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Bovine TB pages

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Dr. John Gallagher, a former government vet, has said,

"Control of tuberculosis in badgers needs to be a mix of culling diseased communities and attempts to raise the immunity of healthy badgers in the surrounds. Culling of infected badgers in new hotspots, as well as endemically infected areas should only begin after investigations have ruled out any other source. The work would consist of surveying all setts in a wide zone, followed by trapping initiated from the outer ring inwards. Badgers testing negative to tuberculosis would be boosted with a BCG injection and protection offered to cubs with oral doses. Any positive testing animals should be euthanased."

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On-site rapid diagnosis, such as that given proper trials by Warwick, allowing any necessary euthanasia to be both humane and targeted, could defuse the whole, horrible, polarised "debate" between those who want to save their cattle and those who want to protect badgers. Both sides speak from the best of motives. But we have the technology to deal with bovine TB without a mass cull.

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Recommended Blog http://bovinetb.blogspot.com/ (opens in new window)

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July 9 - 14 ~ July 2007 ~ Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control Hansard

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will publish the research protocol agreed with Warwick university and others to examine the use of the Polymerase Chain Reaction test for the detection of bovine tuberculosis. [147421]
Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA publishes the objectives of all research projects it commissions on its science website, once the contracts have been signed. This will be the case with the planned project to validate Polymerase Chain Reaction methods to detect bovine tuberculosis to be undertaken co-operatively by Warwick university, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and University College London.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070710/text/70710w0004.htm

The trouble is that all the evidence suggests that the M bovis is a transient presence in the blood. As one expert told us this week, "This is the nub of the cattle problem. There is no decent diagnostic method for finding carriers nor for finding it in broken down animals by a simple test."

June 26 2007 ~ a new bovine TB science advisory body - and another deafening silence

Hansard Mr. Bradshaw: There are no current plans for DEFRA Ministers to meet representatives of the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG) to discuss its recent report. The work of the ISG has come to an end.
The Government are committed to establishing a new bovine TB science advisory body to provide independent expert advice to inform policy decisions on bovine TB issues.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he plans to ask Professor Godfray to carry out an evaluation of the recent Independent Scientific Group report on bovine tuberculosis. [144889]
Mr. Bradshaw: There are no plans to ask Professor Godfray to carry out such a review.

June 22 2007 ~ Fears expressed for the future of farming in the South West of England and other hotspot areas

Alistair Driver in the Farmers' Guardian today on the TB report by the Independent Scientific Group. He quotes ISG chairman John Bourne "The ISG conclude that rigidly applied control measures targeted at cattle can reverse the rising incidence of disease, and halt its geographical spread" - but adds that John Bourne admitted that there was no cost-benefit analysis to back up the recommendations made in the report.
".......Prof Bourne acknowledged his findings would 'surprise some and be unwelcome to others' but was unapologetic, insisting the ISG had delivered its objective of presenting Ministers with a sound scientific basis for TB policy.
Defra Secretary David Miliband responded by making it clear the ISG report would not be the only evidence on which he based his policy decisions.
“We will base our approach to tackling bovine TB on all the available evidence,” he said.
He expressed caution over additional cattle controls, warning that they would increase the cost of the TB regime, on top of the costs already faced by farmers and Government.
The farming industry responded with a mixture of defiance and anger.
Farming organisations refused to accept that the report signalled the end of the road for a badger cull and pledged to continue working with Defra to formulate a workable policy.
Farmers For Action leader David Handley issued a call to farmers to refuse to comply with TB testing rules, while Paul Griffith, Devon NFU county chairman, warned of 'massive' illegal badger culling if the Government accepted the recommendations.

June 20 2007 ~ "The regime Prof Bourne has in mind is truly frightening. It's just hopeless."

Telegraph "....Anthony Gibson of the National Farmers Union said: "We know it means a lot more animals getting killed. The bigger the proportion of the herd you lose the bigger the consequent loss for which there is no compensation. "The regime Prof Bourne has in mind is truly frightening. It's just hopeless. It's snatched away the hopes farmers had that something could be done to get on top of TB."

June 17 2007 ~ Scientists rule out return to badger culls

Observer "Proposals for a widespread cull of badgers to limit the spread of bovine tuberculosis have been ruled out by the government's Independent Scientific Group, which argues that culling cannot make any meaningful contribution.
Environment Secretary David Miliband is expected to accept the recommendations, and make it clear that culling will not be reintroduced into Britain. Culling was banned in 1998 after doubts about its effectiveness. Animal protection groups which have campaigned against the measure say that it is cruel and unnecessary. The National Farmers' Union, however, is expected to challenge the decision.
The ISG's findings, based on trials over a 10-year period, show that when badgers are disturbed by a cull the survivors move farther afield, spreading the disease to cattle and to other badgers. Bovine TB costs around £80million a year, in compensation paid to farmers whose herds have to be put under movement restrictions. It says farmers can do more to detect the disease early in cattle, by using a new blood test."

June 2 2007 ~ Bovine TB "while we do everything to minimise the risk on our farm from cattle-to-cattle contamination, nothing is being done to eradicate the spread from wildlife to cattle.."

Yesterday's Stackyard article is sobering. An email from yet another closed herd farm yesterday: "....We've just gone down with TB which we are disputing after 2 inconclusives followed by a positive blood test. ... If we do turn out to have TB then this will be yet another case of a closed herd coming into contact with badgers." The Stackyard article emphasises the suffering incurred by the whole herd - and by the badgers themselves (as below). On the subject of recent badger vaccine trials, we are left once again wondering why - if the trials are successful and the vaccine found to be safe and effective - it has to "take at least 5 years before the vaccine could be administered to the general badger population outside the lab through microcapsules mixed with peanuts." Why so long when the situation is so desperate?
How is it possible that the government also continues to ignore the use of a technology that allows accurate testing to see if badger setts are infected so that any necessary euthanasia can be both humane and targeted? Without such technology such as this (see press release from Warwick) it is very difficult to differentiate "clean" setts containing uninfected badgers from "problem setts" containing infected badgers.": "We do not advocate culling badgers to control bovine TB, particularly in light of the scientific results emerging from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial. However if the government takes the decision to continue to cull badgers, then we would prefer that culling is targeted at diseased and infectious animals- indeed cattle, badgers or other wildlife hosts-, rather than see a policy of untargeted culling..."
"..... In the Gloucestershire population, they found 100% of the examined badger setts and latrines to be contaminated with M.bovis, whereas none of the samples in the Oxfordshire population were positive...... Results suggest that once the organism is excreted into the environment by cattle, badgers, or other wildlife, it could act as a source for further transmission..."
Farmers' Weekly reported six months ago that tests on 459 found-dead badgers in Wales show 55, or about 12%, TB positive. One in nine.
Instead of baying for the death of Shambo, voices should unite in demands for accurate testing both of cattle and badgers. If the voices calling for Shambo to be put down because of danger to humans, then it follows that allowing the bovine TB situation to carry on spiralling out of control is a human health danger. Certainly, it is both a false economy and a political disaster that nothing is being done. As the vet reported in the Farmers' Guardian says, there is 'absolutely no point' in PrMT (Pre Movement Testing), which involves a lot of work and expense and causes stress and damage to animals, if disease is not being controlled in the wildlife population."

June 1 2007 ~ " The vet said there was 'absolutely no point' in PrMT (Pre Movement Testing), which involves a lot of work and expense and causes stress and damage to animals, if disease is not being controlled in the wildlife population."

Farmers Guardian Alistair Driver on 25 May ".....If you control the wildlife population then, yes, be thorough with cattle testing. But there's absolutely no point in constantly testing, constantly killing and getting a pittance for cattle when we are getting nowhere with this disease - in fact, we are going into reverse in many areas."
The vet said there was ' widespread disenchantment' among state vets about TB policy and that it was 'terribly frustrating' that they were banned from speaking out on bTB. "Some vets are quite happy to lie down and wait for their pension but I am not," they said.
These comments add to the pressure on Ministers coming from the veterinary industry on this issue. The British Veterinary Association, which represents private vets, published a policy paper last summer calling for a 'holistic' approach in hotspot areas, including culling badgers.
In February 2005, a group of 420 mainly private and former state vets wrote to then Defra Secretary Margaret Beckett calling for a cull. The man behind the letter, former MAFF vet Dr John Gallagher, said their sentiments were widely shared by working state vets...."

March 30 2007 ~ "what steps he has taken to implement the proposals put forward by his Department's Science Advisory Council in 2005 for the establishment of a new bovine TB Science Advisory Board"

David Drew (Stroud, Labour) To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what steps he has taken to establish the new arrangements for securing scientific advice on bovine TB following the Government's strategic framework what steps he has taken to implement the proposals put forward by his Department's Science Advisory Council in 2005 for the establishment of a new bovine TB Science Advisory Board.
Ben Bradshaw "The Government are committed to establishing a new bovine TB Science Advisory Body (bTB SAB) to provide independent expert advice to inform policy decisions on bovine TB issues Defra has broadly accepted the recommendations put forward by the Science Advisory Council and has had lengthy discussions with SAC members to receive advice on reporting channels, body composition and terms of reference for its proposed bTB SAB. Agreement has been reached to establish an overarching bTB SAB with an independent external chair and membership drawn from existing, strengthened, independent expert advisory subgroups covering all aspects of the bTB science programme The Department continues to obtain independent expert peer review at all stages of its procurement and management of research and, last July, a quinquennial review of Defra's Bovine Tuberculosis Research programme was carried out. The report is available on the Defra website
| Hansard .

January 26-28 2007 ~ Ben Bradshaw: "We are currently considering research proposals..."

James Paice asked yesterday when DEFRA "expects to undertake research on the use of Polymerase Chain Reaction technology to detect M. bovis in badger setts"[110858]
Unfortunately, Mr Bradshaw chose not to answer the actual question asked so we do not know when - or even if - scientific evaluation will follow up the Warwick work, reported on in March 2006. Dr Orin Courtenay from the University of Warwick's department of Biological Sciences said in the university department press release that the team did not advocate culling badgers to control bovine TB, particularly in light of the scientific results emerging from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial but that if the government did continue to cull badgers, culling should at least be targeted at diseased and infectious animals. Untargeted culling kills healthy and uninfected animals. "With some further scientific evaluation, a "sett test" based on state-of-the-art molecular technology could provide a tool towards achieving this aim," he said.
Mr Paice's question was evidently asking about progress on this further scientific evaluation. It seems evident, from Mr Bradshaw's answer, that in the past year, DEFRA has done nothing more than "consider" proposals towards bringing forward a technology that is so vitally needed in Britain.

November 3 2006 ~ England and Wales are the only countries in the EU to have seen an increase in human TB cases over the past 10 years

Bovine TB can affect all warm-blooded vertebrates. Although in the past, pasteurization of milk and improved inspection and hygiene virtually eliminated human illness cases linked with bovine TB, a series of 35 human cases in New York City in 2005 prompted warnings in America against eating soft cheeses made from raw milk. Now, according to today's Independent, there are "10 new cases of TB a day in London and more than 600 of the total diagnosed last year were drug resistant. Drug resistant strains can take over a year to treat and cost tens of thousands of pounds. England and Wales are the only countries in the EU to have seen an increase in TB cases over the past 10 years. Germany, France and Spain have seen decreases of up to 35 per cent. In New York, the number of cases has more than halved in the past decade."

