disease’. The secretary of state at DEFRA, Mrs Margaret Beckett, indicated earlier this year that proactive culling might be considered if the results of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) showed this to be effective, and the possibility was also raised in DEFRA’s consultation document on a new strategy on bovine TB for Great Britain, which was issued in February. However, it would be a brave Government that chose to reintroduce badger culling, particularly when a General Election is getting closer, and for the time being the results of the relevant part of the culling trial have still to emerge.
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