September 2nd 2010 ~ Other Species "...new tables have an even fuller explanation of just what Defra are not counting..."

Another devastating posting from the BovineTB Blogspot. DEFRA's office personnel may be pitied for having to battle with printed figures and muddled sources - but these "fuller explanations" are a way both of smudging accuracy and covering DEFRA's back for the lack of accuracy - and neither helps when so much is at stake for people on the ground.
Extract from the post (which needs to be read in full):
"..when one looks for figures of 'other species' TB casualties on Defra's website, it is probably more informative to read the notes and see what isn't being counted, especially those detailed in Note 2.
Note 2: Cultures and post mortem examination may not be carried out at the VLA on every animal removed from a herd once TB has been confirmed. Therefore not all animals removed for TB disease control purposes will be reported above. i.e., where multiple skin or blood test reactors are identified in an infected herd undergoing TB testing.
Skin and blood test failures? Not counted. Deaths where no cultures have been collected, but gross pathology has indicated TB? Not counted.
These animals are dead...."
Read post

1st September 2010 ~ Many will be watching and waiting to see the outcome of the "Hallmark Boxster" case

The Champion British Blonde bull, Hallmark Boxster, won his category in every show he entered last year. His value can undoubtedly be calculated in five figures - but DEFRA wants him slaughtered after the gamma interferon test gave a "marginal indication" that he was a TB carrier.
His owner, Ken Jackson, is not the first to have challenged such a diagnosis, nor the first to be refused when he asked to pay privately for a retest .
After several months of stand-off, DEFRA has now been told by the High Court judge in the case, Mr Justice Collins, that the prize bull should be given another chance and vets should indeed re-run the test.
It will be of interest to many to see if DEFRA is prepared to run the risk of a re-test's suggesting that the original diagnosis was wrong. Although the gamma interferon test is the best we have in the armoury at present it is not infallible and more effective alternatives could be available - given political will. (The commercially available form of the assay, Enzyme Linked ImmunoSpot (ELISPOT) T-SPOT® TB (Oxford Immunotec, Abingdon, UK), now has European regulatory approval for use on humans.) The Welsh government claimed, perhaps rather unwisely, in May 2007 during the Shambo case, that the Defra tests were "99.9 per cent accurate". In the same month we were informed by an eminent microbiologist that a positive skin reaction to bTB is "not more than an indicator for the animal having met the infection and raised antibodies and a white cell memory." (read in full)

30th August 2010 ~ bTB on a farm in South West France

83 animals on a farm in Ariège have been culled and 12 other farms in the area are under supervision. One of the animals during a routine inspection at the abattoir appeared to have vesicles but it took several weeks before the authorities could definitively say it was bovine TB. All affected farmers have been offered "all possible help and assistance". More detail

August 28th 2010 ~ Bovine TB is back in the Netherlands

Thanks to the real-time news magic of Twitter, we learn with sadness that TB was found after routine testing of a butchered cow in Friesland - and that 20% of the other cows at the farm tested positive. These were culled. The remainder will be isolated for 2 to 4 months and tested regularly.
The Netherlands has been mercifully free of the disease - but in 2008, an isolated outbreak was traced back to the import of calves from the UK. Siem-Jan Schenck, chairman of the department of cattle with the Dutch Agricultural Board, said that no more British calves should be imported into the Netherlands. However, even though the EC tabled a proposal to SCOFCAH which would have made the export of calves from Britain virtually impossible, the committee rejected the idea. An official said at the time (July 2008): "The EU Commission is still keeping our TB control programme under scrutiny. A number of Food and Veterinary Office reports have identified perceived shortcomings - for example in the frequency of testing and the use of parishes as control areas. They may come back on this in future." See below. Animals on 48 other farms which delivered animals to or bought animals from the TB positive farm are being tested. The link is herewww.agd.nl (Dutch)

August 27th 2010 ~ "apart from a change of heads in Westminister and great deal more anguish .... absolutely nothing has changed..."

The always excellent Bovine TB Blogspot has taken a closer look at the inaccuracy of Defra's statistics with regard to numbers of "other species" which have succumbed to tuberculosis. Matthew examines "fudges" in the guidelines for notifications, and has been ".. assured by vets and AHO staff further down the ladder that they are reporting positive post mortems to the local VI centre, who in turn confirm their reports to Defra, London. But there the logs appear to jam. Although the lift goes to the top floor, the figures appear not to be passed to the people in FFG who collate those statistics." Read in full

August 26th 2010 ~ Camelids: "... under-reporting figures is contributing to a 'lack urgency' within DEFRA" FG

The "official" DEFRA figures for alpaca herds under Tb movement restriction are wildly inaccurate at 35. As the posting below makes clear:
".... a minimum of 49 herds have been affected. Sadly as one of my group come out of restriction another comes on. Those in touch with the TB Support group have suffered 155 losses between 1st Jan 2010 and 1st August 2010 so our small group has already exceeded the number of losses for last year..... Herds have been affected not only by direct local wildlife but by way of purchase or agisted mating and sadly lots of alpacas on long term agistment have fallen to TB...." read in full
The Farmers Guardian today reports on Dianne Summers' alarm (see below) that some commercial herds are passing on the disease to unwitting clients and failing to give their full movement records to Animal Health - which means AH cannot contact them to offer testing.
Farmers Guardian reports on Dianne Summers' campaign for TB controls on camelids in England to be put on the same footing as those for cattle. She stresses that a more accurate test for alpacas is required. Farmers Guardian:
"DEFRA is facing calls to tighten up bovine TB (bTB) controls for non-bovine species in England, amid signs the disease is spreading far more rapidly in some species than official figures indicate. ...Once TB has been confirmed in herds of non-bovine species, subsequent animals that test positive to the skin or blood tests 'may not be examined', Defra says. "Therefore not all animals removed for TB disease control purposes will be reported," a note accompanying the statistics admits. This was confirmed by an irate owner of a heavily infected alpaca herd, from Devon, who told Farmers Guardian he had recently reported a dead animal to Animal Health to be told he would have to organise and pay for any post mortem, himself."
Once again we seem to be witnessing DEFRA's inability to understand that farmers will not cooperate willingly in disease control measures if doing so means they are both inconvenienced and out of pocket.

August 20th 2010 ~ Welsh Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones has launched a consultation on a draft legislative order to control TB in camelids, goats and deer.

The Welsh Assembly Government is consulting on proposed legislative arrangements for managing and preventing incidents of bovine TB in non-bovine animals, specifically camelids, goats and deer. Start of consultation: 19/08/2010 End of consultation: 11/11/2010. See link to online form etc.

August 20th 2010 ~ "sadly as always, the decent honest and responsible herds that are under restriction are going to be tarred with the same brush as those that are not."

The August update of camelid herds under restriction shows that many herd owners remain totally unaware that they have brought TB into their herds until they suffer their first loss. The current figures, the perceived problems, and the needed actions are all discussed - (as is a warm acknowledgement to MikeBirch who resigned from the BAS Board in early August). Read camelid update for August (link mended) - for which, grateful thanks as usual to Dianne Summers.

August 20th 2010 ~ Promising (highly technical) news in Nature.

A research paper dealing with a breakthrough in testing human patients in order to identify which individuals will develop disease has implications for vaccine and therapeutic development. (There is gathering evidence that those who go on to develop invasive disease with a number of organisms have a different genetic profile from those that do not.) Anything that adds to the pool of information about such a complex disease must surely be helpful eventually to both humans and animals.

August 17th 2010 ~ "the change proposed would be a false economy as well as adding to the stress of the farmers and animals concerned"

The Tenant Farmers Association chief executive, George Dunn, is quoted in the Farmers Guardian following the TFA's plea toJim Paice not to take responsibility for TB testing away from local vets.
"New arrangements are to be introduced requiring that all herds of more than 100 animals should be tested by a State Veterinary Officer as opposed to a private veterinary practitioner"
|The motive for this change has not been made clear but saving money seems to underlie most policy these days. But TB testing forms a vital part of private vets' income and removing it will simply increase financial pressures on both vets and farmers. Mr Dunn "insisted there were other ways in which money could be saved, including updating the test which is around 50 years old." Read the article.

August 16th 2010 ~ "I'd like Ruth's opinion of using the cattle 'microbiology'"

Pat Bird has sent this useful email to warmwell.com and wonders what the virologist and farmer, Dr Ruth Watkins, might say in response. Ruth's reaction (see below) to the 'management' of badgers plan, illustrated in Chris Chapman's DVD was to point out the lack of microbiological back up. Pat Bird writes:
"I know some who've seen the DVD or who have heard Bryan Hill speak think that he goes on a farm, sniffs the air like a dog, and says this is the sett of a 'skanky badger' or 'good badger'. But there really is far more to the 'management' of an infected area than that, and it does involve a lot of veterinary info on the cattle side, combined with wildlife fieldcraft.
.. There is microbiological support - the cattle. No one is using the cattle test results and spoligotyping to pin point source any more. It used to be the package which was used by AHO to ask for permission from the old Badger Panel, to conduct a badger cull. A risk assessment done on farm records, (now with CTS / BCMS back up ) to positively exclude any bought in cattle, postmortems, then a VLA spoligotype on culture to identify the strain of TB. And finally a WLU field mapping to track badgers or deer relative to cattle grazing areas. Often the sett responsible was not on the farm which its inhabitants were foraging, in which case AHO couldn't touch it! Statute changed in 1987 and reduced land available from 7 km down just 1km of any confirmed outbreak, and then only on 'land cattle had grazed'. So if the sett was in an orchard, or ungrazed woodland, no one could touch it.
The management of infected badgers proposed by the film makers, goes back to this. The area,( several farms not just one) is mapped and with veterinary input, cattle test results are used. Then fieldcraft tracking shows healthy setts with cattle testing clear, and also, from cattle reactors, where problem ones are. Visual inspections of setts sometimes confirm, sometimes not. But the prime driver is the cattle information. And that includes gross pathology, histology, cultures and spoligotyping.
Hope this helps."
Other informed comment is very welcome. (email warmwell)

August 12th 2010~ New Zealand government funds "an entirely new type of vaccine that could increase the effectiveness of treating livestock against the disease"

A report from Radio New Zealand briefly mentions that:
"AgResearch scientists developing a vaccine to protect cattle and deer from bovine tuberculosis, are also exploring an entirely new type of vaccine that could increase the effectiveness of treating livestock against the disease."
The research programme includes the development of improved TB testing methods and will get further NZ Government funding of $750,000 (£341,000) per year for five years.

August 10th 2010 ~ "The appeal court ruling is of course a major set back, especially for those farmers whose businesses are being destroyed by this horrendous disease"

Extract from the NFU President's message to farmers (See Meat Trade News)
".... I encountered many who were quite understandably cross and frustrated. For Wales this issue will now become entwined in politics, as there is a Welsh Assembly election in May next year and any new proposal will need another consultation and this will almost certainly rule out any cull this season.
For England, the coalition government commitment to introduce a carefully managed and science-led policy of badger control in areas with bovine TB means that the new Defra team will be hard at work, continuing to examine the options as I write this. The ruling in Wales will not only help to make sure that these arguments are well articulated but also that the procedure is legally watertight."
Read in full.

August 5th 2010 ~ "If I had received this email back in January 2009 not only would I have understood why my alpaca had this reaction but I would have certainly adopted a totally different approach."

For those who share concern about the severe progress of TB in affected camelids - particularly the sudden deterioration after the skin test in some already infected animals, these important documents regarding side effects in camelids following the skin test jab will be of urgent interest. Extract
"...Before you jump to the wrong conclusion and think the skin test jab has given these animals Tb, this is not the case. ALL these alpacas were found on post mortem to have advanced Tb lesions and for some unknown reason had experienced this dramatic reaction. Many leading vets have already suggested anaphylactic shock.
Those owners that carried out the Chembio Rapid Stat Pak test or Gamma test within 10 - 30 days following the skin test - the blood tests picked up ALL the animals that had this dramatic reaction. Owners who didn't have blood test done had to endure either the alpaca dying or developing severe clinical signs which required euthanasia on welfare grounds.
Therefore, please monitor your herd very closely following the skin test procedure..." Read in full
Thanks are once again due to Dianne Summers. The video referred to can be seen on the Bovine TB Blogspot

July 30th 2010 ~ " the importance of monitoring alpacas after a skin test should not be underestimated."