October 14 2006 ~ "The whole basis of Krebs was to remove badgers off the ground. For the first 4 years, that effort was farcical due to restrictions placed upon us. The trial had too many flaws in it to be trusted to produce meaningful evidence.."

ProMed today quotes in full a letter about the published paper by Dr Rosie Woodroffe. The distressing first hand experience outlined in the letter from a West Country farmer whose closed farm of pedigree Holsteins - with MAFF-approved biosecurity - nevertheless fell victim to TB, refutes the findings in Dr Woodroffe's American paper. A botched RBCT Reactive badger clearance' a hit-and-run visit on the neighbouring farm led to the deaths of 48 cattle - " in our bitter experience, the last thing the RBCT did was cull badgers - but disperse them, it most certainly did. And then abandon any attempt to 'react' for 3 years."
The farmer goes on to quote senior member of the RBCT wildlife team, Paul Caruana, in a submission to the EFRA committee:
"The whole basis of Krebs was to remove badgers off the ground. For the first 4 years, that effort was farcical due to restrictions placed upon us. The trial had too many flaws in it to be trusted to produce meaningful evidence. How much weight do we give the latest ISG report, detailing their 'robust' findings to the Minister? If it were down to me and my staff, very little."
The posting is also interesting for its description of the little studied effects of FMD on biodiversity: Read in full

Oct 5 2006 ~ Dismay at new bovine TB 'hotspots'

icNorthWales "...Farmers in parts of North Wales have reacted with dismay after learning their holdings are now in bTB hotspots. Letters, in Welsh only, were sent out this week announcing changes to the Parish Testing Interval (PTI) regime. It means that sections of Denbighshire and a small area around Deeside are now classified as bTB hotspots. Affected farmers were told their cattle would now be tested once every 12 months or two years, depending on the perceived threat. Previously they had been subjected to four-year testing cycles...."

Oct 4 2006 ~ American bTB research "the same computers - or more up to date models - that were responsible for 11 million deaths in FMD"

email received
".....The news today of 'American' research which supports cattle / cattle transmission of Tb, and even cattle/ badger (from Badger Trust) is spearheaded by our own Rosie Woodruffe, a former member of the ISG / Bourne / Krebs magic circle, but now domiciled in California.
From what we can see the 'evidence' is the RBCT / VLA in all its glory. First year only of course, and masticated through Imperial College's computer modelling. Yup, the same computers - or more up to date models - that were responsible for 11 million deaths in FMD, and then had the audacity to halve the number, by ignoring lambs, piglets and calves. (compensation being paid for 'a single unit' which as you know, was a mother and her unweaned offspring)..."
See also recent links

See DEFRA site

for Government Veterinary Journal - Bovine TB special (Volume 16, no 1, September 2006)

September 28 2006 ~ "Another glossy booklet and a new committee is not a solution to the problem of bTb, which after twenty years of prevarication is now "endemic" in the UK's badgers and producing an "epidemic" in the sentinel cattle..."

The Blog, bovinetb.blogspot.com/ challenges current weasel words and woolly arguments. It is updated most days and its archive is important.

( Farmers' Weekly reports that tests on 459 found-dead badgers in Wales show 55, or about 12%, TB positive. FWi quotes Evan Thomas, the FUW's TB spokesman, "Imagine if one in nine of our children was infected with TB, it would be the worst epidemic in centuries.")

September 27 2006 ~ Claims made by the RSPCA found to be unjustified by the Advertising Standards Agency

Listen again to Farming Today (Wednesday 27 Sept) Earlier in the year the RSPCA paid for newspaper coverage to assert that badgers had nothing to do with the spread of TB and that it was a cattle to cattle disease. An email received today "... Nick Renwick (not sure if spelling is correct!) of the Welsh Farming Union and Hilary Seals a South Devon breeder from Derbyshire were the only people to challenge these articles with the Advertising Standards Agency - after a protracted investigation and the RSPCA employing a team of expensive lawyers - the ASA upheld the complaint saying that they had invesigated the claims made by the RSPCA and found them to be unjustified..... Whatever does the Charity Commission do? " Read in full

Can the government now ignore the use of a technology that allows any necessary euthanasia to be both humane and targeted?

The University of Warwick's department of Biological Sciences press release about its research using PCR diagnosis on badger setts and latrines. "....without technology such as this its is very difficult to differentiate "clean" setts containing uninfected badgers from "problem setts" containing infected badgers.":
"We do not advocate culling badgers to control bovine TB, particularly in light of the scientific results emerging from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial. However if the government takes the decision to continue to cull badgers, then we would prefer that culling is targeted at diseased and infectious animals- indeed cattle, badgers or other wildlife hosts-, rather than see a policy of untargeted culling..."
"..... In the Gloucestershire population, they found 100% of the examined badger setts and latrines to be contaminated with M.bovis, whereas none of the samples in the Oxfordshire population were positive...... Results suggest that once the organism is excreted into the environment by cattle, badgers, or other wildlife, it could act as a source for further transmission..." More
As one of the lead researchers on the project, Dr Orin Courtenay, says, " if the government takes the decision to continue to cull badgers, then we would prefer that culling is targeted at diseased and infectious animals"

March 2006 ~ An Easy, Inexpensive Test Detects Tuberculosis in Livestock and Wildlife

See USDA webpage.

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Open Letter 24 February 2005 from more than 350 vets and scientists (new window)

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LATEST news

Recommended articles

Worcestershire farmers fight for their cows.

Use of an Electronic Nose To Diagnose Mycobacterium bovis Infection in Badgers and Cattle - extracts Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2005

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Rapid PCR diagnostic portable kits. The UK catches up....

From the Telegraph15/09/2004"...... There will also be in-the-field testing for animal diseases, including foot and mouth or tuberculosis in cattle within 30 minutes, rather than having to send samples to a lab.
Tim Rubidge, Dstl head of technology transfer and investments group, said the idea of a tabletop DNA test laboratory was no longer a "a twinkle in the eye of a research scientist looking far out into the future".
"We have a portfolio of more than 20 strong patents, field-tested instruments and continuing research projects supporting the MoD and Department of Health," he said. "It is fair to say that we have taken PCR out of the research lab and into the field where it is most needed." ...." Read in full

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The obvious potential of a portable, rapid diagnostic PCR cycler machine is to give a rapid identification of TB and the spoligotype of TB present in badgers. If one animal from a sett is found to have TB of a type causing infection in nearby cattle, then that sett could be eradicated with carbon monoxide - a humane method of killing the infected animals. Of course "Brock" is a much loved icon of the English countryside - but an unfortunate badger with TB should not in its miserable condition, be kept alive so that it can die slowly and infect everything else around.

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Only in an environment free of bovine TB would it make sense to cull anything that has had contact with tuberculosis. Unfortunately, the UK with over 30% of badgers are now infected, and capable voiding up to 300,000 units of bacteria in every 1 ml of urine, most of the cows in the West will have antibodies to bovine TB. This does not mean that there will be fewer dead cows, protected by antibodies. DEFRA's policy of killing anything that reacts to the TB test means there is massive slaughter of reactors - many of whom who do not have the disease itself.

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Recommended Blog http://bovinetb.blogspot.com/

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Britain 'is facing £2bn bill for TB in cattle'
By Charles Clover
(Filed: 26/11/2005)

"Tuberculosis in cattle will cost £2 billion over the next decade unless the Government takes the kind of determined action seen in the United States...... Mr Paterson said: "I was overwhelmingly impressed by the absolute determination of the authorities to eradicate TB before it took hold, especially in comparison to the pitiful efforts of their UK colleagues." ..."

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Bovine TB Control in Great Britain A Paper for Discussion

by the National Beef Association can be seen in full here pdf file

It makes 18 recommendations, including "the obvious potential of a portable PCR cycler machine" (See below)

NBA recommendations for TB control:

1. Bovine TB is increasingly expensive both to Government and industry but it is a case where front-loading of cost will undoubtedly save money in the long run so long as a full basket of control measures is implemented. This needs to be properly explained to Treasury.

2. To bring a disease under control it is imperative that one knows where it is. The inspection for bovine TB lesions in OTM carcases, a major element in surveillance for bovine TB, may be too hurried to be effective. It is recommended that more care is taken and a sample of culls from herds with repeated TB reinfections are examined with closer veterinary attention, if necessary growing cultures from tissue samples of any carcase under suspicion.

(Only 154 cattle with visible lesions at inspection out of 3.4 million carcases seems to be almost too good to be true.)

3. Conduct a full analysis of the DEFRA database and link its information to industry databases to construct a clear national, regional and farm cluster (not merely parish) description of the incidence of TB nationwide. Faster analysis of TB 99 information would assist in compiling this essential instrument of control.

In many cases TB restrictions on neighbouring farms are completely anomalous merely because they are in adjoining parishes.

4. Test all herds in parishes within 30 kilometres of any TB incident on an annual basis until that parish has been clear of TB for at least 3 years.

5. Treat any new TB out-breaks in TB clean areas urgently by testing cattle on all neighbouring farms twice, firstly within two months and then a second time after a 60 day interval. Test sufficient of the local badger population to establish whether the TB flare-up is badger derived or cattle to cattle infection or from some other cause. Such testing could use the PCR method described in 4 (c).

6. In any case immediately introduce field trials on the portable PCR machine described in section 4 (c) of this paper for both badgers and cattle.

7. The NBA would support a blitz on cattle TB using both the skin test and the GI blood test (subject to the comments in section 4 (b)) in repeat TB incidents in low risk areas.

8. The rescheduling of testing areas i.e. six months, one, two and three years using specifically targeted areas or farm clusters rather than parishes, is necessary (see recommendation 3 above).

9. Continue enforcement of test intervals.

10. Where practicable, farmers should maintain records of where individual animals (within groups) have grazed over the summer months  particularly if they have been in fields close to badger setts or fields in which badgers are regularly present. This could provide data valuable to the understanding of local patterns of infection.

11. Reduce TB spread into low risk areas by post-movement isolation and double testing of all cattle carried from high risk to low risk regions. Where SVS veterinary inspection justifies it, cattle housed in isolation from breeding animals and going for slaughter before turn-out, could be put lower on the priority list and might often be slaughtered before a second test.

12. Any translocation of badgers from one area to another (except by DEFRA officials) should be made illegal. All badger sanctuaries should be licensed, regularly inspected, and should have to keep full records of all badgers in their care.

13. Expand the RTA survey of dead badgers throughout all high risk areas and for at least 150 kilometres beyond these. Indicate to farmers where the badger population remains free of infectious TB so they can be reassured that their local badger population is keeping outside badgers at bay. Where TB-infectious badgers are found, employ an experienced local wildlife watcher (such as a gamekeeper) to carry out an urgent survey of the numbers of badgers per sett within the locality to see the extent to which these exceed 8 per sett and to note the number of main setts in a given area.

14. Krebs reactive trial areas (now only being "observed") should be treated as proactive areas. This should be done to reverse the 27% average increase (compared to the control areas) in TB herd breakdowns caused by the (often much delayed) reactive culls. Now that the main trapping has been done in the proactive areas the DEFRA badger trapping teams can be spread wider.

