11 May 2023
A team of scientists and vets has called for rapid change to bTB policy for England, warning the present focus on badgers is undermining efforts to combat the disease.
Allister Webb
Job Title
A new report has demanded “substantial and immediate reform” of bTB policy in England, warning the continuing focus on badgers is obstructing efforts to eradicate the disease.
The document, released today (11 May), also calls for an independent review and is likely to raise further questions about Defra’s handling of the problem, 10 years after contentious culling policies were first introduced.
The department has consistently defended its approach, insisting the method is reducing disease levels.
But the analysis found there was a “deep-seated lack of attention to basic disease prevention measures”, based on a view that badgers’ role outweighed other areas of intervention.
It added: “Until the belief in the role of badgers in the spread of bTB is broken, substantial progress with bTB elimination in England will continue to be severely hampered.”
The report, entitled “A bovine tuberculosis policy conundrum in 2023”, focuses on an approach known as epidemiological culling (EC), which has been trialled in parts of England since 2018.
Defra has maintained that, as its policy focus moves towards badger and cattle vaccination, culling would only be used where epidemiological assessments indicate it is necessary.
But the report concluded there was “no clear evidence” badgers were a significant factor in spreading and maintaining bTB in new cluster areas, and scientific evidence supporting the EC approach was “not sufficiently robust to justify veterinary approval for any wider use”.
One of its authors, Paul Torgerson of the University of Zurich, said its findings reinforced current research trends indicating wildlife should not be viewed as a key aspect of bTB control.
Prof Torgerson said: “Approaches have been based upon weak science and huge supposition, while good progress is made in Wales [where rates of reduction are similar to those recorded in England] without killing badgers.
“In terms of the misuse of veterinary principles, extreme waste of public funding and the cost from delaying the solutions already available, the current situation must surely rapidly change in everyone’s interests.”
The report is the latest significant intervention in the bTB debate in recent months, following the announcement in February of plans for field trials of a new cattle vaccine and skin test.
Last month, senior BCVA figures argued culling should remain one of the possible measures used to combat the disease.
But anti-cull activists have also begun a fresh campaign demanding a permanent halt to the practice.
In response to that, a Defra spokesperson said: “Our bovine TB eradication strategy is working and has brought about a significant reduction in this disease.
“As a result of the progress made, we are now able to move on to the next phase of the long-term eradication strategy, including wider badger vaccination, alongside improved cattle testing and work towards developing a cattle vaccine.”
