NFU and government committed to TB eradication plan

The NFU has announced that it remains committed to supporting the government’s TB eradication programme for England, including a badger cull in those areas where TB is persistent and high, despite the outcome of yesterday’s backbench business debate.

147 MPs voted for a motion calling for culling to be abandoned in favour of vaccination with 28 voting against – but the majority of MPs who spoke in the debate were in favour of culling.

NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond, who listened to the debate from the public gallery, acknowledged the result was disappointing but said the debate had offered a fresh opportunity for the serious issue of bovine TB to be re-examined.

“This is a hugely complex issue and I understand that people have strong views, but TB is one of the biggest single threats to our beef and dairy farms. To be successful, all the most recent science shows that tackling TB requires a comprehensive programme of measures that attacks this terrible disease from all sides,” he said.

“As was mentioned during today’s debate we already have tight cattle control measures and increased bio-security in place on farms. By January additional cattle testing will also be in place, and we currently cull all cattle that test positive for TB – last year alone 34,000 of them were slaughtered before the end of their productive life. Farmers are doing everything they can to protect their herds from TB but in the meantime the disease continues unchecked in the surrounding wildlife.

“We know that no other country in the world has got on top of TB with cattle control measures alone when the disease has a stronghold in the wildlife, as it does in England. So we need to tackle the reservoir of TB in badgers, the proven source of TB infection in cattle.

“Whilst the vaccination of cattle and badgers will have a part to play, we have heard today that we are years away from either making a significant contribution to reducing the prevalence and spread of TB.

“We need to continue to invest in research for a workable cattle vaccine, and an oral vaccine for badgers too, but while we sit and wait we condemn tens of thousands of cattle to death every year and farmers and their families to untold misery.

“Including badger controls, as part of the current TB policy is regrettable but absolutely necessary if we are to start now to control TB and ultimately eradicate the disease from our beef and dairy herds once and for all.”

However opposition to the cull will be delighted about the vote and will have been given hope that an alternative course of action can be achieved before June 2013. Chief Executive of the RSPCA, Gavin Grant, says: "It is fantastic that MPs have voted in overwhelming numbers to scrap these foolish and cruel plans to cull badgers. 

"Now the government must listen to the voice of the house, of leading scientists and of the people and confine all ideas of a  badger cull to the history books for the sake of badgers, cows, dairy farmers and rural communities alike.

"The government’s temporary reprieve must now be made permanent. This vote must mark an end to all cull plans. We would like to express our gratitude to the hundreds of thousands of people who have contacted their MPs, signed petitions and become the compassionate voice of the animals that needed to be heard."

Grant insists that More than 70 per cent of badgers, most of them healthy, would have been killed in the two pilot zones and then across large areas of the countryside. This was despite an independent 10 year scientific study showing a cull would have been of little help to controlling TB in cattle and even suggested that it could make it worse in some areas.

Gavin argues "Science, the public and MPs from all parties have said very clearly that a cull is no answer to bovine TB. The RSPCA stands ready to play a full part in working with farmers, land owners, the government and conservationists to move forward rapidly and constructively to tackle this dire disease in cattle and wildlife. 

"We must now drive forward to ensure that cattle vaccination is used, that badgers are vaccinated, that the test which differentiates between vaccinated and infected cattle is approved and that we end the scourge of bovine TB in England.

"We have pledged to work with farmers and all those dealing with the challenge of bovine TB, working towards the rapid vaccination of badgers and approval of an appropriate vaccination for cattle.

More information is available online at www.nfuonline.com and www.rspca.org.uk