Highly recommended to camelid owners - and indeed to anyone else who is concerned and distressed at the impasse which is allowing bTB to continue unchecked - are the latest posts from the Bovine TB Blogspot.
While those who know little about bTB continue to feel and express such anger at farmers who want to protect their animals, the realities of the disease are borne by the animals in which the disease develops and takes hold - badgers and alpacas in particular - and by those who see at first hand the post-mortem evidence of this destructive and ultimately horrifyingly painful disease.

July 27th 2010 ~ "...a beautiful and sensitive film....the most striking thing to me is the lack of microbiology to back up the hypothesis put forward."

Once again, we are very grateful to the virologist, Dr Ruth Watkins, for her continuing correspondence about bovine TB. She has watched the DVD "The Way Forward" and was evidently as impressed by it as so many others are. However, she is worried by the comment "BCG vaccine would conceal infection in sick badgers which is the big danger", explaining that in the context of M bovis infection and BCG vaccination such a statement has little meaning. She points out that since M bovis infection is a progressive infection, the bacterial load increases and eventually the badger becomes sick. Before it becomes sick it will shed organisms so it is not only sick badgers that are infectious. Once infected, whether they are vaccinated or not will make no difference. She is impressed by "such careful mapping and observations" but says they "cry out for modern microbiology..." Read email and some of the correspondence that preceded it

July 26th 2010 ~ Reappraisal of triple therapy in oral bait

A fascinating email from Ruth Watkins demonstrates that those who really are concerned about the urgency of the need to tackle bovine TB are prepared to keep an open mind. As she says here:
".... I am finding out more about M bovis in an effort to understand the infection and disease and to think outside the box. ... I have argued against Colin Fink's idea of putting out triple antibiotic therapy bait for badgers hitherto. However if there is essentially a reservoir of M bovis in badgers and cattle (and deer, camelids, cats etc) that humans almost never get maybe such an approach together with vaccination of badgers and birth control of badgers / population reduction would not be such a bad idea after all. Vaccination of cattle and testing and culling of infected cattle would have to continue to get rid of M bovis infection. The cycles of infection would be broken, stopping reinfection of either badgers or cattle from the other species...."
This is an important, albeit necessarily complicated email that sets out Dr Watkins' reasoning. It should be read in full. Informed comments would be very welcome.

July 22nd 2010 ~ Must we continue to watch the slaughter of thousands more cows, bulls and alpacas, and to know that infected badgers are dying slowly and alone?

Just as Professor Fraser (see opposite page) wants to see a scientifically based dialogue between the two sides in the factory/extensive food production debate, there is a desperate need for the polarised arguments about the best way forward to tackle bovine TB to be coolly reconsidered. Dr Ruth Watkins is not only an expert in disease pathogens but also a practical farmer who cares deeply and conscientiously for both the livestock and the wildlife on her farm. She says that she
" ..used to believe that there was insufficient evidence about 5 years ago to justify the killing of badgers which seemed like part of the inane response.... to the FMD epidemic when of course there was a highly effective vaccine ready for use. I have changed my mind about badgers now..."
It is painful to contemplate the killing of badgers. The alternative, until vaccine can be effectively given, is to watch the slaughter of thousands more cows, bulls and alpacas, to know that infected badgers are enduring a slow, miserable and painful end, and to see the threat to other mammals, including Man, increasing.

July 22nd 2010 ~ FUW president wants a legal cull of badgers carried out under licence.

Any organised Welsh cull could now be a year away. Speaking at the Royal Welsh Show on Tuesday, Gareth Vaughan said
"..that is too long for an industry which is suffering terrible hardship."
Mr Vaughan pointed out that since the Welsh Assembly won't be back in session until late September, no new legislation is likely before the start of the closed season when badgers cannot be killed. "It may be May before we are in a position to tackle the disease and that is too long away," he said. (See report on Farmers Weekly)
At present, any application to carry out a large scale co-ordinated cull, even with a commitment to sustained delivery and funding from farmers, would not be granted. This is according to the relevant pre-May 11th DEFRA webpage, (not yet updated to reflect any new policy on licences.)

July 17th 2010 ~ "The ISG's final report, published in 2007, explicitly states that badgers contribute significantly to the disease in cattle." Jim Paice

Hansard Mr Paice's comments on Thursday about the various (and contradictory) officially observed effects of culling trials, about computer modelling, "biosecurity" and progress with injectable and oral vaccines, can all be read on Hansard - but in terms of clarity and urgency many might feel his remarks leave something to be desired.

July 17th 2010 ~ VLA now includes TB as "common" disease of camelids

Dianne Summers has kindly sent us the useful Veterinary Information Sheet (pdf) (link mended - apologies) from the VLA's Miscellaneous Exotic and Farmed Species Expert Group South American Camelids. It is an "Aide memoire for the diagnosis of common disease syndromes." She adds
"The majority of the diseases can be detected ante mortem (live animals) so this is vital information as it details the tests and the diseases it can detect. The abortion section is very interesting and proves the importance to PM all deaths including aborted cria. All these tests can be arranged through your vet - who can arrange tests with the VLA on your behalf."
She also emphasises that it is about time breeders' websites stopped implying that alpacas rarely get ill or get many diseases. "Breeders websites should state that camelids are subject to diseases the same as all other livestock," she says.

July 15th 2010 ~ "Human" TB is no longer a disease of the past

The Independent today reports: ".. there has been a resurgence and the incidence has steadily increased. There were 9,153 cases among adults and children recorded in the UK in 2009, the largest annual increase (5.5 per cent) since 2005..." Public Health specialists now advise that all babies born in London should be vaccinated.
Unfortunately, vaccination against TB is not without its problems (as we have discussed below in connection with animals) BCG is known to have little impact on the prevalence of the infectious adult tuberculosis, responsible for the spread of the disease in the community. ( The vaccine that was intended to be used in badgers is identical to the BCG vaccine widely used in humans. It is manufactured by the Statens Serum Institute, in Copengagen, which produces vast quantities of the human vaccine. For a discussion about the limitations of present vaccines, see below.)

July 15th 2010 ~ NBA reaction to High Court decision: "No farmer or farmers' organisation has ever envisaged eliminating all badgers from the countryside.."

" the request has been that there should be a targeted cull in limited areas by qualified and licensed persons, and even then only where the TB disease can be shown to be present in a high proportion of badgers." The National Beef Association's Kim Haywood, in this press release explains that the High Court ruling could mean that the disease will now spread to healthy badger setts. Over the next ten years "the spread is expected to cost many farmers a lot of money and distress, and the tax-payer more than £1 billion..."
"..Records show that TB erupts among badgers in heavily infected areas when their population is too thick on the ground and immediately reduces when it is thinner after infected badgers are removed. ..." Read the NBA press release in full
The NBA wants the public to comprehend the huge increase in the number of badgers which, as a result of the judgment, will now die an unpleasant emaciated death from TB. They add that the "Appeal Judges' other fear, that badgers in Britain would become extinct if they were subject to anti-TB culling, can be challenged with confidence." Read in full

July 14th 2010 ~ TB in alpacas - "we need to change the way we do things - sharpish"

The tbinalpacas.blogspot.com carries practical advice from the British Veterinary Camelid Society vet, Dr Gina Bromage. Extract:
".....The skin test fails to detect the vast majority of TB infected camelids - so it goes without saying the risk of TB is very much on all of our minds but it isn't only TB we need to consider- its any disease that can be contracted by coming into contact with other alpacas/llamas e.g. Bvd, mange, mites, gastro intestinal parasites in particular E-Mac - diseases that can kill - so we need to change the way we do things - sharpish and one of those is mating - the other is buying..."
Read posting in full

July 14th 2010 ~ BVA says - " important to note that the decision is based on the way the Welsh Assembly Government came to its decision and not on the scientific evidence."

The British Veterinary Association's press release is worth reading in full. Extract:
"....the veterinary profession maintains that we need all available tools to tackle the spread of TB in both cattle and wildlife.. " (Bill Reilly)
Read press release.

July 13th 2010 ~ The Welsh Badger cull order has been quashed by the Court of Appeal.

The Badger Trust's appeal against plans to trap and shoot badgers in West Wales has been upheld by the three law lords in Cardiff's High Court today. Lord Justice Pill said the Welsh Assembly was wrong to make an order for the whole of Wales when it had consulted on the basis of a Intensive Action Pilot Area (IAPA), which only supported a cull on evidence within the IAPA. The articles to read so far are: Press Association and Farmers Guardian "Badger cull decision 'bitterly disappointing' - NFU" and Farmers Weekly
The Farmers' Union of Wales have called it a "bitterly disappointing outcome".
"Farmers are doing their bit to control this disease, yet the court has decided that the most significant obstacle to controlling this disease, namely an highly infected badger population, cannot be addressed until further consideration of the facts is undertaken by the Assembly's Rural Affairs Minister.
Farmers throughout Wales, from Anglesey down to Monmouthshire, have been doing their bit to combat bTB for decades, and are now subject to more movement restrictions and bTB testing than ever before, all at huge expense."
Meanwhile, a farmer writes on the FWi forum: "... Having just gone clear after 2 years l fully expect to go down again this autumn. We have picked up several dead badgers on this farm, thin with very long claws, they died of something, and it was not us helping them on their way. Fencing the cattle away from the badgers is not viable, as they are everywhere, using the same water sources to drink, the same pasture to find feed..." (See FWi forum comments)

July 7th 2010 ~ "It's time our film was circulated..."

A recent letter to the sponsors of "Bovine TB - A Way Forward" expressed a certain disappointment at the way the DVD seemed not to have come to the attention of people who could well have been moved and impressed by it. As the letter (pdf here) said, the lack of progress was largely as a result of pleas from the proponents of the VLA9 Project (ie the project set up in Devon and North Cornwall in 2008, covering an area where that particular bTb spoligotype is found) that the film would scupper the chance of its success. Chris Chapman added, "I have said it a thousand times and I will say it again:
The reason for making our film was to educate the public on the tragedy of this disease and to try to bridge the gap between the farming industry, wildlife groups and a largely ill-informed public....the simple fact is that Bryan Hill's strategy works and there are many out there who will give testimony to this... "
Read the letter in full. Since its circulation in the past fortnight, we understand that there have been many more enquiries. (The 25 minute film can be purchased for £4.99, which includes postage and packing. It is available through Chris Chapman's website at www.chrischapmanphotography.co.uk. The squeamish need feel no reluctance to watch it. We found it to dwell - not on recrimination or sadness - but on positive steps that can be taken. And it is beautifully filmed and edited.)

July 2nd 2010 ~ Dropped Trials: "Our initial costs were about £1.1m for a whole area. By the time we finished it was £2.2m for half an area"

The Farmers Guardian suggests that the badger vaccination project was "doomed all along" because, according to an anonymous contractor, the costs of the project had spiralled out of control after having been pushed up by the 'red tape and bureaucracy' attached to the operation, such as limiting the time they could operate to three hours each day and requiring at least two visits to trap sites. The contractor quoted said the process had cost his small business around £10,000 so far - money which will now not be recouped. "It makes you think twice about doing anything else." Read in full

July 1st 2010 ~ "We will set out our proposals in due course, including the estimated costs." Jim Paice

The exchange yesterday in Parliament on the subject of what the present government intends to do about the control of bTB infected badgers can be read from Hansard here. Among other things, Mr Paice said that DEFRA-funded expenditure on bovine tuberculosis in England had been £63 million last year. He added that the Badger Vaccine Deployment Project (BVDP) was reviewed (see immediately below) "in order to help maintain capacity at the Food and Environment Research Agency to train lay vaccinators." (How reluctant politicians are to explain that in the present financial crisis, some plans just cost too much and are being ditched.)

