Tackling Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB)
Latest News
The House of Commons Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Select Committee has today (Wednesday 27 February 2008) published its report on Badgers and Cattle TB: The Final Report of the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB. Read more
The BVA initial response
The report, along with written and oral evidence
Overview
bTB has continued to hit the headlines in 2005 and 2006 following Government announcements on wildlife controls, the introduction of pre-movement testing, a new Tabular Valuation system, and the recent announcements on the use of Gamma Interferon, a report on the drop in TB numbers, and the publication of the two Comer Reports on veterinary capacity and preparedness for pre-movement testing and an analysis of the testing procedures.
bTB continues to be one of the most challenging and frustrating animal health issues that farmers face. After two decades of increasing TB numbers, very little is still known about the transmission of this disease between and within species, representing a real challenge for policy makers and those affected by the disease.
The BVA and BCVA published a comprehensive set of policy documents (see below) on the control of both cattle and wildlife vectors in October 2005. The policy includes recommendations to Government on the improvement of current cattle controls and urges Defra to start tackling the wildlife reservoir of disease. The BVA disseminated the policy widely during the autumn, which included meetings with Defra officials, and European officials in Brussels.
In December 2005, further media interest was sparked by the publication of the initial results of the RBCT in Nature, accompanied by a paper on the perturbation effects of culling on badger populations in the Journal of Applied Ecology. The initial results provided evidence to show that badgers were involved in the transmission of bTB to cattle, however it did not show how significant a part they played in the overall transmission.
In December, the Government also announced the opening of a public consultation on badger culling to control TB in hotspot areas, the introduction of pre-movement testing in February 2006, and the introduction of tabular valuations. In January 2006, the EFRA Committee announced an inquiry into the Government’s consultation.
The BVA responded to the EFRA Committee inquiry in February 2006 and the Defra consultation in March 2006 (see below). In its response the BVA stressed the need for an holistic approach to the control of TB in hotspot areas, with tighter controls for cattle and badgers. The Association also urged Government to put more efforts into researching the use of gassing, which was considered to have the most potential in terms of welfare and ease of use,
and stressed the need for Government involvement in any planned cull to ensure that operatives were properly trained, and that high welfare standards were maintained.
The veterinary profession supported the announcement that pre-movement testing would be rolled out in 2006, however the presidents of the BVA and BCVA wrote to the Minister in February to urge postponement of the roll out until the profession was ready to take on the extra testing, and had received adequate instructions from the SVS on how to carry out testing.
Due to pressures from both farming and veterinary organisations, Defra postponed the roll out of testing until 27th March 2006, and commissioned an independent review by Philip Comer into the preparedness and capacity of the veterinary profession to take on pre-movement testing. The report showed that the profession did have the capacity and was ready to start testing and pre-movement testing came into force in March 2006.
In July 2006, the Government published a summary of the 47,472 responses to the badger culling consultation, which showed that 95.6% of respondents were opposed to a cull. When the numbers were broken down 50% of interested organisations were against a cull ad 41% were for a cull. Defra announced that they were therefore postponing a decision on whether to go ahead with a cull as they were not yet in a position to base this decision on sound science and practical foundation.
In response to the announcement, Freda Scott-Park expressed disappointment at the decision, but conceded that it was vital that any decision was based on as sound a scientific and practical foundation as possible. She also showed support for the further work on culling methods.
However she stressed that patience was wearing thin and that the decision had been postponed on many occasions. She commended the application of the profession’s first principles of disease control, namely that in a situation where control is critical, yet absolute science is absent, wherever the disease is identified it should be removed to reduce the possibility of further infection, citing the eradication of Rinderpest as but one example of success in the past.
Looking forward to 2007, the BVA, in close collaboration with the BCVA, will continue to be a key player and to represent the profession’s views at stakeholder meetings with Government. The BVA will continue to work with Government and other interested parties to consider the practicability of a potential badger cull in the future.
Policy Documents
Read the BVA's response to the latest Defra consultation on bTB controls in the badger population (.pdf). The BVA have objectively assessed the latest evidence and have laid out the arguement to support the view that on balance a policy to cull badgers should be part of the approach to help control the disease in cattle in high incidence areas.
BVA’s bTB policy statement calls for increased cattle controls and a start to tackling bTB humanely in the badger population. This is because of established links between the prevalence of bTB within the cattle and badger populations and the increased prevalence of the disease across the UK.
There is concern that if Government waits another year for publication of the results of the current culling trials before taking action, this will pose a further risk to animal health and welfare and will lead to increasing infection within the two populations. It will also increase the potential risk to human health.
BVA’s comprehensive policy documents outline the steps that BVA believes are essential to control the disease now to ensure a healthy cattle and badger population for the future.
The BVA’s Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) Policy Documents ( 
) include :
2. A list of recommendations for the control and surveillance of bTB
3. A bTB control and surveillance strategy document
The documents should be read as a collective to provide an overview of the Association’s beliefs and recommendations for the effective and sustainable control of bTB. Whilst eradication of bTB might not be an achievable goal within the next 10 years, measures introduced should be aimed at achieving eradication in the long term.
bTB costs the industry, Government and the tax payer millions of pounds a year. The most efficient use of resources woud be to immediately take action to eradicate M. bovis from the UK herd and to commit further resources to effective vaccine development.
Other documents (members only)
Update on the use of PCR from Andy Biggs, BCVA President (July 2006)
Bovine TB: where to now? (Veterinary Review article by Andy Biggs in May 2006)
Related News Releases
Bovine Tuberculosis in Cattle and Badgers - 23 October 2007
BVA Statement on the ISG Report on Cattle TB - 21 June 2007
BVA welcomes further action to improve testing of cattle for bovine TB - 10 August 2006
 |
Please note files in .pdf format require Adobe Acrobat Reader. Please download your free copy now. |