15. DEFRA must remove the current moratorium on its use of section 10 of the 1992 Protection of Badgers Act which provides for licences to be granted for the removal of badgers for the purpose of preventing the spread of disease, serious damage to land, crops, poultry or any other form of property. This will open the way for limited and targeted removal of badgers under full DEFRA control, with the option for them to check such badgers to ascertain the extent of TB infection.

16. Once the effectiveness of the Krebs proactive treatment is proven, roll this outwards into adjoining TB-infected badger areas and catch any new spread of TB in badgers into lower risk areas. It should be remembered that when the 10 Krebs trial areas were chosen, they covered 75% of the TB restricted areas of the country. They now only represent about 12% of the TB restricted farms. I

17. Subject to the result of the field trials in 4 (c) (PCR testing) ensure that, where TB infected badgers are found within the Krebs trial proactive areas, and in danger spots in clean areas, the infected setts and their social groups are treated with carbon monoxide, and the setts filled in, to eliminate spread of infection to healthy badgers moving inwards. This task should be done working inwards from the outer ring to reduce the risk of infected badgers moving outwards to a clean area. See end note v

18. Publicise through all possible means:

a) The reasons why some badgers need to be culled. Include photographs of emaciated badgers in the final stages of death from TB and of their internal organs post mortem

b) The use of the PCR technique to differentiate between infectious badgers and the rest.

c) The fact that the skin test on cattle is close to 100% effective when repeated at a 60-day interval.

d) The fact that the normal incidence of TB in a herd shows that only a very few cattle have been infected (often only one and more often under 5 in 1,000 cattle), and that farming methods are therefore unlikely to be the prime cause of escalating bovine TB.

e) That the so-called 'bio-security' of attempting to separate badgers from cattle is wholly impractical.

f) The high cost of TB control and the rate at which TB costs are escalating.

g) The fact that bovine tuberculosis can be transmitted to people (children in particular), and pets, from badgers urine, pus or sputum, and that both people and other animals are in at greater risk because of the seven-fold increase in these sources of infection.

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(page 10 of pdf file)

PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)

There are two forms of using this powerful technique by which an enzyme and a cycle of heating and cooling is used to generate billions of copies of segments of DNA (to make detection and spoligotyping easier). After multiplication, the system identifies TB, or any other bacteria, or virus or DNA material by comparison with a known sample, utilising the properties of florescent light to do so.

a. Laboratory-based conventional heating block thermocycler using agra gel electrophosesis; this has greatly facilitated research in the Badger Road Traffic Accident study.

b. A portable mini-lab which can give an on-the-spot diagnosis of infection within 30 minutes; this technique has been developed for detection of biological warfare agents on the battlefield in the US, and in this country by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. In the UK it is being "spun-out" by an offshoot of the MOD, Enigma Diagnostics, with investment led by Porton Capital, and including the Treasury and a private venture company, Partnerships UK, and was announced in the veterinary press in September. I

A variant of this system in the form of a machine called a Lightcycler, was recommended by Professor Fred Brown of the US Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center in 2001 to the UK Government to rapidly diagnose Foot and Mouth on site. One individual went as far as ordering one, at a cost of £20,000, but the Government intervened to prevent this without providing the industry or even the individual with an explanation.

I Veterinary Times 27th Sept '04 "Battlefield technology deployed in fight against bovine TB" and BBC News 4th Oct '04

The obvious potential of a portable PCR cycler machine is to give a rapid identification of TB and the spoligotype of TB present in badgers. If one animal from a sett is found to have TB of a type causing infection in nearby cattle, then that sett could be treated with carbon monoxide with less nervousness by Ministers who would be able to give a better explanation to the general public.

There are 29 strains or spoligotypes of bovine TB, of which 17 are found very infrequently. In the UK the most common is type 9 with type 11 being more common in Devon, type 21 and 9 more common in Somerset and Dorset, and Cornwall being higher in types 9 and 15. The geographical distribution of spoligotypes of bovine TB in badgers has a high level of correlation with the distribution of spoligotypes in cattle. Spoligotype 35 has recently been identified in farmed deer near Ulverston, Cumbria, and linked to a spread to cattle there. The samples for multiplication in the PCR machine can be from any source and could merely be from a small amount of cattle blood or badger sputum or urine. Samples from several animals can be put in each of the glass testing tubes within the machine. A single case of infection in one animal would show up, allowing immediate rechecking of the animals in that batch.

The suitability of the portable PCR cycler machine for testing cattle for TB obviously depends on finding cattle that are shedding TB bacilli - either in milk, saliva, dung or urine - or which have bacilli in their blood.

The potential advantages of the PCR cycler over the gamma interferon test is that it should be able to differentiate between bovine TB and avian TB in blood and can be used on farm and give a result within 30 minutes. In the case of cattle this would save the wait of 3 days to read the skin test and the further wait of 6 to 12 weeks for confirmation of TB by culture test.

However the PCR cycle seems potentially to be of even more use in identifying bovine TB in badgers - which no other test can currently do satisfactorily. The sensitivity of the current (brock) ELISA blood test for badgers is only 40.7 per cent, and needs to be done 3 times at 28 to 42 day intervals, which entails keeping wild badgers in captivity for at least 84 days for a result. I

A further attraction of using this PCR technique is that it may be accurate enough to distinguish the TB status of individual badgers within a sett. If a half hour test can reveal this, then the targeted cull of badgers that we propose might be refined even further.

Bovine TB - news section

TB in badgers

September 2006 ~ Claims made by the RSPCA found to be unjustified

Earlier in the year the RSPCA paid for newspaper coverage to assert that badgers had nothing to do with the spread of TB and that it was a cattle to cattle disease. An email received today "... Nick Renwick (not sure if spelling is correct!) of the Welsh Farming Union and Hilary Seals a South Devon breeder from Derbyshire were the only people to challenge these articles with the Advertising Standards Agency - after a protracted investigation and the RSPCA employing a team of expensive lawyers - the ASA upheld the complaint saying that they had invesigated the claims made by the RSPCA and found them to be unjustified..... Whatever does the Charity Commission do? " Read in full

June 23 2006 ~ Why did we have to find out about the new trials from the BBC? asked Daniel Kawczynski , MP

The MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, Daniel Kawczynski, asked
" The Conservatives, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory) said, have been calling for a very long time for action on bovine tuberculosis. Yesterday, on the news, we were informed that major trials were taking place on the immunisation of badgers. Why did we have to find out about the new trials from the BBC? Why did the Minister not inform the House first?"
Hansard.
Mr Bradshaw's replies to the several questions asked may appear to some readers to have been less than helpful.

June 23 2006 ~ Million pound Badger vaccine trial in Gloucestershire "could lead to more than 100 000 badgers being vaccinated nationwide"

ProMed gives detailsof this work by the Central Science Laboratory. Its trials involve catching about 250 badgers in baited traps. The moderator's comments are, as usual, well worth reading in full. Extract
"...The Randomised Badger Culling Trials demonstrated that if you do not achieve culling targets above 60 percent (and sometimes these were no more than 20 percent), you will only make matters worse -- Bovine TB was practically eradicated in the UK by 1986 by proactive badger culling along with tuberculin testing of cattle when only 84 herd breakdowns were recorded in that year. ...... as the UK Government acknowledges in their report of 2004, if the present policy of inaction continues there is no way but up!
....... Culling, when done efficiently, i.e. when delineated areas are free of badgers for at least 12 months, has an immediate disease control benefit. In the UK there is a stark dichotomy between the demands for culling by the farming community, including wildlife veterinarians, and the extreme reluctance on the part of the government. We have yet to see what the impact of badger vaccination will be. - Mod.MHJ"
However good this news may seem, we are left once again wondering why - if the trials are successful and the vaccine found to be safe and effective - it has to "take at least 5 years before the vaccine could be administered to the general badger population outside the lab through microcapsules mixed with peanuts." Why so long when the situation is so desperate? Some may remember the reasons given by Defra against allowing vaccination against H5N1 in the UK involved the argument about "market authorisation"- even though European legislation permits "Market Authorisation" to be bypassed in exceptional, objective and verifiable circumstances.

June 16 2006 ~ "A DEFRA spokesman refused to be drawn

on when the government would announce its response to the consultation, which attracted 48,000 responses. He said: "We're still considering responses - a decision will be made in due course." FWi

June 11 2006 ~ Bovine TB policy and badgers " joint and cooperative approach" needed - Letter in the Vet Record

Mr Swarbrick wrote:
"...... Like many others, Bourne and colleagues appear to be ignoring several important factors and offering no real solutions.
Over 25 years there does not appear to have been any concerted national action to control, let alone eradicate, the relentless spread of bovine TB. We have an EU obligation to eradicate bovine TB. Given that there are no vaccines, prophylaxis or therapy for bovine TB, we can only adopt the long-established medical and veterinary principles for infectious disease control by removing all infected, and more especially diseased, individuals from any contact with healthy populations.............
We need a veterinary consensus as to what to do and how to do it, and veterinarians must also find consensus with the ecologists, who have an important contribution. ...... We also need to persuade the pro-badger lobby that some of their comments are incorrect. Time is not on our side and veterinarians, farmers and the UK as a whole cannot allow the perceived difficulties to be an excuse for inaction.
Will the ISG please now put forward its strategy and protocols for the eradication of bovine TB from the UK and also for preventing diseased badgers from infecting cattle, badgers and all the other animals, bearing in mind that there is a potentially important human dimension." Read in full

June 9 2006 ~ Bovine TB "as the vets have now comprehensively exposed, the Krebs trials were only a pseudo-scientific charade, never designed to work."

Muckspreader in Private Eye last week. "Even Defra admits that the percentage of badgers culled was sometimes as low as 20 percent. Prof.Bourne has admitted in the Veterinary Record that his staff were not allowed into a third of the land chosen for study. Meanwhile the tragedy rolls on: for farmers, for cattle, for taxpayers, and for all those sick badgers, condemned to a lingering death, only because humans became so blinded by sentimentality that they allowed badger numbers to explode to a level nature could no longer tolerate.."

May 1 2006 ~ Badgers, TB and Modern Farming Practice.

A letter from H.D.Coryn MRCVS in the current Veterinary Record says, " "....It would seem that too many individuals on all sides of this debate are taking an over simplistic view that by culling the badger the problem will go away. ..... enormous changes in both the profession and in farming ....."
".... In today's world all these crops are in the main cut with either flail harvesters or rotary mowers. ...sweeps up all the debris by its rotary suction and blows with it in to the bag, leaves, soil and any other debris. Consideration should therefore be given to what happens in maize crops, beloved by badgers, silage etc. which have been contaminated by any infected mammal from man, deer, badgers down to mice that are excreting TB. Faeces dried urine and saliva are swept and chopped up and distributed into the forage in an efficient and random way thus infecting the crop. Could this be a factor in the spread of TB in herds?"
"..... Other factors that may play a part are the stress involved in the push for ever higher yields and the ever increasing use of chemicals in all forms of crops, with their residues affecting the immune system...." The letter should be read in full

April 28 2006 ~ Re the bovine TB and badgers consultation, Defra says....

A report will be produced summarising the responses to the consultation. This has taken longer than expected due to the large number of consultation responses received (47,474 responses were received during the consultation period). We do not have a date for the final report but an announcement will be made when it is available. Once published the report will be accessible by following the link from the Defra website's Bovine TB Pages at http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb/index.htm
No decision has yet been made on whether or not to cull badgers to help control bovine TB in cattle. Ministers will consider all available evidence including the summary of consultation responses before making a decision...."