June 24th 2010 ~ Vaccination trials now reduced to only one

Farmers Weekly reports that the trial in Stroud, Gloucestershire, will begin next month and continnue over a five year period.
"A second area in Gloucestershire will only now be used for sett survey work while the remaining areas - two in Devon, one in Staffordshire and one in Herefordshire/Worcestershire have been scrapped."
Read article

June 21st 2010 ~ The apparently healthy little alpaca - but he had TB lesions all through his organs

We have just been sent two short video clips the Camelid TB Support Group, via Dianne Summers. She writes:
"The purpose of this video is not to break your heart (and it will) but to show you how perfectly healthy an alpaca can look and yet be riddled with TB having PASSED a skin test. The first clip was taken an hour before he was put down. He was in his pen - alone waiting to be culled. He wasn't showing any signs of ANY illness, let alone TB. He had passed the skin test twice but failed the blood test. No outward signs at all.
This wee alpaca was culled one hour after the footage was taken.... had TB lesions throughout his entire organs. Sadly, for those of us that are in the TB Support group - who have culled reactors to the blood tests - this is an all too familiar sight, but for others - it should open your eyes to the silent killer known as TB..."
She emphasises that you cannot rely on the skin test alone to detect TB infected alpacas It is
"..the reason why we cannot trade with any confidence if we come out of restriction having only used the skin test and supports both my advice and that of BVCS vet, Gina Bromage, not to consider selling - showing - moving alpacas around for a minimum of one year maybe two - maybe longer - on the back of a negative skin test."
She concludes that she is grateful to " the kind member of the TB Support Group who sent me these clips. The reason is simple - it is to educate others."
(Please email warmwell.com for copies of the video clips and Dianne's message in full. Camelid owners may want to visit the highly recommended tbinalpacas.blogspot.com/ for its most recent posting on shearing at a time of TB threat. )
(UPDATE The videos referred to can now be seen at the Bovine TB Blogspot)

June 11th 2010 ~ The badger cull in Wales will be delayed. The Court of Appeal has agreed to an expedited hearing on 30 June

The Farmers Guardian reports that the Welsh Assembly Government has taken a decision to suspend the start of its planned West Wales badger cull until the outcome is known on the Badger Trust initiated High Court appeal. See also Farmers Weekly:
"The Welsh Assembly Government had initially said that it would press ahead with a cull despite the successful lodging of an appeal by lawyers working for the Badger Trust. Rural affairs minister Elin Jones said that its initial decision to go ahead had been made because the appeal was not listed for hearing until between November 2010 and February 2011. "But it has emerged that the Court of Appeal has agreed to an expedited hearing on 30 June," said Miss Jones..."
(One correspondent to the FG laconically asks: "When will the cow cull be suspended?")

June 4th 2010 ~ "The randomised badger culling trial has for years wrongly been used to justify a policy of inaction." Sarah Wollaston MP

The new MP for Totnes, who is also a practising GP, made her maiden speech on Wednesday. It included comments about her support for Transition Towns and for ridding the NHS of top-down bureaucracy. Like so many, she would like to see power handed back to those on the front line. On bovine TB she was very clear:
"We are fast losing our sustainability as more and more dairy farms in particular go out of business because of the problems of bovine tuberculosis. Devon is, in fact, at the very heart of the bovine TB epidemic. As a doctor, I have to tell Members that we cannot treat infected badgers by vaccination. Vaccination can only hope to prevent the disease in unaffected individuals. I have been teaching junior doctors evidence-based medicine for 11 years, and I can say that one of the problems we face is that the randomised badger culling trial has for years wrongly been used to justify a policy of inaction. Unless we do something about bovine TB, more and more of our farmers will go out of business. We need to recognise the effect on them and their families, and the very real distress bovine TB causes them."
(Read speech Hansard)

May 21st 2010 ~ Farming Today - Listen again to James Paice this morning

The 10 minute clip will be available on iplayer (radio) for 7 days. The BBC says, "A cull of badgers in England has been announced by the new coalition Government to help reduce the spread of TB in cattle which has cost the taxpayer £100million a year. Welcomed by farmers' groups and opposed by wildlife organisations Charlotte Smith speaks to Farming Minister Jim Paice about the plans, hears reaction to the news and speaks to scientists who say it could actually make the situation worse. "

May 20th 2010 ~ James Paice announced an eventual badger cull in the West Country

Jim Paice seems to have confirmed at the Devon County Show today that Devon and Cornwall will get a badger cull as soon as possible. Although the BBC report is rather thin on detail, Mr Paice's actual words were:
"We are working on how we pull the science together and how we make sure that it is properly co-ordinated. We've got to find the right locations to identify the hot spot areas. We've got to work out who is going to do the culling and how it's going to be co-ordinated."

May 20th 2010 ~ Plans for an emergency cull of badgers in hotspots of bovine TB are to be put on hold while Caroline Spelman "reviews the scientific evidence"

Although the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats supported an emergency cull of badgers during the election campaign and (see below) Jim Paice had said to the Farmers Guardian: "We would hopefully get on with it almost immediately. We cannot go on with the absurd situation where we are killing more and more cattle every year and getting nowhere", we now read in today's Times: ".....Ministers will also await the outcome of a pilot cull in West Wales before embarking on such a policy in England......... The Conservatives have always seen vaccination as the eventual breakthrough to control the disease, although before the election Jim Paice, the Agriculture Minister, met officials at the Porton Down research establishment to see if it is possible to test badger setts for infection before any animals are killed." (See also Meat trade news Daily "..The two parties now have the opportunity to nail their true colours to the mast and show they are prepared to influence and drive change to current TB policy within government. We urge that discussions are initiated immediately in order to prevent any further spread of this insidious disease...")

May 14th 2010 ~ in the run up to the election was a Tory commitment to implement a badger cull in England.

James Paice, the new DEFRA Minister, who still keeps cattle, is quoted in the Farmers Guardian today: "We would hopefully get on with it almost immediately. We cannot go on with the absurd situation where we are killing more and more cattle every year and getting nowhere."

May 12th 2010 ~ Camelids : "a very important announcement on the camelid gamma interferon validation project".

An email from Dianne Summers yesterday explained pleased she was to be able to announce that her name and that of the TB Support Group are now added onto the AnimalHealth/DEFRA letter of consent to test. This is the document given to new herds that have the misfortune to come down to TB and one that they must sign when they agree to test. She says, " I am thankful to AH/DEFRA for this and proves not only that we are working together but also they recognise the TB Support Group as invaluable help for fellow camelid sufferers."
Today Dianne Summers has placed two very important updates on the TB in alpacas blog. Go to www.tbinalpacas.blogspot.com She says,
"The first is an update on the latest figures; the second is a very important announcement on the camelid gamma interferon validation project. It is easier for me to put updates on the Tb blog rather than send out over a 150 emails - I am sure you can all appreciate that. The owners of the blog have kindly agreed to post any updates I give them. The other benefit of my updates going on the blog is the information is made available to everyone not just those in the TB update Group. You can also place comments below a particular post if you wish to give an opinion...."

May 3rd 2010 ~ A new TB Blog for alpaca owners

Dianne Summers writes, "....What I like about this blog is that it welcomes and supports not only people wanting to know more about TB but encourages people like myself and my fellow alpaca owners that are in the Tb Support Group under restriction to also contribute.."
See email or go straight to the new website www.tbinalpacas.blogspot.com.

April 30th/May 1st 2010 ~ " We must all hope that the Welsh trial will produce evidence that makes similar action inevitable in the rest of the UK."

A Wiltshire farmer writes, "This is the most significant quote in the BVA statement (here) about the threat of bluetongue from imports:
"We understand that farmers are desperate to replace culled TB reactors in cattle herds".
By failing to control one disease we are laying ourselves open to another. We must all hope that the Welsh trial to control TB in wildlife as well as in the cattle population will produce evidence that makes similar action inevitable in the rest of the UK"

April 30th 2010 ~ Strict additional cattle measures to accompany badger culling in Welsh trial

The Farmers Guardian reports that the new cattle control measures beginning on Saturday (May 1) are to include the testing of herds every six months.
"...All breakdowns, whether or not 'confirmed' by post-mortem, will require a clear test 60 days after a positive test, followed by a further clear test after a further 60 days, before official TB free status is regained and movement restrictions can be removed.
Breakdowns will also be subject to tracing which will generate additional testing for associated cattle herds.
There will also be restrictions on cattle movements within and outside the area.
All British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) linkages and Sole Occupancy Authorities (SOAs) between holdings inside and outside the pilot area are being cancelled, requiring farmers to report all movements to BCMS and comply with pre-movement testing requirements...."
See also Farmers Weekly "Wales has not ruled out the possibility of using the vaccine to protect clean populations of badgers."

April 25th 2010 ~ Camelids "Defra have recently pulled the financial rug on one promising supplementary blood test."

The Bovine TB Blogspot has two important postings on biosecurity for camelids.
"....We have given alpacas a considerable airing on this site, as unfortunately for them, they are particularly susceptible to tuberculosis..have the ability to become infectious very quickly, to spread the disease between themselves and the potential to transmit to TB to their owners or other mammals.
Unfortunately, even squeezed down to practically zero, the intradermal skin test is not a good indicator of TB exposure in alpacas, and Defra have recently pulled the financial rug on one promising supplementary blood test. The reason given for this was ''lack of funding'. But the cynical amongst us would point out that the "don't look, won't find" culture thrives in the upper echelons of Defra. Particularly as we understand that the BAS has offered to underwrite the costs of validating blood tests on behalf of their members...."
Read in full

April 25th 2010 ~ bTB not a "negligible public health problem in the UK, providing milk is pasteurized"?

In the interests of trying to look at this difficult issue from all sides, our attention has been brought to a recent article in Trends in Microbiology by Paul and David Torgerson (cited by Wikipedia's page on the subject of Mycobacterium bovis), which argues that from the point of view only of human health, "there is little evidence either for a positive cost benefit in terms of animal health of bTB control" and that there is "little justification for the large sums of money spent on bTB control in the UK." More on this from www.bovinetb.co.uk

April 22nd 2010 ~ "...the success of the programme to date is a credit to the agricultural industry and to those people dedicated to eradicating TB from New Zealand."

See Scoop.co.nz for a report on how successful New Zealand is in controlling TB. Extract: "...The pest control operations being undertaken by the AHB in 2010 are designed to stop the transfer of infection between possums and cattle....Last month's figures indicate that possum and other pest control operations are working. Yet there is still someway to go before we can claim to be free from TB. ...as it stands, infected wild animals inhabit an estimated 38 per cent of New Zealand's land mass..."

April 22nd 2010 ~ "Proposals allowing English farmers to cull infected badgers will be placed before the next DEFRA secretary, whichever political party wins power in the general election on 6 May."

Farmers Weekly "Farmers in England have been unable to obtain badger removal licences since DEFRA secretary Hilary Benn refused to sanction a badger cull last year. But farm leaders believe there is no reason for the ban to remain in place.."

April 16th 2010 ~ The High Court has ruled that the Welsh badger cull may go ahead

(See also below) The High Court has rejected claims from the Badger Trust that the proposed cull has no scientific basis and is not a suitable way to eradicate the disease.
The cull can now begin in the next few months . The trial is due to take place in north Pembrokeshire, and a small part of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire. See Farmers Guardian and the BBC.
The British Veterinary Association press release (extract)
"Veterinary associations have welcomed the High Court ruling that the Welsh Assembly Government's decision to implement a targeted badger cull to tackle bovine tuberculosis is lawful following a Judicial Review called by the Badger Trust."
Professor Bill Reilly, President of the British Veterinary Association, is quoted
"The BVA and BCVA welcome the outcome of the Judicial Review ...This is a highly emotive issue and we understand that many people will be disappointed with the decision, but it is essential that a wide range of measures are employed to tackle this devastating disease and we believe that should include a targeted cull of badgers.."

April 15th 2010 ~ Protecting against the incursion of TB at Shows

Dianne Summers of the TB Support Group (camelids) has kindly sent us this pdf file on Biosecurity issued by the British Alpaca Society to help those who intend to show their animals.

April 15th 2010 ~ The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers appeals to candidates

The Farmers Weekly quotes the chairman of RABDF, David Cotton, who predicts that TB slaughterings could increase to over 21,000 head, more than 1% of the entire dairy herd.
"....There is also the knock on effect of lost lifetime performance, as well as herd genetics. These losses are undoubtedly reducing the number of replacements available, and equally alarming, they are making a significant contribution to the increase in imports.."
He says that the Association is aware of the importance of the rural vote in this election and they "..look forward to the next Government reviewing current policy and implementing one that will prove both efficient and cost effective by controlling and eradicating TB."

April 10th 2010 ~ " If bovine TB was only present in cattle, we could eradicate it by testing alone. But because it is also present in badgers in areas such as west Wales, testing is not enough."

