Bovine TB slaughter numbers fall `a blip'
Sep 18 2006 By Anna Lognonne, The Journal
A fall in the number of cattle being slaughtered after contracting bovine TB has done little to stem the debate over the extent of the role played by badgers in spreading the disease.
Defra Secretary of State David Miliband has been warned by the National Farmers Union that the latest figures simply mask the need for a badger cull.
The Badger Trust has welcomed a 31% fall in the number of cattle slaughtered as a vindication of the current testing system.
The latest TB statistics show a 14% fall in new cases compared to last year's 1,120.
The number of slaughtered cattle has dropped to 13,000 from last year's 19,000 in the first seven months of the year. The number of herds under restriction remains at 4,348.
But NFU TB spokesman Jan Rowe said , despite the figures, "nothing has changed" in the way TB is spreading but the Government was using the statistic to again avoid culling badgers.
He said the figures were the result of a "blip" earlier this year caused, most likely, by the switch to Dutch tuberculin at the end of last year.
He said: "The question is whether it is picking up British strains in the same way." He said the other major factor was the "zero tolerance" policy which led to more herds being tested.
He added: "This was a quirky year and for Mr Miliband to put off doing something on basis of these figures is ridiculous.
"He is just storing up more trouble for the future and making it harder to deal with the main cause of the disease."
He added: "This is extremely frustrating for farmers who are bearing the cost of pre-movement testing but we are not dealing with the fundamental cause of the disease."
But Trevor Lawson, spokesman for the Badger Trust, said: "As more cattle are tested the rate of spread of the disease is being reversed. The science shows that these two factors are related. As we have advised all along, better TB testing is a fast and cost-effective way of tackling this disease."
He added: "There may yet be a further increase in the number of cattle slaughtered in the short term, as the Government trebles the use of the more effective gamma interferon TB test.
"But in the medium term this should mean that the total number of herds under movement restriction will start to decrease as infection is properly cleared out.
"Calls for badger culling from the farming industry are clearly not justified. This is primarily a disease spread by cattle between cattle and testing is the only way to stop that."