April 24 2006 ~ DEFRA job cuts signals the Government's intent to have no direct involvement in the future control of badgers

See Western Morning News "The cost of sacking the wildlife officers, some of whom have been with the department for more than 20 years, has been put at between £2 million and £3 million....The redundancies have been attacked as an attempt by ministers to shift responsibility for the handling of the bovine TB crisis on to farmers while allowing Defra to meet Treasury budget targets. ..."
It continues to amaze that we hear nothing at all from DEFRA about the technology that can make real progress in the eradication of bovine TB in wildlife. Policy, it appears, must always be driven by bureaucracy and budgets instead of by the extraordinary advances in technology and veterinary skill.
An article in the Veterinary Times back in 2004 concluded that the attraction of using rapid real-time PCR is that it may be "accurate enough to distinguish the TB status of individual badgers within a sett. If a half hour test can reveal this, then the targeted cull of badgers that we propose might be refined even further. " While the research below using UK built rapid RT-PCR diagnosis in badger setts and latrines shows that we have now, at this moment, the technology that can show which badgers are infected. "we would prefer that culling is targeted at diseased and infectious animals" said the researchers - and this would indeed be possible.

April 24 2006 ~ "A Welsh Assembly prediction that it wold take a year to collect 400 dead badgers for TB testing looks like being wrong

- 323 of the animals had been reported by the end of March, says Glyn Davies, Welsh Conservative AM for Mid and West Wales....."
"I hope the Assembly Government will now quickly establish the relationship between Bovine TB and badgers - and quickly develop a policy to tackle the disease. Bovine TB is causing devastation to the cattle herds of Wales and to the lives of many farming families. The disease is running out of control. The quick response by the public has removed one of the reasons for lack of Government action." News Wales co.uk

April 23/24 2006 ~ Pedigree calf, Fern, did NOT "show typical signs of bovine TB at the post mortem" There were no open lesions at all - but the press were told there were.

In spite of press coverage at the time of the calf's death, the story from his owner about the aftermath of the killing of Fern raises some very serious questions. The calf had been in isolation for 3 months after he had reacted to the test. The SVS vet, Linda Farrant SVS, had said that the reaction in a young calf meant that the infection "would have spread rapidly through his system", he must be " very diseased", so he must be dealt with " very quickly". Mrs Kremers writes:
".... Four SVS personnel searched diligently for lesions. None were found in the lungs or stomach areas.
Eventually a small, calcified abcess was found in one of the throat glands. It was not an open lesion.... it had been there some time, and this would be sent to the laboratories to be cultured, to see if it was indeed bTB. The results would be known in six weeks. (ie the results would not be available until the middle of May) Imagine my shock when the Western Morning Newspaper phoned me on the Monday .... The journalist read out a stream of sentences which said Fern had shown typical signs of bTB at the post mortem. This validated their tests. Etc.etc.
Mr Kremers concludes " I used to believe that we lived in a democracy, but now I know better. Many thanks to everyone who has listened, helped, supported and cared. I only hope that I have given others the courage to stand up for their principles, their cattle, their valuations and their birds, should the time come to them.."
If Mrs Kremers is right, it looks very much as though there has been lying and falsification on the part of DEFRA and the SVS in order to justify their actions and silence those who supported Mrs Kremers' stand.

April 13 2006 ~ TB TESTING CONCESSION ANNOUNCED BY MINISTER

WMN "Ministers agreed to a partial climbdown over the controversial new TB testing regime last night in the face of mounting opposition from farmers. Farms Minister Lord Bach said the Government would meet part of the cost of the new pre-movement testing regime, designed to slow the spread of bovine TB.
From the end of last month virtually all Westcountry farmers have been legally obliged to pay for testing of their cattle before they can be moved off farm. The tests aim to identifying infected animals before they can infect a new herd.
But farmers have complained the tests typify the Government's "one-sided" approach to the problem, as they do nothing to tackle the spread of the disease by wildlife. Some farmers want to boycott the system.
Farmers are also unhappy about the cost of the tests - particularly as many are still waiting for last year's Single Farm Payments agriculture subsidies.
Lord Bach said the Government would pay for one pre-movement herd test per farm this year, at a total cost of up to £700,000.
He said: "Early indications are that the new system is settling in well, but the Government wants to ease the transition and ensure that pre-movement testing is a success."
Pre-movement tests, which cost an average of £9 per animal, are valid for 60 days. Ian Johnson, spokesman for the National Farmers' Union in the South West, said many farmers would need to pay for more than one test, but that the concession was welcome."

April 13 2006 ~ "the Government today (Wednesday) announced that it would meet the cost of one pre-movement test per farm

in the period from February 20 to June 30 this year. NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond said: This will help to alleviate at least some of the extra financial burden that farmers in the TB areas will have to shoulder as a result of pre-movement testing. It will also give Defra extra time to issue licenses for exempt fattening units and mean that farmers who may be able to take advantage of them are not penalised in the meantime. Farmers are more than ready to play their full part in stopping the hugely damaging spread of bovine TB, but to be worthwhile, pre-movement testing must be part of an overall strategy that includes action to deal with the reservoir of infection in wildlife. ..." Farming UK

April 11 2006 ~ BBC reports that post mortem test showed bovine TB in Fern

It is a very short report with no detail. BBC The sorry saga of Fern and his distraught but determined owner can be read on this warmwell page.

April 11 2006 ~ Bovine TB testing move turned down by Assembly

ic Wales Opposition moves to transfer the cost of pre-movement testing for bovine TB in Wales from farmers to the Welsh Assembly Government have been rejected .

April 2 - 9 2006 ~ "The University of Warwick is developing a portable machine to test whether a badger sett is infected...."

reports the WMN - but evidently the implications of the use of the portable RT-PCR machines have not reached farmers' leaders and senior vets if the Western Morning News is correct in its reporting that
only a badger cull will stem its advance, according to farmers' leaders and senior vets."
The whole point of the use of the Enigma machine (British) is that it can ascertain whether a sett is indeed infected. If it is not then no culling is required.

April 2 - 9 2006 ~ "Government vets prepare to slaughter Fern, the pedigree Dexter calf at the centre of the Kremers bovine tuberculosis case in South Devon"

The WMN (Friday)
The Kremers case - and the hundreds like it, is desperately sad. Its chronology may be read here.

April 2 - 9 2006 ~ "both theories were dismissed as "tinkering at the edges of the problem" by Dartmoor vet John Gallagher

FRESH EVIDENCE IN THE BATTLE WITH BOVINE TB, the WMN article on Friday, looks at the selenium theory and the idea by Oxford University Wildlife Conservation Research Unit about providing more hedges for badgers to use as latrines which may the spread of TB. But, says the WMN,
" the problem is so acute, particularly in Devon, that only a badger cull will stem its advance, according to farmers' leaders and senior vets."
Dartmoor vet John Gallagher, who led a vets' campaign to force the Government to cull diseased badgers, is quoted. "Ninety per cent of a badger's diet is earthworms and although the mineral deficiency theory is attractive, it is difficult to know what the normal levels of selenium and copper should be in a badger."
One reader on the paper's website, however, makes the following comment:
"In China selenium was added to salt in 2 states and the infection rate dropped 56%."
n USA tests on thousands with placebo controls showed 200ug selenium given daily cut thje rate of 4 masin cancers by 56% also. This is because selenium neutalises carcinogenic metals and pushes immune system T-lymphocytes which explains the results in keeping cows free of TB. Selenium is akso needed to convert T4 (thyroxin) to T£ (active form). When will corrupt UK public health wake up?
Dr. Dick van Steenis MBBS, Hereford

April 2 - 9 2006 ~ Today Programme on Farmer Dick Roper's organic real food solution in th middle of the Gloucestershire TB hotspot

Not one of his 600 pedigree cattle has tested positive in more than six years. When he converted to organic in 1999 he noticed that TB was much more of a probllem in his conventionally reared cattle. The organic cattle were getting clover. The conventional cattle were getting a maize-based silage - extremely low in selenium. Badgers also love maize. He wondered if by providing maize, immune levels had dropped not only in the cattle but also in the local badgers His findings have also been supported by an animal nutritionist (Danny Goodwin-Jones) who has found scientific papers from the US which shows that selenium and iodine in the diet improves immunity to TB infection.
Dick Roper now feeds the badgers on his farm twice yearly with feed of molasses and minerals placed in a 20 kg bucket with its top cut off by the badger setts. The Today Programme clip ends with a quotation from the author of "We want real Food" and cultural editor of the Archers, Graham Harvey
"We need to look at both why badgers and cattle are getting sick. And if it is a nutritional thing then the remedy for cattle is exactly the same as the remedy for badgers. If we get the nutrition right, they won't succumb to this disease."
The report on Today Programme (by Tom Fielden) pointed out that very little research on the relationships between mineral deficiency and immune system and tuberculosis has been done but "if he's right, he may have stumbled on the answer that doesn't involve the slaughter of thousands of Britain's badgers."

April 2 - 9 2006 ~ Royal Society tells ministers to justify plan to cull badgers

Tuesday's Guardian quotes David Read, a vice-president of the society.
"The scientific evidence is really inadequate to justify it. If you wish to proceed, you therefore have to justify it on other economic, political or social grounds."........Prof Read added that vaccinating badgers against TB and eradicating it in the wild would be the best solution."
But this was qualified by the old chestnut that we have been hearing for the last 25 years that such a solution is "ten years away". Yet the research below using rapid daignosis shows that we have now, at this moment, the technology that can show which badgers are infected. A blanket cull would be as unnecessary as it is distressing in contemplation.

April 2- 9 2006 ~Can the government now ignore the use of a technology that allows any necessary euthanasia to be both humane and targeted?

The University of Warwick's department of Biological Sciences press release about its research using PCR diagnosis on badger setts and latrines. "....without technology such as this its is very difficult to differentiate "clean" setts containing uninfected badgers from "problem setts" containing infected badgers.":
"We do not advocate culling badgers to control bovine TB, particularly in light of the scientific results emerging from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial. However if the government takes the decision to continue to cull badgers, then we would prefer that culling is targeted at diseased and infectious animals- indeed cattle, badgers or other wildlife hosts-, rather than see a policy of untargeted culling..."
"..... In the Gloucestershire population, they found 100% of the examined badger setts and latrines to be contaminated with M.bovis, whereas none of the samples in the Oxfordshire population were positive...... Results suggest that once the organism is excreted into the environment by cattle, badgers, or other wildlife, it could act as a source for further transmission..." More
As one of the lead researchers on the project, Dr Orin Courtenay, says, " if the government takes the decision to continue to cull badgers, then we would prefer that culling is targeted at diseased and infectious animals"

April 2 - 9 2006 ~ Mum seeks answers to TB infection

The story in the County Times in which a "mother of a young TB victim is angry over the lack of information available to her about the source of her daughters illness. ..... diagnosed last year with Atypical TB. She has since been unable to find out anything more about the likely cause than it has an environmental source." comes with this comment from an informed emailer

March 29 2006 ~TB is rapidly increasing in Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire, with cases rising by 20 per cent each year.

icBirminham "....A decision on whether to cull badgers, which also harbour the disease, is still being considered by the Government following a consultation last month.
But the testing has provoked anger among farmers who fear it will increase costs and make it difficult to move animals to livestock markets and from one piece of land to another. They also fear there will not be enough vets to carry out the procedure. Andrew Richards, senior food and farming adviser at NFU West Midlands, said the NFU was lobbying Government to pay for the vets' fees incurred as a result of the new testing.... Mr Richards said Defra had not sufficiently explained the new rules to farmers and livestock auctioneers or allowed enough time for the scheme to be implemented. He said:
"We are back in chaos syndrome, we have regulations coming in but no real idea of how it will work. We still don't know what documents you need to prove tests have been done. It's going to cause immense aggravation for those looking to move cattle on a regular basis. We are pressing for Government to meet the costs of the full testing, at the moment they are simply paying for the test itself with the farmers paying for the vets' costs."
The start date had been postponed from February after lobbying by farmers' groups. ..... The pre-movement testing will cause extra complications at the new Shrewsbury Livestock Market, which opens today. The market has cattle from England and Wales, with the Welsh cattle exempt from the new regulations. David Giles, chairman of Shrewsbury Livestock Market, said the Government was not addressing the TB problem. .."