Serious and informed opinion from a practising vet, Paul Rodgers, in an interview with the Western Telegraph He is very clear about the efficacy of testing and about what present vaccines can and cannot do.
"...The present crisis is such that we do not have time for a vaccination policy in infected areas to work. When a practical oral vaccine is developed, it may be possible to keep uninfected badgers healthy, but that is still years away.
I look forward to a time when I will not have to tell another farmer that his best cow has to be killed and when many thousands of badgers no longer die a slow, unpleasant death due to TB."
Read in full

April 8th 2010 ~ "no licences will be issued for culling badgers for the purpose of preventing the spread of bTB in cattle"

When asked yesterday whether he planned to take steps to (a) eliminate and (b) reduce the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in wildlife Jim Fitzpatrick told the House of Commons (Hansard): "The key issue with bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in wildlife is when the disease is transmitted to livestock." Although he admitted that ".... Vaccination is not 100 per cent. effective in terms of protection, he then went on to say that the Government's policy is that "no licences will be issued for culling badgers for the purpose of preventing the spread of bTB in cattle, although we remain open to the possibility of revisiting this policy under exceptional circumstances, or if new scientific evidence were to become available."

April 7th 2010 ~ DEFRA will pay just over £630,000 to fund research into "farmer confidence" in bTB badger vaccination

What is described as a "major social science study" is to accompany the Government's Bovine TB Badger Vaccine Deployment Project (or "BVDP" as it will be known by its inevitable acronym), We read at www.farminguk.comthat the 'research' will be carried out in collaboration with Exeter and Cardiff Universities, Drew Associates Limited, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and the Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera)
"The social science study has been funded for four years in the first instance and will assess the level of farmer confidence in the use of vaccination before, during and after vaccine deployment. It will also identify motivators and barriers that could influence the future use of TB vaccines..."
There were no comments under the article when we looked at it. (Could words be failing those who read it?)

April 2nd 2010 ~ "No stress then"

The latest from the bovinetb.blogspot.com comments that what seems like a slight reduction in slaughter and new herd incidents in DEFRA's 2009 TB statistics needs to be considered in the light of the dwindling number of cattle herds. The number of herds affected taken as a percentage of this is actually up. Cattle herds in the East show an increase of 35% in herds affected by TB during 2009, while the North (including Staffs, Derby and Cheshire) recorded a 53% increase in herd restrictions. As for the practicalities of vaccinating badgers in the hot spots:
"......Cage trapping badgers already endemically infected with tuberculosis? Holding a wild animal for hours in this cage? Large man appears to turn cage on its end, and stick toasting fork across the bars to secure the not-too-happy occupant, nose down, bum up in said cage? Jabbing them with a (very) long hyperdermic? Applying splodge of paint (not lead based) to identify a once-vaccinated badger? And then releasing it? Repeating this annually? No stress then".
Ken Wignall's splendid cartoon, gratefully reproduced on the Blog, wryly emphasises how the difficulties of badger vaccination can so easily be underestimated.

March 30th 2010 ~ Vaccine for use in badgers has been approved by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD).

As the Farmers Guardian says today, "Authorisation for the BadgerBCG vaccine was officially granted last week, paving the way for vaccination to begin in six bovine TB (bTB) hotspot areas of England this summer. The vaccine used in badgers will be identical to the BCG vaccine widely used in humans and will be manufactured by the Statens Serum Institute, in Copengagen, which produces vast quantities of the human vaccine." Read in full

March 25th 2010 ~ Waiting for the High Court judge's decision

On 22nd and 23rd March Mr Justice Lloyd Jones heard arguments from representatives of both the Welsh Assembly and the Badger Trust. He is expected to make a judgement in the next two weeks. The 5 culls proposed for a pilot area of about 178 square miles will start at the end of April or early May when the badgers have finished breeding.
Today the Farmers Guardian reports that Jim Fitzpatrick has said the outcome of the Judicial Review about Wales will make no difference to England's policy:
"We made our decision before Wales did. We have invested millions to support vaccination. The outcome of the Welsh court case won't affect us at all, other than being of great interest"
Read in full and see also the report in www.dailypost.co.uk

March 24th 2010 ~ Today is World Tuberculosis day...

What we are seeing in the UK however is an increasingly furious divide between those who support the Welsh plan for a limited cull of badgers in hotspots and those who cannot understand any need for it at all. On one side there is the Badger Trust, or individuals such as Brian May of the group 'Queen' for example, who express outrage at the idea that badgers should be culled at all (Mr May calls it "genocide" and his account of the first day of the Swansea judicial review can be read here.)
On the other side are those who, as we say below, are the ones who have suffered from the restrictions on and slaughter of their animals and astonished by the anger they hear in the media. Dr Ruth Watkins is not only an expert in disease pathogens but also a practical farmer who cares deeply and conscientiously for both the livestock and the wildlife on her farm. She says that she
" ..used to believe that there was insufficient evidence about 5 years ago to justify the killing of badgers which seemed like part of the inane response of DEFRA, Kill Kill Kill as they so horribly responded to the FMD epidemic in doing, when of course there was a highly effective vaccine ready for use. I have changed my mind about badgers now..."
It is painful to contemplate the killing of badgers. The alternative, until vaccine can be effectively given, is to watch the slaughter of thousands more cows, bulls and alpacas, to know that infected badgers are enduring a slow, miserable and painful end, and to see the threat to other mammals, including Man, increasing.

March 22nd 2010 ~ The Badger Trust's legal challenge at Swansea High Court today

The Badger Trust is challenging the legality of the TB Eradication (Wales) Order 2009 of the Welsh Assembly Government in which a cull of trapped badgers will take place over 288 sq km in the "hot spots" of south Ceredigion, north Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. All culled badgers will have post- mortems and each cattle TB incident will be investigated. Of the 1,500 landowners in the area consulted, seven refused a visit and just over 20 opposed the cull. The pilot area has natural geographical barriers, such as the sea, rivers and the Preseli Hills, so perturbation will be reducd.
Although the Assembly Government sanctioned the cull after an ecological survey showed it was "compatible with the relevant environmental legislation", the Badger Trust is making a separate formal complaint under the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. The judicial review is listed for a two day oral hearing, which will take place today and tomorrow, before Mr Justice Lloyd-Jones. See also Western Telegraph

March 22nd 2010 ~ "The animals culled appeared very healthy, had no visible signs of bTB, no lesions and the tissue culture was negative"

The author of the website, www.bovinetb.co.uk, who began studying the subject in depth after their herd breakdown (a non commercial, closed herd, kept for conservation grazing only) "The animals culled appeared very healthy, had no visible signs of bTB, no lesions and the tissue culture was negative":
"....a lonely business as so few seem to care and it is very time consuming trying to achieve much with limited spare time. I am not a scientist but I do have many years' experience of caring for livestock and a good deal of commonsense. If you could mention our website on your site or any of the information on it this would be very useful."
www.bovinetb.co.uk

March 18th 2010 ~ Now, sheep and wild boar on Gloucestershire have bovine TB

As Alistair Driver in the Farmers Guardian says, "Concerns that bTB is becoming increasingly prevalent in species other than cattle and badgers have been heightened by the discovery of the disease in sheep and wild boar. It has emerged that a flock of Lleyn sheep in Gloucestershire has been placed under TB restriction."
Vets noticed chronic weight loss in 20 of 220 ewes and one ram, and in three of the six sheep the local strain of M. bovis, spoligotype 10, was found at postmortem. Lesions in these three sheep were "extensive" as a letter in the Veterinary Record reports. Over 140 bTB cases in individual animals other than cattle were identified in 2009 according to DEFRA but, as the FG says, the true numbers are almost certainly much higher. Read in full

March 16th 2010 ~ Cutaneous TB caused by M bovis in a veterinary surgeon following contact with a TB-infected alpaca in southwest England.

An article(pdf file, link working but slow) in the Veterinary Record (2010) 166, 175-177 describes (complete with very graphic photograph) the case of a 25 year old vet, vaccinated against BCG and wearing surgical gloves at the time of post-mortem, who contracted TB after euthanising an infected alpaca.
"...she had not worn gloves when euthanasing the cria and her hands had accidentally been contaminated with blood at the time of venepuncture. Six weeks after the postmortem examination, she noticed a tingling sensation in the tip of her right thumb, but no lesion was visible at that time. After a further three weeks, a painful, circular, pale lesion approximately 4 mm in diameter developed at the site....
..there is still a risk of infection for people whose occupation involves close contact with tuberculous animals.. Extensive pulmonary pathology is a common feature of M bovis-infected South American camelids... Aerosol transmission is therefore a possible route of infection for animal handlers.." (See article)
As Dianne Summers (to whom many thanks for passing on the article) remarks, "It is a perfect example of why TB is a zoonosis disease and notifiable," adding that those whose camelid herds are under restriction to TB should take necessary measures to protect family, staff and shearer.

March 12th 2010 ~ The US welcomes a portable, rapid TB sensor. Will the UK?

What is described in Scientific American this week is a "field friendly" device that relies on readily available and relatively low-cost components and can find the lethal pathogen in blood in just 20 minutes.
The article quotes Kathy Orloski (pdf), a veterinary epidemiologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Tuberculosis Eradication Program in Fort Collins, Colo, who says the country's cattle industry would welcome a rapid test for bovine TB.
"Cows currently are screened for the disease with skin tests like those used in people, a process that requires animals to be handled twice in three days, driving up costs for ranchers. Dairy or beef cattle infected with TB are euthanized. Government inspectors at slaughterhouses would likewise benefit from an immediate on-site detection method, helping them identify carcasses of infected cows faster than current laboratory testing, which takes up to 48 hours to process tissue samples."
Will the UK likewise welcome this inexpensive rapid diagnosis kit the size of a shoebox - or will it remain as blind and deaf to such technology as it has been with the rapid diagnostics for FMD that, tragically, were available in 2001 but ignored? At the time of the 2007 outbreak there was a US PCR test sophisticated enough to detect foot and mouth infected animals 2 or 3 days before they showed any outward signs of disease and before virus could be identified by any other means - but once again, it was ignored.
Since 2004, Dr Roger Breeze has been advising the US Defense Department on the biological weapons program and its scientists in the old Soviet Union as the Chief Scientist for Biological Weapons control - his operation is now expanding to include Afghanistan, Pakistan and East Africa - then southeast Asia. An expert on pathogen detection and control, at the time of the FMD outbreak in 2007 he wrote
"...British veterinary authorities and the government's Chief Scientist, David King, have known about this technology since 2001 - they were told in advance long before the paper was published so they could get a head start on adding this to Britain's list of foot and mouth counter-measures.
As a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons of almost 40 years, I am astounded and baffled as to why the government is allowed to continue to practise obsolete veterinary medicine that is clearly contrary to the welfare of animals that the government has decided shall be solely in its care..." Read in full
Given the political disaster that bTB now is in this country, perhaps DEFRA will at last look a little further afield for help.

March 10th 2010 ~ Latest from the Bovine TB Blogspot "This is what TB does.."

The posting looks at what it calls the "blindingly naive and misleading statement by the Badger Trust, issued last week and criticising farmers for pointing out the effect tuberculosis has on badgers." The TB Blogspot posting contains images of diseased badgers that, it says, "should" (sic) cause distress
"....how about this for 'scientific evidence'. An emaciated badger, drowning in the fluids issuing from a massive tuberculous pleurisy. This can occur when a lung abscess bursts and affects the surrounding membranes. Pleurisy is extremely painful, and this animal would certainly have shown respiratory distress before death.
That's what tuberculosis does."
As the Farmers Guardian reported last week, when Jim Fitzpatrick finally admitted recently that he had not before recognised "the pain and suffering being inflicted on the badger population", adding it was "almost" as much an issue for their welfare and survival as it is for dairy herds, the Badger Trust reacted with scorn, calling descriptions of badger suffering "emotional propaganda" and "scaremongering".
This website has carried photographs of the grim state of diseased badgers for the past four years. It is extraordinary that the Badger Trust continues to deny the suffering that infected badgers endure.

