*Cattle testing and biosecurity is cheaper than badger culling for
bovine TB, says Lord Krebs*
For immediate release: 11.00am 19 June 2008
A badger cull to control bovine TB would involve the extermination of at
least 170,000 badgers: well over half the UK population, Lord Krebs has
warned.
But in an important Opinion feature in Science in Parliament[1], he says
that "improved [cattle] testing and incentives to keep badgers away from
cattle would cost less and be at least as likely to work".
Lord Krebs produced the report[2] which led to ten years of badger
culling trials that ended in 2007. The Independent Scientific Group
(ISG) which delivered the trials concluded in June 2007 that badger
culling could make "no meaningful contribution" to bovine TB control in
Great Britain[3].
But in October 2007, the then chief scientific advisor to the
Government, Professor David King, claimed that badger culling could be
effective[4]. But Professor King failed to consider the practicalities
and costs of badger culling and Lord Krebs, in his latest article, notes
that Professor King's group was "smaller ...
with less expertise, meeting for a day".
The Badger Trust has also today released a set of minutes obtained under
the Freedom of Information Act, agreed by Professor David King and the
ISG. In the minutes, Professor King acknowledges the massive logistical
hurdles that need to be overcome if badger culling is to make any
contribution to bovine TB control[5].
Professor King "confirmed that badger culling would have to be
undertaken competently and sustained for a minimum period of four years
over a land area of at least 265km2 ... Sir David confirmed that
conducting badger culls simultaneously over such an area would have to
be an essential element of any culling programme ... All present agreed
... that culling conducted over short time periods or in an
uncoordinated manner would be very likely to cause detrimental effects".
The latest analysis of the badger culling trial data shows that annual
culling would only prevent 12 out of an expected 130 TB outbreaks across
125km2 over six years[6].
Trevor Lawson, for the Badger Trust, commented: "Professor King's hasty
report was an uncosted and impractical policy proposal. Now, Lord Krebs
has effectively devalued it further, pointing out the lesser expertise
of Professor King's group and setting ten years'
worth of research against a meeting that lasted for just a day.
"Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, should reject
Professor King's wholly inadequate contribution to this important debate
and accept the ISG's advice that badger culling can make no meaningful
contribution to bovine TB control. Bovine TB is primarily spread by
cattle both to each other and to wildlife. Resources can be focused on
cattle and biosecurity far more efficiently and we welcome the fact that
this has been recognised by Lord Krebs."
ENDS.
*/For further comment, contact Trevor Lawson, Badger Trust spokesman, /*
*/on 07976 262388/*.
1. Krebs, J. (2008), Opinion, Science in Parliament Vol 65, No 2, 2008
2. Krebs, J. et al, Bovine tuberculosis in cattle and badgers, MAFF,
1997.
3. Bourne, F.J., et al., Bovine TB: The Scientific Evidence.
Independent Scientific Group Reports, 2007. Final Report.
4. King, D., Bovine tuberculosis in cattle and badgers. A report by
the chief scientific adviser, 2007.
5. [See attached document]: GofS (2007), Note of a meeting to
discuss badgers and bovine TB in cattle, Thursday 13 December 2007,
Government Office For Science.
6. Jenkins HE, et al., The effects of annual widespread badger culls
on cattle tuberculosis following the
cessation of culling, Int J Infect Dis (2008), doi:10.1016/j.ijid.
2008.04.001
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