March 23 2006 ~ DEFRA to push on with pre-movement bovine TB testing

Farmers Weekly DEFRA will press ahead with plans to introduce mandatory pre-movement bovine TB tests on Monday (27 March) despite continued requests from the industry for more time to prepare. The requirement will affect all cattle over 15 months of age coming from herds under one- and two-year testing regimes. A negative test result will be valid for 60 days. Initially the requirement was postponed, from 20 February, when DEFRA agreed to a delay while an investigation was conducted to review the veterinary capacity in high risk areas. Although the investigation is still going on, an interim report to DEFRA found no evidence to support any further delay. The government's chief veterinary officer, Debby Reynolds, said pre-movement testing was a necessary tool in the fight against TB. .... ...... Mr Messer-Bennetts remained hopeful that DEFRA would implement a more practical view on the operation of exempt markets and finishing units, and would allow green markets and exempt markets to run alongside each other, subject to a physical or time separation. ..."

March 17 2006 ~ NFUS decries Defra 'policy failure' on bovine TB

Scotsman NFU Scotland has taken an unusual cross-Border step by urging the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to take tougher action against bovine TB. ...

14 Mar 2006 ~ "As the Government consultation on the issue closed yesterday, more than 25,000 people had sent in their views - four times the response seen during the debate on hunting with dogs.

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was unable to provide a detailed breakdown of the responses to the idea of culling badgers to control bovine TB yesterday. It's expected that barely one per cent were in favour of a cull. Meanwhile, an NFU survey finds 94 per cent of South West farmers in favour of a cull. Westcountry farmers believe the responses may have been skewed by a high-profile publicity campaign conducted by groups like the RSPCA, the Badger Trust and wildlife trusts....." WMN

14 Mar 2006 ~ "in the long term, the only solution is vaccination. Yes, it would be expensive, but bovine TB is already costing £100m a year in testing and compensation to farmers."

Education Guardian Unfortunately, this article about Professor Tim Roper from the biology department at Sussex University, does not enlarge on vaccination.

14 Mar 2006 ~ "At the moment we have serious doubts that a badger-culling strategy is likely to be beneficial and cost-effective however it is implemented," the English Nature report concluded.

See WMN "English Nature's comments come as a serious blow to those Westcountry farmers backing a cull as they will make it politically more difficult for the Animal Health Minister Ben Bradshaw to go down that route. Mr Bradshaw is already under pressure following the decision by scientists involved in the Government's badger-culling trials to speak out against the proposals in the consultation. A committee of MPs is also expected to criticise the consultation today..."

13 Mar 2006 ~ Farmers may shoot badgers to stop TB

Valerie Elliott in the Times
Meurig Raymond... ".....We could not accept it as a union, but these are farmers who are desperate and feel their livelihoods are threatened." ...there is a gloomy belief in farming circles that the Government will recoil from a cull and cattle will continue to become infected as thedisease runs rampant in wildlife. High-profile advertising campaigns against a cull by the RSPCA, the Badger Trust and other wildlife groups has heightened the despondency among farmers. Ben Bradshaw, the Animal WelfareMinister, has received 25,000 submissions on the subject, most of them believed to be against a cull. .... A poll of 1,540 farmers in theSouth West and the West Midlands, two of the disease hotspots, conducted by the University of Exeter for the NFU and the Country Landand Business Association, indicated that 94 per cent would co-operate with a cull. The incidence of bovine TB has been growing at a rateof 18 per cent a year."

12 Mar 2006 ~ 14 million cattle movements responsible? Hardly...this is numbers moving, not hooves.

As an emailer writes, "Considering that we have only 9 million bovines on the database it would mean that every one was doing handstands from its place of birth at least 1.5 times. Not so. Of course its not so! The movement of 14.6 million is a movement of not bovine hooves, but DATA. When an animal moves, a card is lodged with BCMS (British Cattle movement Service) reporting a movement 'OFF'. When it arrives where it is going a similar card is lodged marked 'ON' . And if it has a pit stop on the way, at a market, then 2 more are generated as 'markets are registered holdings too. Even dead ends like abattoirs have to report 'movements'. So when the good professor asked for the total cattle 'movements' he quoted that 14 million, without realising or understanding or even querying the basis of the figure. Now ain't that a surprise? .....The figure for cattle movements onto farms - which is the only one that matters as far as disease transmission goes - is not 14 million, or even 4 million. It is 2.7 million for England Wales and Scotland, of which a good proportion (I've asked for figures!) will be young calves under 6 weeks, which pose minimal risk. " Read email

12 Mar 2006 ~ Badger cull pointless, says MPs' committee

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1729051,00.html "A Commons committee will this week query whether moves to cull badgers to halt bovine TB are a waste of time, accusing the government of 'asking the wrong questions' in its 12-week inquiry. The consultation document posed three different models for curbing Britain's 300,000-400,000 badgers, one source of bovine TB, which kills 25,000 cattle a year. But on Tuesday, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee will highlight evidence from top scientists that none was likely to work. Animal welfare minister Ben Bradshaw has come under pressure from the NFU and the RSPCA."

5 Mar 2006 ~ Ben Bradshaw's statement re the Kremers case

Hansard

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Bovine Tuberculosis
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Ben Bradshaw): I wish to inform the House about a case concerning the cattle herd of Mrs. Kremers of Newton Abbott in Devon.
On 15 December last year one of Mrs. Kremers' bull calves was disclosed during a routine test as a TB reactor. Since that time, Mrs. Kremers has raised with the State Veterinary Service concerns in relation to the Government's TB control policies generally and in relation to the testing of her herd specifically. As a result of these concerns she has specifically requested the retesting of the bull calf disclosed as a reactor on 15 December. To date, these requests have been declined. EU legislation requires the slaughter of reactors after the first positive result.
In the light of further information received very recently concerning the test conducted on Mrs. Kremers' bull calf we have now taken steps to review Mrs. Kremers' case. It has become clear as a result that the Local Veterinary Inspector (LVI) who conducted the test had not carried out the test in full accordance with the instructions issued to LVIs by the State Veterinary Service (SVS).
Accordingly, the SVS is informing Mrs. Kremers of these developments, and will be granting her request for a retest. I very much regret the course of these events. We will be telling Mrs. Kremers that we will reimburse any legal costs she has incurred as a direct result of this case.
As hon. Members will be aware, in the light of the decision announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 16 February 2006 to defer the introduction of pre-movement testing of cattle for bovine TB, the Government have asked for an urgent independent survey of the preparations for introducing this policy. I am asking that this review be expanded to include the instructions and interpretative material and their use by LVIs. "

March 4 2006 ~ Bovine TB "The Ben Bradshaw statement on the Kremers' calf calls into question the entire bovine TB testing regime."

WMN "With tens of thousands of cattle slaughtered over the years, Westcountry livestock farmers are questioning if the tests on their animals were carried out correctly....... Both farmers and local vets agree that the pre-movement testing regime under the Government's TB strategy - now due to be introduced at the end of this month - is a waste of time and money, and that the Scottish system of cattle tracing would be vastly more satisfactory...." The Western Morning News has given several pages of coverage to the Kremers case

March 2 2006 ~ We learn today that Sheilagh Kremer's Dexter calf, Fern, has been granted a second test by Defra

. If the test is carried out competently and is positive she will accept the result.

March 1 2006 ~ An Easy, Inexpensive Test Detects Tuberculosis in Livestock and Wildlife

See USDA webpage.

---

9th February 2006 ~ NBA (pdf) recommendations for TB control included this vital paragraph (p18) Publicise through all possible means:

The National Beef Association (NBA) (pdf) recommendations for TB control included this vital paragraph (p18) Publicise through all possible means:
a) The reasons why some badgers need to be culled. Include photographs of emaciated badgers in the final stages of death from TB and of their internal organs post mortem
b) The use of the PCR technique to differentiate between infectious badgers and the rest.
c) The fact that the skin test on cattle is close to 100% effective when repeated at a 60-day interval.
d) The fact that the normal incidence of TB in a herd shows that only a very few cattle have been infected (often only one and more often under 5 in 1,000 cattle), and that farming methods are therefore unlikely to be the prime cause of escalating bovine TB.
e) That the so-called 'bio-security' of attempting to separate badgers from cattle is wholly impractical.
f) The high cost of TB control and the rate at which TB costs are escalating.
g) The fact that bovine tuberculosis can be transmitted to people (children in particular), and pets, from badgers urine, pus or sputum, and that both people and other animals are in at greater risk because of the seven-fold increase in these sources of infection.
Warmwell therefore offers this very unpleasant photo of a postmortem badger which leaves no scope for any comfortable idea that badgers do not suffer.

8th February 2006 ~ farmers "at the end of their tether"

Jason Groves in the WMN "Beef and dairy farming will be abandoned across large areas of the Westcountry unless the Government sanctions a badger cull to help tackle bovine TB..... NFU's vice-president Meurig Raymond said many farmers were "at the end of their tether" over the lack of Government action to tackle a disease which increased by 40 per cent in the Westcountry last year.......there was now a real danger that many would simply give up. "......We hear a lot about the welfare of badgers and the welfare of cattle, but there is also a big issue of the welfare of the farmers involved - some of them have been under restriction for three or four years..." Read in full

Tuesday 7th February 2006 ~ The Badger Trust will use a press conference at the Commons to put forward a package of "cattle-based" measures to control the disease

WMN "......Proposals are expected to include a dramatic tightening of the cattle movement regime, investment in improved testing techniques, research into badger and cattle vaccines and stringent "biosecurity" rules to prevent cattle and badgers mixing on farms. The new strategy, which is designed to put pressure on ministers to abandon plans for a badger cull, will be launched by the former Conservative Home Officer minister Ann Widdecombe......"

Tuesday 7th February 2006 ~ Bovine TB tests in cattle face legal challenge

(Reuters) - The National Farmers Union said on Tuesday it is to mount a legal challenge to government plans to introduce pre-movement testing of cattle later this month in a bid to tackle bovine tuberculosis. ..... The NFU cited a lack of public consultation, inadequate veterinary staff to carry out the testing and paperwork issues among its concerns.
.......... The NFU has argued that both pre-movement testing of cattle and a badger cull should be enacted at the same time.
The cull is strongly opposed by wildlife groups such as the Badger Trust and by the animal welfare charity RSPCA. Badgers are a wildlife host of bovine TB.
"We fully appreciate the demand for pre-movement testing but it must be carried out in an effective way and be part of a coordinated approach to tackling the disease. Currently that isn't the case," said NFU president Tim Bennett. The NFU said the legal challenge would be made on the grounds that the farm ministry made an executive decision to impose pre-movement testing despite several commitments to consult publicly on the issue."