March 10th 2010 ~ Rob Rawlings at Wellground Alpacas on badger fencing

Many thanks to Rob and to Dianne Summers for this note about fencing against badgers. Extract:
"... badger netting is actually very expensive indeed. The best product available is actually made in the UK by Tornado fencing in Cumbria. Currently the best price we could find is @ £150 + VAT per roll covering just 50m each roll. That is also the cheapest we have been quoted for, so that is what we are installing.
The process involves digging a trench 450mm deep by 200mm wide. The fencing is then buried vertically 450 mm down with a horizontal pitch 200mm away from the property being protected. This is very labour intensive (even with a 360 digger), and therefore slows down the whole installation work and costs extra money.
On a physical point, it's the weight of the wire netting that is the biggest problem, each roll weighs 90 kilos. That takes some carrying, it's also hi-tensile and wants to roll its self back up like a huge spring. When a 90 kilo roll of metal comes zinging at you rolling its self up, be prepared to run, it's gonna really hurt if it hits you. However once installed, I defy any badger to get through it.."
Read in full

February 27th 2010 ~ "I rather think that Mr Fitzpatrick didn't seem to understand my point," Ken Proctor, former president of the Holstein Cattle Society

A story in www.edp24.co.uk is about the Norfolk farmer, Mr Proctor, who bought three cows from a dispersal sale in a four-year testing parish. Being six months into a four-year bTB testing cycle himself, he had the new cows privately tested. If he had not, the infected animals could have mixed with his herd and infected them without anyone knowing for perhaps as many as 7 years. Mr Proctor expressed his concern at the lengthy delay in tracing other animals bought at the sale:
"The speed at which cases are tackled is horrendous. What really irritates me is that they still hadn't followed up the farm where the cows had been, and we didn't get a letter until about three weeks ago. They had waited four months before sending out tracing letters."
Thanks to the efforts of Mid-Norfolk MP Keith Simpson, Mr Proctor was able to tell Jim Fitzpatrick about the implications to the family's business, "I rather think that Mr Fitzpatrick didn't seem to understand my point," he said. (read in full.)

February 26th 2010 ~"The scientists hope their research will lead to vaccines to prevent bovine tuberculosis, as well as tools to provide more accurate, faster diagnoses in the field"

Media Newswire quotes Ofelia Barletta-Chacon, a physician and microbiologist with more than 20 years of experience with tuberculosis, who's conducting research with her husband, Raul Barletta, a microbiologist with more than 25 years of experience with mycobacteria. They are hoping to develop approaches in vaccination, diagnosis and treatment that could be adapted to all mycobacterial diseases, whether they strike human beings or animals.
"Bovine tuberculosis can be devastating economically, as its discovery in an animal requires its destruction and, potentially, culling of other animals....Inaccurate results are not unusual with current tests. A false positive bovine tuberculosis test, even if later overturned by more extensive testing, can do great economic damage."
Read in full

February 26th 2010 ~ bTB in New Zealand - drop in infection rates for 15th consecutive year

Scoop.co.nz quotes Dr Paul Livingstone, Technical Manager for the Animal Health Board (AHB):
"... The AHB is very proud to deliver some direct benefits to some of the 75,000 cattle and deer herds registered with the organisation. We have achieved this through proactive possum control, TB testing and stock movement monitoring....Farmers' support for the eradication of TB is a key ingredient to the successful implementation of the National Bovine Tuberculosis Pest Management Strategy.."
Developments in New Zealand's research ( see www.landcareresearch.co.nz ) include delivering vaccination through new baits as well as reduced reliance on poisons.

February 25 2010 ~ Does the Minister share my concern and understand the anger of many dairy farmers throughout the land who have seen their herds decimated?

In yesterday's debate, Lord Plumb was speaking from a lifetime's experience and sympathy for fellow farmers when he said to Lord Davies of Oldham, DEFRA's Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State:
" Forty thousand cattle with TB were lost or slaughtered last year; I think it was 41,000 the year before. And so it goes on. And so it will go on this year. Some of those animals and herds have been totally decimated. One can therefore understand the reaction. What is the cost to the taxpayer of dealing with the problem? Furthermore, what is the cost to the nation of the loss of production of both milk and dairy products that could be produced in this country, when we are in fact importing millions of litres of milk which would be totally unnecessary if only this disease could be got under control?"
Unfortunately, all Lord Davies of Oldham seemed able to say was that the Government were "greatly concerned" adding that there was "no clear evidence that the culling of badgers will solve the problem." After mentioning the vaccination experiment he said that the Welsh study would be carefully watched and that "We are of course open to persuasion that progress could be made along those lines."
It is to be hoped that the government is fully aware of the new bTB test developed in the US and will follow America in making all speed to have such a test licensed for the UK.

February 24th 2010 ~ New bTB test developed in the US

(Read in full at veterinarynews.dvm360.com) "Dr. William Davis, a professor in the Washington State University (WSU) Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, developed a new test for bovine tuberculosis (bTB). The test can detect up to 25 antigens at once and could one day replace current skin and gamma interferon tissue culture tests, WSU says. The new test can make early diagnosis of the disease, for which there is no effective treatment, easier it reportedly detects bTB quicker and more accurately than previous tests."
See also wsunews.wsu.edu which quotes Dr Davis
"Our test can provide results in a matter of hours rather than days with current methods. It also has increased specificity and is highly sensitive, so there are fewer false positives. Bovine TB is a worldwide problem and it can be in a dairy or cattle herd a long time before an animal has symptoms. It can then spread to the rest of the herd. And if it is in animals, it can transfer to people."
An effort is being made to license this new test in the U.S

February 24th 2010 ~ At least 30 camelid herds are now under restriction

We are grateful to Dianne Summers for her update on the situation for owners of alpacas and llamas who are in contact with her. As of 31st Dec 2009 DEFRA confirmed 22 herds are under restriction. A further 8 herds since Jan 1st have come forward to the Tb support Group who have lost their first to Tb since Jan 1st 2010. Therefore a minimum of 30 herds are currently under restriction.
This time last year only 8 herds were under restriction.
Camelids are, as we say below, highly susceptible to bTB, and - it seems - become as infectious as badgers very quickly. Unlike badgers, however, they die quickly. The spread of the bacterium between herds during mating, or at shows, means that cross infection between other species, particularly human contacts, is a risk too serious to ignore. (More)

February 23rd 2010 ~ NFU conference. bTB top of the agenda

Peter Kendall warned politicians that TB would influence how rural communities vote in the general election. He warned how the spiralling costs of the disease are threatening to destroy the livelihoods of livestock and dairy farmers.
Hilary Benn, however, stands by his refusal to allow a badger cull on the strength of what he called a "scientific study on the efficacy of culling" - presumably the recent Imperial report that is based on the flawed Krebs trial see below and written not by veterinary experts but by epidemiologists. Mr Benn claimed that "the way out of this nightmare" is the injectable vaccine for badgers would be available in the summer and an oral vaccination that is "being developed". For a discussion about the limitations of present vaccines, see below.
Nick Herbert was applauded when he told the conference that a Conservative government would introduce a carefully-managed control of badgers in high TB areas and that
"We can no longer stand by while bovine TB claims 40,000 cattle a year, costs £80 million a year, and destroys livelihoods every year
The Birmingham Post reports on the conference today.

February 17th 2010 ~ The Way Forward - Don't miss this 25 minute film

Chris Chapman's film is highly watchable. It discusses bovine TB with the help of farmers, vets and experts such as Dr. John Gallagher, a former government vet. With quiet understatement it explores the devastating effects of bTB on animals and people. It has avoided the pitfalls that one might expect of a film on a subject that is so urgent, so heartbreaking and such a political hot potato.
There is no need to avoid the film for fear that the tragedy of the situation will be dwelt on for effect - one is relieved by the gentleness of this film. Those who view the problem of Bovine TB as contentious and insurmountable may find cause for encouragement. People who dread the prospect of mass badger culling may be cheered by the film's declaration that healthy badgers need to be looked after. And as Chris says,
"I've purposely steered clear of the politics surrounding the issue, and I'm hoping the film will ignite fresh debate and have all parties agreeing to at least give it a try"
The 25 minute film can be purchased for the modest sum of £4.99, which includes postage and packing, and is available through Chris Chapman's website at www.chrischapmanphotography.co.uk (link mended)

February 17th 2010 ~ No easy answers are offered in "The Way Forward", and the present problems associated with vaccination are not dodged.

Anthony Gibson, whose experience and decency have earned him widespread respect, spells out the vaccination predicament:
" ..it's got to be used as far as possible on healthy badgers so that you are protecting healthy badgers not concealing infection in sick badgers - which is the big danger. So yes, use vaccination but it's got to be used in parallel with a policy aimed at culling infected badgers, protecting through vaccination healthy badgers. Then you can see an end to this problem. At the moment there is no end in sight. "
The problem has always been to differentiate "clean" setts containing uninfected badgers from "problem setts" containing infected badgers. Richard Gard, the writer and researcher on animal and human health, evidently has high hopes of Bryan Hill's strategy, shown briefly in the film, of assessing healthy and infected setts. By being aware of the state of each sett, Mr Hill has 'managed' his own badgers and those of 32 adjoining farms for 11 years now - and test results have all been clear. A countryman and farmer, he has developed tracking skills that have been described as phenomenal. He is able, for example, to distinguish well used trails and markers from the tracks of a single exiled badger. In the absence of the PCR methods we have hoped to see widely used since Warwick's research in 2006, Mr Hill's strategy would seem to offer a genuine "Way Forward" and could prevent the sort of widespread mass extermination that we all want to see avoided.

February 16th 2010 ~ "What we all want is healthy cattle and healthy badgers."

"The Way Forward", Chris Chapman's gem of a DVD on the subject of bovine TB, begins sombrely with a farmer contemplating a group of home-bred cows standing peacefully in the sunshine. Many of these beautiful and contented-looking animals, including the bull, are condemned. "There is no way I can get back to these blood lines again." A small farmer who loves his work and his animals, he turns away with no words as the lorry carrying them away passes from sight up the Devonshire lane.
Anthony Gibson explains in the film how a change in policy meant that TB eradication failed just as it was about to succeed. A farmer's wife talks about the infected badger, shunned by the sett, whose body she found soon after it had suffered what was evidently a slow and painful death. She is as sorry for the badgers as she is for the cattle - but this is a problem that threatens the cows and deeply affects everyone on the farm. The farmer says simply, "Most problems on this farm I can solve one way or another - but this problem I can't solve..."
(The DVD, which arrived in the post today, was well worth waiting for and I am watching it now. More reaction to it tomorrow but I am hoping already that "The Way Forward" will be shown on television very soon.)

February 16th 2010 ~ "I have never met anybody with the ability to look at a sett and state that there are diseased animals in it.."

Paul Caruana, an ex-Defra Field Manager from the Polwhere Wildlife Unit, writes today:
"... Having worked on Government badger control policies since 1994, together with other individuals with literally hundreds of years of knowledge and experience between them... I have never met anybody with the ability to look at a sett and state that there are diseased animals in it... Long claw marks, excavated skulls, the distinctive badger smell - they are all an everyday event that shouldn't necessarily lead you to assume that a sett is diseased. Have any of these so called experts ever produced any evidence that the setts they have identified are indeed diseased?
Farmers...are desperate for a way forward and are keen to latch onto anything they can to get on top of the disease. The only answer for them is to get rid of the source and you can get rid of the cattle problem. With that I fully agree. However, the way there isn't by using scare tactics and promises of a cure when one doesn't exist - yet.."
Read email in full

February 15th 2010 ~ "farmers are rather taken aback by the fury of the opposition and feel cowed by the anger they hear on the radio."

A Welsh farmer writes, "I guess it is difficult to appreciate the level of concern for an animal they don't much care for, and to take in the lack of concern for the animals they do know and love that must continue endlessly to be killed. Really cattle with their unique grazing on the ancient swards are just as much part of and essential to the natural environment of the British Isles as badgers. Both cattle and badgers existed here after the last ice age, but we caused aurochsen, (the ancestor of domestic cattle) to become extinct and now have the modern cattle with some of those ancient genes from the aurochsen to allow them to graze the native swards of our wild plants to keep them intact and all the life they support."

