‘Move beyond’ disputes of the past, bTB panel warns

Stakeholders on all sides of the bTB control debate in England have been urged to “move beyond long-held positions” as new plans are drawn up to tackle it.

A government-appointed panel has warned that polarisation over the role of badgers had hampered efforts to assess their risk of transmitting the disease.

The panel also called for greater urgency, and increased investment now, to raise what it described as the “small chance” of meeting the current disease eradication target by 2038.

A year on

More than a year has now passed since the UK Government set out its pledge to end the controversial badger culling programme by the end of this parliament, which is likely to be in 2029.

Earlier this year, ministers re-appointed the independent panel led by Professor Sir Charles Godfray, which initially examined the issue in 2018, to review the latest evidence.

Its report, published on 4 September, said badgers can transmit bTB to cattle and contribute to its persistence.

But it acknowledged that measures to address that issue would “increasingly need to be non-lethal” in line with government policy, and estimates of the threat were needed to properly assess the emphasis to be placed upon them.

‘Polarisation’

It continued: “The polarisation of the debate about the role of badgers has not been helpful in estimating this risk.”

During a media briefing outlining the report’s findings, Sir Charles also stressed that the role of badgers in transmission did not automatically mean culling was necessary and described arguments that badgers were either solely responsible for spreading bTB or not a factor at all as unhelpful.

He added: “It should be possible to form a consensus on that.”

Ministers have indicated they expect to publish their new plan for the disease early next year and said the report would be key to informing that strategy.

Pressure

However, the report warned that “a step change” in both focus and the resources dedicated to tackling it were necessary to meet that objective, though it stressed it recognised the pressure on the public finances. It went on to argue that regulatory approval for new cattle vaccinations could be “safely accelerated” in a manner akin to the COVID vaccines with sufficient urgency and resources from all concerned parties.

Sir Charles also called for the new strategy to be “co-owned” by all stakeholders in the bTB debate after the report urged them to take broader public sentiments into account.

‘Take the lead’

It said: “We know that the industry would prefer to take the lead with few constraints on interventions but the reality is that this does not have a social licence in England and policy needs to be developed accordingly.

“This requires leadership and a willingness to move beyond long-held positions by government, the industry and wildlife NGOs.”

Such an approach has already been adopted in Northern Ireland, where veterinary, farmer and wildlife organisations joined a new government-led bTB partnership earlier this year, though the Ulster Farmers’ Union subsequently threatened to pull out over the issue of wildlife control.