Monday 6th February 2006 ~ "The LVI who did the test has over-written the readings recorded on farm"

Sheilagh Kremers writes "....DEFRA are spending thousands of pounds telling me I must toe the line, when all I am asking for is a second test - which I have said I will pay for. I have no faith in the test itself, but since this is test is at the moment law, what else can I do?" Read in full
Mrs Kremers refused entry to the RICS valuer on Thursday but allowed the SVS vet (whose lethal injection which was hidden in her bucket) and Caroline Fisher (animal health) in to check the calf`s health. Defra now will be going to court to obtain a slaughter form A.
It is heartbreaking for those who actually mind that someone's hard work and careful breeding is to be destroyed without even a second confirmatory test. Dr Roger Breeze, in the letter given to the Royal Society Inquiry, the Lessons Learned Inquiry and given by hand to Lord Whitty
"I do not believe U.S. farmers would accept that their life's work - bloodlines developed over generations in many cases - should be wiped out without clear evidence of infection. Nor do thy have to...."
Here, in the UK, they do have to, it seems.As for those who "test" for TB reactors, CVO Debby Reynolds herself admitted in a letter to the EU that "..TB tests are not regularly supervised" adding that " if/when problems are encountered ad-hoc supervisory visits are made."

Monday 6th February 2006 ~ Wiggin: Price of everything, value of nothing

Responding to the new cattle compensation table, published on the 1st of February 2006, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Bill Wiggin, said: The new cattle compensation is unfair to farmers. The new cattle valuation tables are deliberately missing out the cattle most likely to be TB reactors. Older cattle are all lumped together, as well as cattle of different breeds. They are clearly going to have different values but Defra have not taken this in to consideration.
For example, the compensation table values a 14 year old Dexter cow to be worth the same as a 4 year old Charolais cow. It is ridiculous - if both those cows were culled due to TB, the farmer will receive the same amount of compensation payment, just £1236.
Only the Treasury could have created a system that has little relation to the value of cattle to compensate already hard hit farmers who are unable to prevent the spread of this disease. It is potentially going to get worse too.
Not only will all cattle need to be tested before they are moved off a holding, but questions are being raised about the number of vets available to do these tests. It is clear that cattle need to be tested carefully as the compensation scheme is madness and one can only wonder if the tests can be administered in time to get animals to market, or even around a farmers holdings.
Unless Defra remember that it is only by working with farmers instead of against them, will they have any chance of defeating these diseases.

Sunday 5th February 2006 ~ "With the urgent need to develop more sensitive, rapid, and cost-effective means of diagnosing M. bovis infection in cattle and badgers, the EN approach described here offers considerable potential. The method is not only easy to perform, and therefore does not require a specifically trained technician, but is also cost- and time-effective, since, once validated, it would dispense with the need for the isolation of M. bovis by culture (which is protracted and costly) or repeated visits to the farm (in the case of the cattle skin test). Furthermore, the technology is amenable to automation and/or condensation into a portable device that could eventually permit the rapid testing of large numbers of animals in situ." From Use of an Electronic Nose To Diagnose Mycobacterium bovis Infection in Badgers and Cattle Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2005, p. 1745-1751, Vol. 43, No. 4 This was work funded partly by DEFRA. Any information about what happened to it would be gratefully received.

Sunday 5th February 2006 ~ "its lungs and vital organs were a mass of abscesses and lesions and it must have died in agony" The RSPCA, once respected for its original and laudable aim of protecting animals from pain and neglect, has taken up a polarised position on TB and is urging its supporters to do the same by means of its urgent Back Off Badgers campaign. Instead of putting the full weight of its now considerable political clout towards persuading the government to get behind the technology already existing to effectively diagnose and eradicate bTB in both cattle and wildlife, the RSPCA is urging the public to object en masse to any idea of a cull. Their fact sheet (Know Your Facts!) includes statements such as "In the few badgers that do have symptoms they are wheeziness and loss of weight and condition. There may be some skin ulceration." The email received yesterday: " A vet friend in Staffordshire did a postmortem on a dead badger found in client's bull pen - its lungs and vital organs were a mass of abscesses and lesions and it must have died in agony - what sort of animal welfare is it that takes - (sometimes) healthy cattle and leaves sick badgers?" See also email received today and warmwell's page on the RSPCA

5th February 2006 ~ Email received about the RSPCA "back off badgers" campaign "There are clearly a number of things that readers of your site can do
(a) complain to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) - their complaints procedure is explained on-line at http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_complain/ .
It would be helpful if the text of the advert could be quoted so that specific complaints can be made
(b) complain to our MPs about the RSPCA's behaviour - again citing particular inaccuracies wherever possible
(c) write to our MPs asking them to press the government to prioritise the development of PCR test for bovine TB - for use on cattle and other species
(d) write to DEFRA supporting the badger cull and asking them  to prioritise the development of PCR test for bovine TB - for use on cattle and other species...."   Read in full

4th February 2006 ~ Hansard MP Anthony Steen " To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reasons her Department has refused Mrs. Kremers of New Park Farm, Ogwell, Devon the option of paying for a second TB test for an animal that tested positive to the initial tuberculin skin test; and by what means Mrs. Kremers can appeal against this decision "
We understand that Mrs Kramer may now make a complaint against Defra to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Thursday 2nd February ~ RSPCA says, "Unfortunately, there is no reliable test for TB in live badgers"

But - there is, and if instead of urging people up and down the country "to tell the government to "back off badgers" the RSPCA were to put their considerable weight behind the use of rapid on site PCR we could perhaps avoid the emotional, strident and unnecessary clash between two polarised positions - both of whom have animal welfare at heart but each of whom is bitterly opposed to the other's point of view.
Why is the knowledge not readily understood - even by the RSPCA it seems - that there is indeed a way of diagnosing whether setts have bovine TB? The UK version of the Razor rapid diagnostic PCR machine was demonstrated on Tuesday (see below) What is more, if this website has been aware of such technological capabilities since the earliest days of FMD 2001, why is this technology ignored by the "expert" policy makers guiding TB eradication?

February 1st 2006 ~ "The new compensation arrangements would better protect the taxpayer

by addressing the serious 'over-compensation' problem identified by independent reviewers, promote good industry practice, and enhance disease control by facilitating the speedier removal of diseased animals." says Mr Bradshaw. See Farmers Weekly. Protecting both wildlife and cattle might " better protect the taxpayer" since £2 billion is the projected cost of bTB in the next decade.

Wednesday 1 February ~ What price PCR?

The price, according to Enigma, is from £10,000 - £30,000 depending on how many units are sold. A structure to test the efficiency of humane gas culling, built in Weybridge has never been used. Fifty portable PCR machines could have been bought for what it cost. The Telegraph reminded us in November that TB in cattle will cost £2 billion over the next decade unless the Government takes determined action. (Q: Can anyone tell us which "billion" is meant when the press refers to a billion pounds?)
We understand that, at a demonstration of the UK produced, portable, "Enigma" rapid diagnostic machine given yesterday at a National Beef Association meeting in Bristol, the audience was told how easy it was to operate. ("Even a vet could do it." Laughter.)
We understand also that the VLA have ordered some for use in April - but for Bovine Virus Diarrhoea - and there is no word yet that it is envisaged that the machines be used to detect bovineTb yet their use would conform to the Bern convention in that it identifies where disease actually is present and allows the response to be accurately targeted. Where diagnosis confirms the bacterium in badger setts, the humane culling of the infected creatures would be seen to be justifiable, since they are doomed to a nasty and lonely death anyway. A blanket cull of badgers that may or may not be healthy, by means other than the most humane, may well be regarded as a miserable solution and against the spirit and terms of the Bern Convention.

Wednesday 1 February ~ "on-site analysis in about 30 minutes "

The latest Idaho machine, the hand-portable RAZOR, is able to perform on-site analysis of viruses and bacteria in about 30 minutes. It allows testers, who may be non-laboratory personnel, to get safe and valid results quickly.
Copybook Solutions Ltd (City of London) exists to "provide Governments with news, information and issues affecting security, the armed forces, new legislation and developments across the world in all sectors of industry" Unfortunately for UK Contingency Planning, key policy makers in Government appear to be unaware that RT PCR has already transformed diagnostics, bringing to an end the need to transport samples on lengthy journeys to specified labs (World Reference Centres) before a definitive result can be obtained. The speed and accuracy of the technology enables rapid response. Mass slaughter and its attendant miseries has become as unnecessary as it is unethical.
Copybook Solutions article:
" The RAZOR(tm) Instrument, weighing only 9.1 lbs (4.1 kg), can be carried by hand and used on-site to test samples. Testing the sample where it is collected has practical advantages; such as sample-handling timesavings, reduction in chain-of-custody risk and most importantly, increasing speed-to-results.... No longer is laboratory equipment being adapted to the field, but field equipment is being developed using technologies once thought only applicable in the lab setting, state-of-the-art technology is now field applicable...."
More about the PCR portable test and how it works Once the technology is understood, Dr Breeze's letter becomes even more startling.

Wednesday 1 February ~"The status of the FMD World Reference Center at the IAH as a disinterested party for the evaluation of FMD products is problematic"

In trying to understand why technology that can transform animal disease policy should, in the UK as previously in the US, be ignored and even rubbished, a glimpse into a world of jealously guarded privilege and commercial interests provides a clue. Evidence submitted five years ago to the Royal Society Inquiry of Edinburgh by the Director Patent and Licensing Affairs United Biomedical Inc. about non-cooperative practices was tactfully worded but there is little doubt as to what was meant.

Tuesday January 31st 2006 ~ mounting pressure to sanction a cull of badgers - more than 10,000 cattle in Devon and Cornwall were slaughtered because of the disease in 2005

WMN "... The annual TB statistics, which were released by the Government without comment at the weekend, showed that more than 10,000 cattle in Devon and Cornwall were slaughtered because of the disease in 2005 - an increase of more than 40 per cent on the previous year. Nationally, the figure rose by 28 per cent. ...... Geoffrey Cox, Conservative MP for Torridge and West Devo....whose constituency is one of the worst affected, said farmers faced the prospect of having to accept an expensive and impractical new testing regime, coupled with reduced compensation, without the promise of an effective badger cull. .......
Animal Health Minister Ben Bradshaw launched a consultation on a badger cull last year, although the debate about its likely effectiveness continues, particularly given the Government's apparent preference for snaring and shooting as a method of control. " Read in full

Monday January 30th 2006 ~ Defra has no intention of using on-site PCR technology to identify infected badger setts

The page mentioning the "new measures to tackle bovine TB in England" (see DEFRA website) has the usual DEFRA ring of confidence, but the omission of the very technology that could preclude the killing of healthy badgers makes all the rest ring very hollow indeed. The farmers want culling and the badger groups don't. But putting down badgers that are infected and doomed to a very nasty death, and that infect other mammals that cross their path or graze the grass which their dribbled, highly infected urine has contaminated is sensible and humane.
Without on-site PCR this will be impossible.
The wildlife teams are being disbanded and in their plae the Central Science Laboratory have advertised for applicants 'with 5 GCSE's' to" count badger setts".
DEFRA's preferred method of killing is by snare.