February 12th 2010 ~ Imperial's report has been leapt on as "scientific proof"

The report by Imperial College London and Zoological Society of London, produced in advance of the cull of badgers in the TB hotspot of west Wales, is based on evidence of the flawed Krebs trial between 1998 and 2005. Hardly a basis from which to assert that culling infected badgers is not cost-effective. Even DEFRA admitted in 2005 that the overall trapping efficiency was remarkably poor at between 20 and 60 per cent (and see letter in Vet Record). But Paul Flynn MP, undoubtedly a decent and kindly man who asked pertinent questions during foot and mouth, mentions in his blog this week
"the scientific evidence that culls do not reduce TB in cattle."
The Imperial report is not "scientific" in the sense of "proved by science" and indeed science is baffled in its attempts to find a solution to TB. As the virologist Dr Ruth Watkins points out , the TB bacterium poses problems for vaccine makers. These are being addressed - but not yet successfully. In this dreadful situation she writes,
" I used to believe that there was insufficient evidence about 5 years ago to justify the killing of badgers which seemed like part of the inane response of DEFRA, Kill Kill Kill as they so horribly responded to the FMD epidemic in doing, when of course there was a highly effective vaccine ready for use. I have changed my mind about badgers now."
Of course it is painful to contemplate the killing of badgers. The alternative is to watch the slaughter of thousands more cattle, know that infected badgers are enduring a slow, miserable and painful end, and see the threat to other mammals, including Man, increasing.

February 11th 2010 ~ "Will he therefore have a word with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who seems to have lost the plot on this..."

Hansard yesterday suggests a lack of awareness even among those MPs who ask questions about the Welsh policy. Alun Michael was keen to seize upon yesterday's report (see below). However, Roger Williams seems always to show a grasp of what is important:
" The Labour-led Administration in Cardiff bay have come up with a positive programme to eliminate TB in cattle in Wales, which includes better biosecurity, progress on the vaccination programme and a limited cull of infected wildlife. I am sure that the Minister will agree that devolution is not about isolation; it is about spreading best practice. Will he therefore have a word with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who seems to have lost the plot on this, and give him some good tips on how that approach could be implemented in England as well? That would provide a UK free of TB, rather than just one country free of it."
Hansard

February 11 2010 ~ ".. there is always the risk of it spreading back in as a result of DEFRA not taking the tough decisions necessary to tackle this disease."

Politics.co.uk reports that after the debate above, Roger Williams added:
"The Labour led administration in Cardiff Bay has developed a very impressive campaign to eliminate the scourge of TB by improving biosecurity, pressing forward with vaccination and instituting a well planned cull of infected wildlife. However, if the Welsh Assembly manages to reduce, or even eliminate TB, in Wales, there is always the risk of it spreading back in as a result of DEFRA not taking the tough decisions necessary to tackle this disease.
If we are to get hold of TB then it is no good to do the hard work in Wales and then let the disease seep back in because of similar policies not being implemented in England.
Whilst I appreciate the Minister stating his support for the policy adopted by the Assembly Government, he did not answer my question about whether he would raise this issue with colleagues at DEFRA.
I will be writing to the Minister to again ask him to raise this issue with DEFRA colleagues so that a UK wide strategy can be implemented and the whole of the UK can move towards TB free status"

February 10th 2010 ~ The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has warned against a kneejerk reaction

The new report by Imperial College London and Zoological Society of London produced "ahead of" the cull of badgers in the TB hotspot of west Wales claims the benefits "disappear" after four years. A press release from the BVA quotes Professor Bill Reilly, President of the BVA:
"This paper clearly demonstrates that badger culling did have an impact on the incidence of bovine TB in cattle, which is a very positive outcome....The report, based on a single trial, concludes that badger culling is not cost-effective, but the cost of TB to farmers and the government is already incredibly high. Investment now could reduce the costs in the much longer term. The BVA warns against a kneejerk reaction to this paper that would rule out badger culling in the future." Read BVA press release.

February 10th 2010 ~ There may be those for whom this BBC headline suggests political pressure at work.

A BBC article, Badger culls 'not cost effective', quotes Prof Christl Donnolly of Imperial College and its first paragraph is: "Badger culls are unlikely to be a cost- effective way of controlling bovine tuberculosis in cattle, a report warns."
The report by Imperial College London and Zoological Society of London has been produced "ahead of" the cull of badgers in the TB hotspot of west Wales.
"...The report, which studied the aftermath of cull trials in England, claims the benefits "disappear" after four years..."
But the "cull trials" referred to were the one Randomised Badger Culling Trial, also known by its acronym RBCT or "the Krebs trial" between 1998 and 2005. Prof Donnolly (one of that small group headed by Roy Anderson, John Krebs and David King in 2001) was very much involved as deputy Chair of the Independent Scientific Group (ISG) but, as Private Eye's Muckspreader revealed in 2006 that project was
" ... made up of scientists whose main qualification is their complete lack of any expertise in TB. ... the Krebs trials were only a pseudo-scientific charade, never designed to work. Even Defra admits that the percentage of badgers culled was sometimes as low as 20 percent. .."(Read in full)
Wales Chief Vet Christiane Glossop, not quoted until the end of the BBC article today, says that the culling trials in Wales are very different from the Krebs trials :
"The differences are so significant to prevent true comparison of the results... . We can't let this situation continue unchecked...What we are proposing is to combine a limited cull of badgers with strict cattle control measures within a defined area over a sustained period."

February 10 2010 ~"All that work, together with that of the veterinary investigation officers, has effectively been ignored by both Krebs and Bourne..."

Now, in 2010, and as Muckspreader put it four years ago, "the tragedy rolls on: for farmers, for cattle, for taxpayers, and for all those sick badgers, condemned to a lingering death.." John Cohen, BVetMed, MRCVS of Chard, Somerset, wrote in the Veterinary Times, June 12th 2006,
"Over the past 25 years or more, many veterinary officers have diligently collected masses of data on thousands of breakdowns, and have had their work scrutinised by a sceptical mini panel. All that work, together with that of the veterinary investigation officers, has effectively been ignored by both Krebs and Bourne. .."
(More of John Cohen's Vet Times article can be seen at the Bovine TB Blogspot for June 25, 2007)

February 6th 2010 ~ "A Th-2 response is of no use to contain the infection, and will not give a positive skin test or bovigam test result either."

Warmwell.com is very grateful to the expert virologist, Ruth Watkins, for an email received today - mainly in response to and in support of that of Dr Zellweger below. To give a wholly inadequate summary of it, the email looks at how vaccines work and shows how BCG vaccines are not yet effective if given after infection with M bovis or M tuberculosis.
Unlike many bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis are among the bacteria that "like" to be engulfed by the body's defences, retaining the ability to grow very slowly and remain latent. They are not killed unless there is a special stimulation of the of the cell that has engulfed them by gamma interferon, released by the Th-1 helper T-cells. Dr Watkins explains (in much greater detail than this summary can) how, despite mycobacteria having a waxy outer layer, there are many molecules protruding which provide suitable antigenic sites for antibodies to bind if any specific antibodies can be present. Extract on BCG vaccine:
".. The careful selection of the BCG bacterial strain, such as the Glaxo 1077 strain, has been shown to generate the Th-1 immune response.... However this Th-1 response is subverted by infection with environmental mycobacteria such as avium species, so that the Th-1 is switched to Th-2 and the Th-2 ensures the production of (useless) antibody...
A high mycobacterial load in an infected animal has the same effect, switching off Th-1 and switching on Th-2. A Th-2 response is of no use to contain the infection, and will not give a positive skin test or bovigam test result either. .... Development of new vaccines have focussed on attempting to ensure the Th-1 or protective effect of BCG is sustained despite environmental mycobacteria exposure- this goal is not yet adequately achieved..."
Read email

February 6th 2010 ~ Revised DEFRA TB leaflet on camelids - the section regarding the use of anti tuberculin drugs has been removed (and other minor changes)

The revised DEFRA leaflet (pdf fle is here) (We have also extracted the text only) Extract:
"...Reactor camelids must be slaughtered. However there are no statutory provisions at present to compensate owners...... if owners agree to have their animals tested for TB at the government's expense, Animal Health will ask for written consent to release for slaughter any animals identified as reactors prior to that testing taking place.
A flat rate ex gratia payment may be made for any reactors removed... Any non-reactor animals that need to be culled as dangerous contacts or suspect clinical cases of TB may also be eligible...".

February 5th 2010 ~ "I agree that an oral vaccine would be much more effective, and we are working very hard, and providing extra funding, to bring that about as soon as possible." Hilary Benn

James Paice had asked (Hansard yesterday) "Does the Secretary of State really consider it to be a success that over the past 12 years, 150,000 head of cattle in the south-west alone have been slaughtered, and that the number continues to rise? Does he really believe that his current policies have any prospect whatever of controlling the disease, let alone of reducing or eradicating it? As he well knows, until we have an oral vaccine in four years' time, any work with vaccine is bound to be on a trial basis only no one envisages that an injectable vaccine, which is involved in the trials that he was talking about, has any real significant prospect of deployment, because for that to happen one must catch all the badgers. When is he going to get a grip of this matter? He quotes the ISG regularly, but its conclusions were never peer reviewed, even if the evidence it gathered was. Will he accept that he is drawing sustenance from conclusions that were not peer reviewed?"
Mr Benn also revealed that the total amount DEFRA has spent on "measures to control bovine tuberculosis in each of the last three years is £69.6 million in 2006-07, £65.3 million in 2007-08 and £84.2 million in 2008-09." See whole TB section Hansard yesterday)

February 4th 2010 ~ Why BCG does not perform like other vaccines - BCG considered by Dr Ueli Zellweger

The badger vaccination campaign envisaged for England using BCG will need to be repeated at least every twenty months. As has been said several times on this website there are, unfortunately, great difficulties involved in using BCG vaccine with animals. Here, Dr Zellweger summarises the problems as he sees them. Extract:
" ... the tubercle bacteria have a waxy coat to which antibodies cannot attach. Tuberculosis therefore causes a so called humoral body defence...Any BCG vaccine stimulates this humoral defence only but never prevents an infection; it may keep it on a low scale maybe. There is no other vaccine available..." Read in full
And apart from taking and killing cattle and the constant exhortations to farmers to take care of their own farm security and hygiene, there are no other plans yet afoot to tackle the ever increasing problem of TB in England. (Emails to warmwell.com giving other views are also very welcome).

February 3rd 2010 ~ Dr Christianne Glossop talking about the TB Eradication Programme for Wales.

In 2009 there was a 22% increase from the previous years in new incidence of TB in herds in north Wales and a 39% increase on the numbers of cattle slaughtered. Dr Glossop's words to farmers last week are quoted on the Welsh Assembly Government website:
".. in areas where the disease is endemic, like west Wales, the disease is present in both badgers and cattle, which is why we have to tackle the disease in both species. Only dealing with cattle will not be enough because badgers are infected.
Science has proved that badgers do play a role in the transmission of bovine TB and while I hope that in future vaccination of badgers will be a part of Welsh policy, we have to get rid of the infection first before being in a position to vaccinate and protect badgers."
Read in full

February 2 2010 ~ "the precautionary principle will be applied ..."

A Wiltshire farmer writes to comment on the way the government chooses to apply what it likes to refer to as the precautionary principle.
"I see Ed Milliband quoted as saying, in relation to the debate about Climate Change, that we should adopt "the precautionary principle". This same principle was invoked to justify the removal from the food chain of cattle that could conceivably have carried BSE. This was done at enormous cost and still we don't know if it achieved anything. I'm sure this was the thinking, although I don't remember if the actual words were used or who said them, to justify the bloody and illegal contiguous cull of animals in the 2001 F & M epidemic. Will Mr Benn adopt the precautionary principle in respect of TB?"
He answers that he fears that the danger to people and cattle will be forgotten and the precautionary principle applied only in order to protect badgers.

January 30 2010 ~ "How can there be faith in the system?"

In response to Dr Watkins below a West Country farmer writes,
"...she is quite right (I think) in saying the whole trouble with testing is the inability to test the whole picture (badgers and cows) and that the test itself is unreliable. We had never had TB in our ring fenced farm. We found three dead badgers over the previous year and that same year, 5 cows failed the TB test.
On slaughter, three had lesions, 2 showed nothing at all.
Our Hereford Bull then failed the Test. He had passed the TB Test FIVE times previously but upon slaughter had open lesions on lung, liver and chest. The further puzzle is that if he was the source of the infection why did we not suffer more reactors? There is a 60 day gap between tests so - am I to believe the amount of infection in the bull had developed in 60 days?"
These sorts of questions are continuing to go unanswered - and in the English hotspots, the frustration and misery continue.