Sunday January 29th 2006 ~ Cats, dogs and all mammals with TB must be reported to DEFRA from next month

We understand that Cornwall has now had 23 cats with confirmed TB.
See Extract from Tuberculosis in badgers; a review of the disease and its significance for other animals J.Gallagher and R.S. Clifton-Hadley Monies et al. (2000) confirmed tuberculosis in 4 of 12 cats on a premises in Cornwall where 3 months previously an emaciated tuberculous badger had been found. The badger was thought to have passed infection to the cats by contaminating the cats feed bowls outside the house when eating left over food scraps...."

Saturday January 28th 2006 ~ ".... ironic that those who attempt to exonerate badgers of being the reservoir of TB infection for cattle show such little concern for the suffering those badgers with TB undergo"

Warmwell.com is, and has always been, an unpaid, independent observer with no financial interest in any of the issues covered. We watch with increasing concern the ever increasing politicisation of bodies that should be impartial and expert. The fact that many tough, experienced family farmers will now openly admit to being frightened of DEFRA's bungling and bullying ways is a matter of deep worry.
Animal disease policy, now bovine TB in particular (see bovine TB pages in new window) - instead of being dealt with by vets able to inform government of the facts - has become such a political hot potato that, while shrill voices carry on arguing, cattle that are as yet uninfectious are slaughtered in their thousands and ill badgers have been dying in the most unpleasant circumstances.
One vet who has spoken out is D.J.B.Denny MRCVS. His letter in yesterday's Farmers' Guardian should be read in full It explains why badgers are both the victims and the villains in the spread of bovine TB. He concludes by asking
Extract:"..... Is it hypocritical of Martin Hancox and his ilk to allow the suffering of the infected badgers, never mind the mass slaughter of cattle and the despair of the farmers concerned, to be further prolonged? ." read in full

Saturday January 28th 2006 ~ "misinterpretation of the scientific facts" says SVS vet

Quoted in full on the Bovine TB Blog website is a letter from an SVS (veterinary) officer, for once, the voice of sanity
" ... you certainly can't keep badgers away from cattle.....
Cheeseman and Bourne have lost all credibility in my eyes. The Krebs trials - what a farce, and a misinterpretation of the scientific facts. ....SVS staff on the ground are as frustrated as the farming community - NO-ONE wants to see the badger exterminated - just a HEALTHY and CONTROLLED population, so they can exist in harmony with cattle. ..... Any mammal can become infected with bTB, and there's no doubt that deer population is becoming seriously infected ..... It is no good just taking and killing cattle, the wildlife reservoir has to be tackled. Some farmers have lost more than 50% of their stock, and in some cases the last of blood-lines that have been bred by their forefathers. .......".
(read in full)

January 27 2006 ~BADGERS ARE TB VICTIMS AND VILLAINS - a letter in the Farmers Guardian

A LETTER BY D.J.B.Denny MRCVS Published in The Farmers Guardian 27th. January 2006.
BADGERS ARE TB VICTIMS AND VILLAINS

It is ironic that those who attempt to exonerate badgers of being the reservoir of TB infection for cattle show such little concern for the suffering those badgers with TB undergo. The usual route for the TB bacilli to enter the body is either by inhalation or by ingestion. They can enter through open wounds and bites. Either way, the bacilli pass through the throat before going down the trachea to the lungs and/or down the oesophagus to the intestinal tract.

The body`s first line of defence after a challenge from TB is the lymph glands, which become inflamed and then develop abscesses - lesions. Lymph glands are scattered throughout the body, with three pairs in the throat, five groups in the chest and many hundreds protecting the intestinal tract. Lesions in the chest glands can be the result of either inhalation or ingestion of the bacilli.

After a period of time - months or even years, shorter if the challenge was very high- then the bacilli will break out from the gland(s) into the bloodstream to settle in various organs particularly those with a filter system such as the lungs, liver and kidneys. Here, the body attempts to isolate the infection by walling it off to form other abscesses. It is at this stage that the animal begins to suffer and becomes infectious to others.

Except in an outbreak of many months or even years duration, when some cattle will be ill and have multiple lesions, the majority (90% plus) of reactor cattle will have no lesions when post-mortemed. This is because, although the animal has been challenged there has been insufficient time for them to develop. Lesions when found, are mainly in the glands of the throat and/or lungs with a few in the intestinal ones.

Martin Hancox`s explanation how cattle could transmit TB to badgers via the "cow pat" is plausible. However, since there would be only a very few cattle with advanced clinical disease involving the intestinal tract and therefore excreting the bacilli, his claim, his claim that it is cattle that are infecting the badgers is very weak. It is even further weakened when he acknowledges " a far higher challenge is needed to get past the lymphatic immune system of the gut"

Infected badgers on the other hand excrete 300,000 bacilli in a teaspoonful of their urine which they are continually drippling (sic) out. So when badgers "do visit barns briefly ( minutes, hours or days?) to access water or food supplies" it is hardly rocket science to understand how badgers transmit TB to cattle.

Is it hypocritical of Martin Hancox and his ilk to allow the suffering of the infected badgers, never mind the mass slaughter of cattle and the despair of the farmers concerned to be further prolonged?

It is a fact that badgers are both the villain and the victim.

January 26 2006 ~ proposed methods .... to the alarm of both farmers and welfare groups, have focused on snaring.

WMN reports on the EFRA consultation "The cross-party Commons rural affairs committee has announced it will stage a detailed investigation into the controversial plan that could see thousands of badgers across the Westcountry culled in an attempt to halt the crippling spread of TB among the region's cattle herds. The committee, which has not supported culling in the past, will examine both the rationale for a possible cull and the Government's proposed methods for conducting it, which to the alarm of both farmers and welfare groups, have focused on snaring.
Animal Health Minister Ben Bradshaw will be called to answer questions next month as will NFU chiefs and scientists running the Government's badger culling trials. The decision to stage a new inquiry comes amid further scientific controversy about the justification for the cull proposals...."

January 25th 2006 ~ Carwyn Jones has been accused of "failing to listen to the needs of farmers in Wales" by Welsh Lib Dem AM Mick Bates.

Daily Post
"Welsh policitians are to visit Ireland next month following claims by farmers that bovine TB is now "worse than foot-and-mouth". Members of the Assembly's countryside committee want to learn more about how the Irish government has tackled the disease. It follows continued criticism of the Assembly's stance and rising alarm about next month's introduction of new pre-movement testing rules for cattle. The Livestock Auctioneers' Association is considering making an application for a Judicial Review of the new regulation, due on February 20. Worried that some livestock markets may close, the LVA is also seeking independent expert advice on the likely effects of the new procedures. "

January 25th 2006 ~ The EFRA Committee to consult on Bovine TB: Badger Culling - again

The last report from the EFRA Committee on bovine TB was in September 2004. The Government Reply to the Committees Report - containing the Committee's recommendations in bold print - can be read here (opens in new window) and a selection of oral evidence given then - only just over a year ago - is on the warmwell bovine TB pages. After its many recommendations in September 2004 for proactive research into differential tests and vaccines was that the EFRA committee, while supporting a new strategy to deal with bovine TB, was
" less impressed by the decision to consult about the matter.
Defra must surely know by now what its key stakeholders think about this matter; and repeated consultations are unlikely to shift entrenched attitudes in any event . Now is the time for decisions and actions." (Paragraph 46)
It is to be hoped that those with clout on both sides of the badger argument will emphasise to the committee that rapid PCR diagnosis can detect Btb both in badger setts and in cattle well within the hour. Slaughter of uninfected animals is therefore not an option that should be considered in the light of modern technological advance. "The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has decided to examine the Governments proposals for introducing badger culling as a bovine tuberculosis control measure, as set out in the consultation paper issued on 15 December 2005. In conducting its inquiry, the Committee intends to focus on the key questions that Ministers must address in reaching conclusions on the issues set out in the consultation paper. The Committee invites interested parties to address these matters in writing. The deadline for submissions is Monday 6 February 2006. (More information ) The Committee intends to call selected witnesses to give oral evidence on Wednesday 15 February 2006.

January 25th 2006 ~ Defra's Science Advisory Council (SAC) says badger culling is "unlikely to be an effective control measure" for bovine TB"

The advice is contained in a letter dated 20 January 2006 and sent to Defra's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Howard Dalton. See stackyard.com
" The SAC says that research "supports the hypothesis that a substantial proportion of infection of cattle in GB at present is not due to infection by badgers, but is associated with other mechanisms such as cattle-to-cattle transmission.. "Culling of badgers is therefore unlikely to be an effective control measure unless and until further measures to reduce breakdowns due to mechanisms such as cattle-to-cattle transmission have been implemented successfully."
However, see also warmwell's bovine TB pages which deals with on-site testing, closed herds where cattle to cattle transmission is impossible and the view of a senior Pro_Med moderator. Here, for example, is the view of a farmer, Matthew, who has lost reactors and who shares the compassion genuine animal lovers have for badgers:
"the suffering of these delightful animals is immense and it is something the Badger groups and Wildlife Trusts fail to acknowledge. It is perfectly true that for up to 8 years the badger can thrive, maintain body weight, rear cubs (and infect them too) all the while shedding tb. That is why this animal is such a successful host of the disease.
But it gets them in the end and the results are an affront to anyone who calls themselves an animal lover.
Starvation through generalised TB is their main exit, with animals crawling about, half their target body weight, overgrown claws so that they are unable to dig and are forced to seek shelter in barns and cattle sheds. .." (Matthew is one of the team that writes the Bovine TB Blog (opens in new window)
Read in full and, opening in a new window, the constantly updating bovine TB pages and Nine years going no-where with the TB Forum

January 23rd 2006 ~ "by killing the sentinel cattle without listening to the song they are singing, government are exposing more and more of the population either directly, or via their pets, to a seriously infectious zoonosis"

An email today from "Matthew" who has studied the bovine TB problem in detail and with great compassion towards the badgers as well as the cattle, concludes:
The only good thing Bradshaw has done this February, (apart from a fictitious 'consultation' on culling badgers which contains in several places the words "Valued and cherished" when referring to tubercular badgers but emphasises "Valued and slaughtered - at vast cost to the taxpayer" re. cattle!) is to make tuberculosis 'Notifiable in any mammalian species" .
The public are being negligently misled into believing the m.bovis loop affects just cattle and badgers. It does not."
Read in full

January 22nd/23rd 2006 ~ Bovine TB: "...why, when an error may have occurred, is there no appeal process and no opportunity for the farmer to be heard? Instead, verbal bullying, threats and intimidation have been levelled ..."

Bill Wiggin asked Mr Blair in Wednesday's Prime Minister's Question Time (Hansard)
"The Prime Minister will be aware that when cattle fail the TB test, they need to be destroyed. However, why, when an error may have occurred, is there no appeal process and no opportunity for the farmer to be heard?
Instead, verbal bullying, threats and intimidation have been levelled at a constituent of mine, Mrs. Booton.
I wrote to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 5 December and I still have not had a reply. Will the Prime Minister investigate these appeals? I am worried that, if people do not co-operate, the Government's policy for sorting out this disease will be seriously undermined."
The PM's reply was that he did not know about the incident but said to Mr Wiggin " I am perfectly happy to look into it, discuss it with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and get back to him."