28/29 January 2010 ~ "although we all like badgers, badgers themselves suffer terribly as a result of this disease."

Daniel Kawczynski in Wednesday's debate on Dairy Farming mentioned the difficulty of talking to the Wildlife Trust in his constituency :
" The first question to me was, "Well, Mr. Kawczynski you horrible chap, why do you want to kill all those lovely badgers?" Of course, the emblem of the Wildlife Trusts movement is a badger and so passionate are the members of the Shropshire Wildlife Trust about badgers that they have even taken my wife and me to look at a badger sett in my constituency. They gave my daughter a cuddly badger soft toy.... The problem is that, although we all like badgers, badgers themselves suffer terribly as a result of this disease. I have to say that the next Conservative Government must tackle this issue of badgers and I expect to see a limited cull of badgers, should a Conservative Government be elected to office. I make no bones about saying that, because I am absolutely convinced that culling must be part of the process of controlling badgers, no matter how controversial it is."

28/29 January 2010 ~ " In cattle, the attempt to detect all infections, latent, early and active in early and late stages in cattle and kill all these animals is doomed to failure..."

A lengthy and self-confessedly sad email from the expert virologist, Ruth Watkins today explains that because the detection of all infections doesn't occur and there is a continual adding of new cattle cases by exposure and infection from other infected species (in addition to possibly other infected cattle), the current attempt to detect all stages of bTB infection in cattle is quite hopeless.
She writes,
".. to tackle M bovis infection in cattle, the infection in other species in which it is endemic will also have to be addressed. Badger experts are implacable in their opposition but none are microbiologists and there their arguments fall down.
I used to believe that there was insufficient evidence - about 5 years ago - to justify the killing of badgers, the killing of which seemed like part of the inane response of DEFRA, Kill Kill Kill as they so horribly responded to the FMD epidemic (when of course there was a highly effective vaccine ready for use.)
I have changed my mind about badgers now."
The email reminds us that the only way to control the M bovis epidemic is to make sure that each infected animal infects less than one other on average - something that applies equally to both main endemic infected populations in the UK: cattle and badgers. Read in full

January 28 2010 ~ "TB hangs over us like the sword of Damocles..."

Part of an email received today: "...I find Hilary Benn's attitude to farming unacceptable. Do not farmers have feelings that need to be considered as well as the "General Public" - who do not have to deal with the every day horror of TB whether it be in badgers or cattle?

He dismisses how farmers feel and puts the general public first who are totally divorced from the horror. ...."

January 28 2010 ~ Is Hilary Benn's justification out of date?

The Farmers Guardian reports today on Hilary Benn's letter to the Guardian in which he said:
"...My decision against a badger cull was made after careful consideration of the scientific evidence, practicality and public acceptability, following discussions with farmers, vets and wildlife groups.
We have tried badger culling, but the conclusion of the Independent Scientific Group was that badger culling 'cannot meaningfully contribute to the future control' of TB in cattle in Britain..."
But while many will sympathise with Mr Benn's distaste for badger culling, the overview of the 67 page Badgers and cattle TB: the final report of the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB the Fourth Report of Session 2007 - 08 of the EFRA committee - show that a subsequent review of the ISG's Final Report, produced at the Government's request,
"..produced a different interpretation of the same basic data. Both reports said that badger culling would have an overall beneficial effect. However, whilst the ISG concluded that culling would make a "modest difference" in the incidence of cattle TB, the King report concluded that at 300km², culling "would have a significant effect on reducing TB in cattle".2
The more recent TB Eradication Group's 'Developing a Bovine TB Eradication Programme for England', (38 page pdf file) in its Executive Summary (October 2009) said
"3. There is no single measure which will achieve the eradication of bovine TB. We will need to have in place and use a range of tools: effective diagnostic tests; targeted cattle controls; and vaccination for badgers and cattle; and to remain open to the possibility of using badger culling. ...." (Read in full)

January 25 2010 ~ " The stress and worry is unbelievable to those not living it on a daily basis...."

One comment following the TB blog quoted below, sums up the grinding misery for those most affected by the threat of bovine TB . Lesley from Devon (whose blog is always upbeat and readable) wrote: "... Goats are vulnerable too of course so I have a vested interest in knowing how all my unfortunate neighbours are getting on. It's just such an endless treadmill. Clear for a few months, then down again, then clear, then down again. The stress and worry is unbelievable to those not living it on a daily basis."

January 21 2010 ~ "inconclusive on a standard reading became reactor status on severe."

Pat Bird's Farmers Guardian TB Blog posting ends today on a warily optimistic note - but not before describing the heartache of previous months:
".. As they had all calved around the time of the test, and as Defra were not prepared to take the calves as well, I kept the cows on until their offspring could be weaned.
Then we wormed and fluked every animal in August, which delayed their departure - at least for the food chain - until October.
They had no lesions at slaughter, so we were back onto 'standard' interpretation for the next round of testing and I had booked this for November. But AH had other ideas, and having consulted its testing bible, said no. It must be 60 days after the cattle had left. Even though their departure had been delayed and even though their calves were still here. ..." Read on

January 21 2010 ~"our members see the devastation caused by the disease every day - in terms of the welfare of both cattle and badgers, and the impact on the farming community"

Following George Monbiot's Guardian Comment article on Tuesday, "When our economic interests are at stake, the war on nature resumes" the letters in the Guardian today illustrate what one writer calls "the gulf of misunderstanding which bedevils the debate". The lead letter is from Professor Bill Reilly, the President of the British Veterinary Association and it attempts to explain why vet organisations are supporting the Welsh action. Of Monbiot's attack, he says it..:
" would have been better directed at the secretary of state, who has consistently refused to accept that an infectious disease such as tuberculosis must be tackled in all species, - irrespective of whether they are farmed or wild.
As organisations representing vets across the UK, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) have taken a very strong line on tackling bovine tuberculosis because our members see the devastation caused by the disease every day - in terms of the welfare of both cattle and badgers, and the impact on the farming community.
.... We did not take the decision to support this badger cull lightly, but until we get on top of TB the vast majority of animals that come into contact with it will suffer..."
Read all letters

January 20th 2010 ~ bTB vaccine

Dr Colin Fink writes to point out that
"Your correspondent, Hugh Coryn, has highlighted a microbiological problem rather than an administrative problem. Even BCG ( TB attenuated live organisms) has only 30-60 % efficacy in humans- and there is no TB vaccine for any of the other species - M Leprae or M Bovis or M Tubercle. We have no suitable vaccine and the nature of the organism makes vaccine development a continuing problem.
To the best of my knowledge this dilemma is pertinent to all species who may be infected with Mycobacteria."
His point is that it is a little unfair to criticise institutions unless the problem is administrative and their fault. It is also interesting to see what Dr Fink wrote some time ago summarising the problems of diagnosis for TB.

January 20th 2010 ~ The NFU 'not tough enough' to make a difference, suggests Derek Mead, Mr Kendall's challenger for NFU presidency

The Farmers Guardian reports: "The two presidential candidates locked horns for the first time in the South East regional hustings in London yesterday (Monday) - the first of 7 hustings across all regions of England this week."
Peter Kendall is quoted:
"We wanted a government department that backed us and they are just starting to do it. Because we have changed the perception of farming from being a pain in the backside to one that is seen through media and government as a valuable resource we now have the best chance to change the TB situation and we must make sure we knock it home..."
Derek Mead, however, is quoted as saying that Defra treated the NFU "as a rubber stamping organisation" Read in full

January 18/19th 2010 ~ "Dr Gillett may be tragically correct in saying vaccination is not currently the answer to TB in cattle."

Email received from the veterinary surgeon, Hugh Coryn who feels that a long hard fresh look at the epidemiology and treatment of TB in all species is long overdue - Extract:
"... If one considers medical vaccine campaigns; Small Pox, Polio, Diphtheria, Measles. Meningitis...the list goes on, adequately funded of course, why then should vaccination in animals not be a valid option? Indeed there are many examples of the use of vaccines in both pets and farm animals... The current EU policy of a ban on vaccination is illogical and tainted with commercial interest. The UK authorities should be prepared to challenge it....... "
Read in full
(As we say below, warmwell.com is in no position to endorse any opinion given, but we are grateful to those veterinary and medical professionals or farmers with informed comments to make by email and who give permission for such views to be published here.)

January 18/19th 2010 ~ 7 page leaflet for Alpaca (and Llama) owners

DEFRA, in partnership with the Welsh Government, Natural Scotland, the CLA and Animal Health, has produced a 7 page bTB leaflet for camelid owners which can be accessed here. UPDATE The leaflet has been updated. Here. The photos of alpacas may delight lovers of these attractive creatures. The advice about the near impossibility of treating infected animals is, however, extremely bleak. (page 6):
".... Many treatment regimes, whilst seemingly capable of resolving the clinical signs of TB, will not result in a complete microbiological cure (elimination of all the bacilli) and may result in latent infections and potentially the development of drug resistance, resulting in serious public and animal health risks. It is also doubtful that camelids would survive such treatment, as the drugs would be likely to destroy the bacteria essential for rumenal function.
Additionally, owners need to be aware that by treating animals for TB they are jeopardising the only method of control currently available to infected herds (testing and slaughter of any positives) due to the effects the drugs may have on the immunological responses detected by the ante-mortem diagnostic tests.Animal Health may, therefore, be unable to undertake any TB testing of infected camelid herds if they become aware that owners are administering anti-TB drugs to some of their animals."
Owners should read the leaflet in full (pdf) for advice about discouraging badgers and taking particular care not to introduce or move animals that could be infected.

Monday, January 18, 2010 ~ Alpaca deaths: "a comforting 18 on Defra's tables, while a quick round robin telephone call to distraught owners extracted a figure of over 200 animals - ten times the 'official' one"

On the subject of bTB statistics, the Bovine TB Blogspot points out that at the Oxford Farming Conference, Hilary Benn hinted that "unofficial Defra figures are showing that disease levels fell during 2009."
"...with only sentinel tested cattle under any semblance of Defra control, and a maintenance reservoir of TB encouraged by statute to let rip, in this instance it may not be the most accurate. Defra statistics have several lines of monthly statistics - or they do if they are updated [more on that later] - each giving different information, or the same information in different format..
There is a column showing the number of herds registered on the VetNet system, another showing how many of these are under restriction because of a 'TB incident'; then further totals, including how many of these are 'New Breakdowns', or even 'New Confirmed Breakdowns'. And it is latter which the Minister was clutching when he spoke last week. And it is this heavily sanitised figure which he presents to his European masters...."
Read the posting in full

January 16/18 2010 ~ " Talk of vaccination is an unfortunate or contrived distraction from the main issue. ."

Dr Paul Gillett writes in some detail today, and, as he says "reluctantly", on the subject of bTB vaccines. Extract:
"...Research into possible use of vaccines should of course continue but should be seen as exactly that - research. At present a control policy based on vaccination with all its attendant uncertainties and prolonged delays is a luxury we can't afford to consider at a time of increasing numbers of affected cattle and badgers. Talk of vaccination is an unfortunate or contrived distraction from the main issue of producing a coherent, co-ordinated set of measures to control the disease in animals, this will need to include, however unpalatable, selective culling of badgers as it currently does of cattle. Anything less than that will be a disservice to farmers, cattle, badgers and the tax payer."
Read in full

January 16/18 2010 ~ The miserable consequences of bTB for badgers

A description of the consequences of bTB infection for a badger sett is explained here in another email from the very seriously concerned vet, Dr Zellweger. As he explains, healthy badgers heal quickly from minor wounds, but when bTB is involved it is different. "The very slow multiplying bacteria will sooner or later cause smelly excretions, wild flesh and pus which might be infectious - permanently or temporarily. Wounds may be licked every now and then by the very badger or by his mates even. New infection is around the corner, but this time in the intestine. If a sow with bTB has cubs - or any other sibling of the same sett have TB - these youngsters may get infected in their very first weeks of life by their own mother. bTB causes a very slow death after suffering over months or even more than a year...What a life prospect ..." As the vet warns,
"Worldwide TB causes millions of victims every year; the main part of those are caused by the human strain Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but bTB ( Mycobacterium bovis ) is equally infectious and dangerous for people."
Read in full.