January 22nd/23rd 2006 ~ Bovine TB - a time bomb mishandled

Mr Blair might be better informed (see above) were he to read the warmwell pages on bovine TB - and in particular what a ProMed moderator wrote in July "Contrary to views expressed by some interviewees, the spillover of bovine TB from the highly infected, dense badger population in Cornwall to other species, wild and domestic porcines included, should not be surprising. .... If the current situation continues, it might be only a matter of time before humans are infected.." More

January 19/20 2006 ~ 8 reactors at Pensax - the fight is lost

District Judge Bruce Morgan, sitting at Worcester Magistrates' Court, said he had no alternative other than to take the "sad decision" to grant the warrant. BBC

January 18 2006 ~ "I have a nightmare vision of farmers fighting running battles through the countryside with animal rights extremists;

of television news footage showing snared badgers struggling for hours to free themselves; and of TB getting worse, not better, as diseased badgers are dispersed across the countryside by incomplete control operations..." Anthony Gibson in the WMN

January 18 2006 ~ "absolutely no practical reason why tests could not be done"

An article (in FWi) by Owen Paterson on his visit to the USA in December to discuss Bovine TB Policy
"....The USA shows clearly that Bovine TB can be eradicated in cattle and wildlife by a combination of the following:
• fast, accurate and modern diagnosis.
• rigidly enforced but workable pre-movement testing and movement restrictions.
• vigorous, if unpopular, campaign to bear down on disease in wildlife.
It must be emphasised that only a combination of all of these will work. Picking only one or two of them will not eliminate the disease. ..."
"...... new PCR kits, developed for the army in Iraq, are as small as a briefcase and there is absolutely no practical reason why tests could not be done on the environment on the environment from the back of a truck in less than two hours. A well equipped laboratory could do over 1000 a day. They believe that PCR would work on material around setts. It was felt that Ben Bradshaws letter to me was quibbling....
(US vets were) ... utterly astounded by the grotesque dimensions of the TB epidemic in the UK. .... there was clearly no doubt that we should be pressing the Government to trial PCR technology as we have already proposed. "
Read in full

January 18 ~ Bovine TB : Latest parliamentary questions on the issues re gassing and the culling policy .

Hansard
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reasons gassing has been ruled out as a method of culling badgers. [41551]
Mr. Bradshaw: Gassing has not been ruled out as a method of culling badgers. We are currently consulting on both the principle and method of a badger culling policy.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the compatibility with the Berne Convention of the practice of licensing individual farmers to cull badgers. [42255]
Mr. Bradshaw: We are currently consulting on both the principle and method of a badger culling policy. Any new culling policy would have to be sustainable and take account of legislation protecting the welfare of badgers. But no decisions have yet been made. Badgers are listed as a protected species under Appendix III of the Berne Convention, but they are not an endangered species. The Berne Convention allows regulated management of a protected species as long as this is not "detrimental to the survival of the population concerned".

January 18 2006 ~ Shelagh Kremers wins public support

The Farmers' Weekly reports
The Devon farmer who is continuing her fight to save a bull calf from being slaughtered as a TB reactor has received many messages of support in her battle against DEFRA. Sheilagh Kremers, of New Park Farm, Ogwell, Newton Abbot, is refusing to allow DEFRA access to slaughter one of her 12 pedigree Dexter cattle on the grounds that the tuberculin skin test is unreliable and was poorly carried out.
"Only 13-20% of cattle slaughtered for TB are positive, which simply isn't good enough," she said. "But DEFRA is refusing to allow us a second test, even if we do it privately."
Mrs Kremers has complained to the Royal Veterinary College, questioning the validity of the TB tests..." Read in full
The Kremers' petition.

January 18 2006 ~ Bovine TB. Ben Bradshaw says he doesn't have "information on the number of applications for private tests rejected by the SVS". Nor does he appear to understand that rapid PCR tests can already diagnose Mycobacterium bovis in live cattle.

Hansard Bill Wiggin asked
• about appeal procedures against the results of the tuberculosis test,
• when the use of a private tuberculin test would be approved
• how many cases the use of such a test has been refused in the last two years
• DEFRA's reasons for not using the gamma interferon test to support tuberculosis tests. Excerpts from Mr Bradshaw's replies:
  Mr. Bradshaw:...any request to release tuberculin for a further private test will always be declined by the Department. Approval for private tests is generally granted in the context of a test for purchaser assurance, or as a condition for cattle export in herds not subjected to tuberculosis restrictions.
  Information on the number of applications for private tests rejected by the state veterinary service is not held by the Department.
  .....We are continuing to fund projects at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency to develop methods (including polymerase chain reaction-PCR) for detecting Mycobacterium bovis in clinical samples. At present it is unrealistic to consider PCR methods as a viable alternative to the existing primary surveillance tool for TB in live cattle
  .. Defra does use the gamma interferon test in identified problem TB herds at a rate of about 6,000 animal tests a year. EU legislation allows the blood test only to be used to supplement the skin test. Preparations are now being made for wider use of the gamma interferon test, in prescribed circumstances. A working group has been established to prepare and deliver a policy for increased use of the test."

January 18 2006 ~ bovine TB "... the panel had done little more than "rubber stamp" government proposals. His own views had been excluded from its final report."

The Livestock Auctioneers Association is considering legal action against the Government. David Kivell, a prominent livestock auctioneer in Devon, is quoted by the Western Morning News today on government plans to test all cattle being moved - except those going directly for slaughter - still without agreeing a cull of TB-infected badgers
" ... I don't think Defra have quite understood the implications. As these rules stand they would cripple the markets in the South West - it has to change."
The Livestock Auctioneers Association has warned that traditional markets, that still form the backbone of rural life in many Westcountry communities, are likely to be devastated. WMN
"Association vice-chairman Ben Messer-Bennetts : "The country's 137 livestock markets have a combined turnover of £1 billion. This is not some little industry - we are vital cog in the wheel of farming and the rural economy."
He said that the rules would have little impact on the spread of bovine TB. He was himself a member of the independent panel that advised the Government on pre-movement testing, and the WMN reports that he said the panel had done little more than "rubber stamp" government proposals. His own views had been excluded from its final report.

January 9 2006 ~ FARMER TOLD CALF WON'T HAVE SECOND TB TEST

http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=143632&command=displayContent&sourceNode=142719&contentPK=13800320&folderPk=91672">WMN 11:00 - 09 January 2006

A westcountry farmer has vowed to continue her fight to save a bull calf from slaughter despite being told by Ministry vets that the animal will not be tested a second time for bovine tuberculosis. Sheilagh Kremers has refused to let officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on to her land at New Park Farm, Ogwell near Newton Abbot, to cull a calf which tests have indicated is a bovine TB carrier.

Mrs Kremers, 63, is making a stand because she says the Government is failing to control badgers - which she believes is the cause of the disease spreading among cattle. She has now been told, in a letter from the Department for Food and Rural Affairs that her five-month-old pedigree Dexter bull calf Mous'l Fern will not be tested a second time for bovine TB.

The Defra letter said: "I am confirming that no re-test will be carried out.

"After informing the District Veterinary Network of the facts of this case I again confirm there will be no change in this decision."

Defra are due to contact Mrs Kremers again tomorrow to discuss the next stage but she has vowed that she will not change her stance.

She told the WMN yesterday: "It's not going. I'm still doing my utmost to stop it being slaughtered."

Mrs Kremers has denied the Government permission to value the bull for slaughter. She will only get around £500 in compensation.

Defra inspectors tested her herd of 12 rare-breed Dexters for bovine TB and Mous'l Fern was the only one to show signs of exposure to the disease.

But the only way Defra vets can be sure is to kill the calf and carry out a post-mortem examination.

Mrs Kremers has already told the WMN that she is prepared to go to court over the issue. Ultimately she could face six months in prison, a £5,000 fine, or both.

In addition to her battle to save her calf, she is also launching a petition calling for the introduction of more accurate bovine TB tests to stop the spread of the disease from wildlife, together with vaccinations for domestic farm animals to build a resistance.

Anyone who wants to support Mrs Kremers or sign the petition is asked to write to her at New Park Farm, Rectory Road, Ogwell, Newton Abbot, TQ12 6AH. jkirk@westernmorningnews.co.uk

January 6 2006 ~ Muckspreader Private Eye

".......What Hatters further omitted to mention was the force of that letter signed by more than 420 vets and scientists (originally suggested by Tory agriculture spokesman Owen Paterson), calling on the government to allow a cull as a matter of highest urgency. Not only, they argued, was this the only way to save thousands of farmers and their cattle from disaster. It would also serve the welfare of the diseased badgers themselves, condemned otherwise to a lingering, unpleasant death. So pitifully ill-informed was the Timess bizarre contribution to the debate, in short, it is perhaps unsurprising that the paper declined to print any of the letters sent in to point this out. .." Read in full

January 4 2006 ~ SLAUGHTER NOTICE FOR 'TB' CALF

Department of Food and Rural Affairs inspectors tested her herd of 12 rare-breed Dexters for bovine TB just before Christmas. ... news report

15th December 2005 ~ Another consultation on Bovine TB crisis creates an unnecessary delay

Commenting on the DEFRA consultation on tackling Bovine TB, Shadow DEFRA Minister, Jim Paice said:
The proposed consultation is another unnecessary delay in making the inevitable though distressing decision to cull badgers in hot-spot areas. Removing individual animals will not work. Studies have shown that use of Polymerase Chain Reaction tests can indicate whether a sett contains badgers carrying TB. Where this is the case the whole family should be humanely culled. The Government should then develop a means of relocating badgers from clean areas into those from where badgers have been removed, after a suitable time period. We do not want to create long term badger free zones but unless the Government gets a grip we will soon see cattle free zones. The whole farming world believes the Government has spent 8 years putting off a difficult decision. Unless robust measures are taken, badgers, cattle and farmers will continue to suffer.
Press release

June 13 2005 ~ EXPERT DEBATE ON TB WAS 'STIFLED' BY OFFICIALS

WMN Ministers have been accused of stifling debate on bovine TB by railroading independent experts into "rubber-stamping" government policy on the issue.

Ben Messer-Bennetts, a livestock auctioneer in Cornwall, said he was dismayed by his experience of sitting on an independent stakeholder group set up by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to report on aspects of TB control policy. In a controversial report earlier this month the group recommended introducing pre-movement testing for all cattle in TB hotspot areas, a policy favoured by ministers but opposed by many Westcountry farmers. Mr Messer-Bennetts, a member of the nine-strong team that drew up the report, said the group had enjoyed very little independence. He said the group had been presented with a "template" for the report at the start of its work and that the Defra "observers" who attended all but two of the group's meetings had had "far too much influence" on the debate. He was also deeply unhappy that his own views on the issue had been cut completely from the report.

"I went into this process with an open mind," he said. "I thought the idea of a stakeholder group was a good idea and I have tried to be constructive throughout. But I have come out of it feeling that we were just being used to rubber-stamp what the Government was going to do anyway. The whole thing was very much stifled by Defra observers. I was not able to express my views in the final report, even in an appendix, despite the fact I contributed throughout. I think