January 15th 2010 ~ ".. for the 42% of farms in the cull area which have suffered from TB since 2003, the decision of the Welsh Assembly government is long overdue." "

The FUW's Director of Agricultural Policy is Dr Nicholas Fenwick. His article in the Guardian yesterday: "Welsh farmers will be relieved that the badger cull is going ahead" is an attempt to explain the scientific basis for the link between bTB infected badgers and the spread to cattle - and how removing badgers by culling is the only effective solution available at present. He takes a calm look at the evidence to date but notes that:
".. ... campaigns by groups such as the RSPCA and the Badger Trust have been overwhelmingly successful in distracting public opinion from the less palatable but nevertheless real evidence."
On vaccination he reluctantly concludes
".. ...for those who remember the same discussions taking place 20 years ago, vaccination seems like the proverbial end of the rainbow.
So while those who are against culling can base their views on a range of arguments, one that doesn't hold water is that badger culling doesn't work. It does work, and for the 42% of farms in the cull area which have suffered from TB since 2003, the decision of the Welsh Assembly government is long overdue."
Read in full Comments below the article show that there is still public ignorance and outrage that fails to appreciate the seriousness of the situation. (Few farmers or vets, it seems, have commented.)

January 15th 2010 Those who - rightly - want to see effective vaccination for both badgers and cattle are evidently unaware of the Catch 22 nature of EU policy

Based as always on trade considerations, cattle vaccines for bovine tuberculosis are currently prohibited under EU legislation. A validated Diva test is needed to get vaccination even considered - but the EU rules have made it unviable in recent years for vaccine companies to carry out the necessary research and development. (More below) Vaccine companies are not charities and will put money and expertise only into products for which they know there will be a market.

January 14th 2010 ~ "The earliest projected date for the use of a BCG cattle vaccine with a DIVA test to Differentiate Infected from Vaccinated Animals is 2015."

Hansard reports Jim Fitzpatrick's answer yesterday on when he expects a diagnostic test to differentiate between infected and vaccinated animals to become available for cattle. As always, our membership of the EU means that the Commission needs to give the go-ahead. As Mr Fitzpatrick says, "The possible future use of cattle vaccines has been discussed with the European Commission and the Commission has indicated that an accredited DIVA test will be critical for a cattle vaccination policy. DEFRA will continue to work closely with the Commission and other member states to minimise the time required to make the required legislative changes once the necessary scientific information is available."
(Many might think that Mr Fitzpatrick side-stepped a direct answer to Norman Baker's question: ".....what recent assessment he has made of the relationship between badger populations and the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle....")

January 14th 2010 ~ "I read the instructions for TB testing alpacas and the like; whoever thought these up has never worked in the field..."

The vet, Hugh Coryn, MRCVS writes,
" If you took twenty different Veterinary Surgeons in a field test of the technique you would be hard pressed to get two sets of similar results; the test is just too difficult under cold wet field conditions! Unfortunately Defra and its predecessor Maff does not like comment or ideas from those who work in the field and have an inbuilt resistance to outside ideas.
All governments are too close to entrenched commercial interests.
Thus resistance to vaccination - totally illogical in many ways."
(All informed comment welcome. Email.)

January 12th 2010 ~ "oral vaccination appears to be as effective as subcutaneous vaccination. But other safety issues still need to be resolved before the vaccine could be used in wildlife"

The US journal ScienceDaily last year, reported on the bTB work of microbiologists at the National Animal Disease Center (NADC) in Ames, Iowa,
"...NADC veterinary officers Ray Waters and Mitch Palmer and molecular biologist Tyler Thacker, are working on several fronts to optimize bovine tuberculosis diagnostic tests and vaccinations for both wildlife and domestic livestock. For instance, Palmer is using white-tailed deer, which are a significant reservoir of bovine tuberculosis, to test experimental vaccines for potential bovine tuberculosis control in wildlife.
So far his studies indicate that vaccines can be effective in decreasing the severity of the disease, and that oral vaccination appears to be as effective as subcutaneous vaccination. But other safety issues still need to be resolved before the vaccine could be used in wildlife."
(As is said below, the lack of effective and validated vaccines is cause for concern - as is the incidence of bTB infection in other mammals, including humans.

January 11th 2010 ~ "It clearly will not provide a cure, then that is not the object. It is to attempt to try and reduce the shedding and gain experience of baiting.."

Hugh Coryn MRCVS writes this evening:
"I agree with Dr Fink,surely it is worth a trial. Personally I feel the use of selected antibiotics alone would be better than complicating the issue with contraceptive medication. It clearly will not provide a cure,then that is not the object. It is to attempt to try and reduce the shedding and gain experience of baiting prior to hopefully one day being be able to use oral vaccine.
Any other policy than vaccination, leaves the problem of the infected setts and the problem of re colonisation. I have noted over many years that when wildlife is culled or dies,those that re colonise will always adopt the same paths and habitats as their predecessors, so will dig out destroyed setts with reinfection."
Many thanks to Mr Coryn for his contribution to the debate.

Monday January 11th 2010 ~ ".. trying not to fiddle whilst Rome burns"

In reply to what has been said below, Dr Fink writes today: " I am sure that Dr Ueli Zellweger's concerns about antibiotic dosage and effective and adequate treatment ( mentioned by Dr Paul Gillett) together the problem of adequate hormonal administration for contraception in badgers, are both valid and reasonable concerns."
"As DEFRA do not seem to come up with anything to deal with the problem of cattle M.Bovis infection and the wildlife reservoirs most particularly in badgers, I am glad that we have ( courtesy of your website) at least had an open debate. These ideas ( which may not be practical for the reasons argued) could be tried on a pilot scale and that does not stop a trial of sett culls in hot spots, suggested by Paul Gillett.
I am trying not to fiddle whilst Rome burns. All ideas of a practical nature need to be tried out, and the results monitored. Someone else may have more imaginative ideas and if they would only throw these ideas into the pot....."
(warmwell can be contacted by email)

January 10th 2010 ~ It is very tricky to say for how long one treatment is effective.

Writing today in reply to Dr Fink (below) the Swiss vet, Dr Ueli Zellweger is concerned that, as with antibiotics, the correct dosage of oral contraceptive is vital. It has to be given according to individual bodyweight, he says.
"The oldest sow might be almost double the size of her daughters and when all females of a sett are treated there is good risk that the pecking order is sooner or later getting upset, apart of the fact that with each and every hormone therapy there is a risk that something goes wrong.."
Read Dr Zellweger's latest email in full.
(While warmwell.com is in no position to endorse any opinion given, we are particularly grateful to those veterinary and medical professionals or farmers with informed comments to make by email and who give permission for such views to be published here.)

January 8th 2010 ~ "it would be very difficult to control the dosage for individual badgers and some of the appropriate antibiotics are quite toxic if large doses are taken and likely to induce resistance in low dose."

Dr Paul Gillett writes again in response to Colin Fink's comments. He agrees that what is required is "a coherent and co-ordinated set of measures to reduce the transmission of bovine TB in badgers and prevent as far as possible the infection reaching cattle or alpacas" He says:
"...Such a policy would need to include identification of infected setts, something I am assured is possible by informed assessment. The assessment would need to be co-ordinated with cattle testing so that infection in cattle and badgers are treated at the same time. If this is not done at the same time there is a real danger of shuttling infection between the two."
However, Dr Gillett has some reservations about the use of antibiotic bait. More
(It is interesting to see a commentary on Dr Gillett's views on the bTB Blog via Farmers Weekly here.)
UPDATE In reply to Dr Gillett, Dr Fink writes:
" I am a bit more hopeful about antibiotic feeding than you . Badgers are very amenable to feeding stations and will quickly habituate. The risks you mention of course are real and this policy would require 6 months of intensive feeding with help from wildlife groups. Some OC (oral contraceptives) in the feed would not do any harm.
The observation that well fed badgers live in apparent pathogen harmony with cattle, is more than interesting. It may be highly important." (Dr Fink's email)

January 7/8 2010 ~ "I do not think that any single policy is a panacea and we need to consider combined approaches..."

Responding positively to the comments of Dr Gillett below, Dr Colin Fink writes about the need to consider combined approaches; to reduce the carriage and excretion of organisms, minimise population pertubation by using selective sett culling, but in conjunction, consider using both contraception and triple antibiotic loaded bait repeatedly around the sett. Extract:
"Any combined approach will need very careful policing and implementation. Surely that is a better investment than constantly killing herds of cattle and all that which goes into raising these animals?
We have no other alternative as vaccines are not available because the organism is not amenable, and we are losing herds of cattle, alpacas etc and increasing the organism load in the wild population at an alarming rate."
Read email in full

January 7 2010 ~ "Some would advocate the mass culling of badgers... There is an intermediate and more appropriate strategy."

A hospital medical consultant with 35 years experience specialising in microbial diseases and infection control, Dr Paul Gillett, echoes today what Dr Zellweger says about BCG - and writes in favour of the selective elimination of diseased animals, an alternative to indiscrimate mass culling that is also advocated in the DVD about to be released "BovineTB -The Way Forward"
" .. A group of concerned West Country farmers and vets have recently produced a DVD* outlining the present problems and the potential for training others in the recognition of diseased sets. It is to be hoped that a coherent policy may be formulated about such an approach.
Should an effective vaccine and delivery system become available in due course, then it would be (as in humans) an adjunct to rather than a replacement for effective infection control measures." Read Dr Gillett's letter in full
* - Bovine TB - A Way Forward, the film by Chris Chapman, will be released at the end of January. (More detail and recent posts about Chris Chapman's film)

January 5 2010 ~ "low levels of cattle-to-cattle transmission....The remaining 75% of infection was attributed to local effects within specific high-risk areas."

A paper published a year ago in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, "Estimates for local and movement-based transmission of bovine tuberculosis in British cattle", by Darren M. Green et al. (pdf file here) uses actual data to track causes of TB breakdowns in 2004. Extract:
"...Outbreak data for 2004 were best explained by a model attributing 16% of herd infections directly to cattle movements, and a further 9% unexplained, potentially including spread from unrecorded movements.
The best-fit model assumed low levels of cattle-to-cattle transmission.
The remaining 75% of infection was attributed to local effects within specific high-risk areas."
As the TB blog notes: "We are already hearing of breaches both north and south in Defra's bTB 'maginot' line. This was an area crayonned in red, which sought to isolate TB to the west of a line on a map, with a 2 km buffer zone on its eastern edge. Pity no one told the "local effects" not to cross it." Read posting in full

January 5 2010 ~ " ignored by DEFRA for years now with apparently no end in sight"

The BovineTB Blog posting that quotes and comments on the views of the Swiss Vet, Dr Ueli Zellweger, is well worth reading in full - as are his remarks in full. He says, "Any animal, group or herd of, with bTB is a focus and as long as a focus is not eliminated it is a high risk for further infections.....It is horror for me to see how things are going the wrong way and every month some hundred more farms are suffering dramatically..." which elicited this bitterly wry reply: "It is 'a horror' to us as well. And an expensive, futile, bitterly divisive waste of resources. But the gleeful chortle of a young inspector lining up over 200 TB reactors in a Midlands abattoir last week, put it all in perspective. "Another load of cattle who won't be polluting the planet" said she cheerfully. So how many ROC global-warming credits can Defra attach to each reactor's tail?"

January 4 2010 ~ Keeping the badgers out

The bovinetb.blogspot.com refers to an Alpaca owner in Cornwall who has already lost many of her Alpacas to TB, who
"has taken the bull by the horns and had a private company, owned and run by former Defra wildlife employees, to survey her farm and recommend what needs to be done to minimise the impact of TB and how to reduce badger access to her farm."
This visit, says the Blog, was most successful and possibly a service that others may wish to adopt. The company, FSSW, can contacted via their website: www.fieldservicessouthwest.co.uk or emailed at fsswadmn@aol.com

Jan 2nd 2010 ~ Just 70 bacteria from a drop of infected badger urine can provoke a positive skin test reaction- and possibly disease...

In the UK there is no reservoir of disease in cattle. What there is, is constant and pernicious spill back of infection from the reservoir of disease in wildlife. It is not TB itself that is decimating cattle herds in the hot spots. But in those species where huge amounts of bacteria can be easily formed and excreted, the disease itself is ripping through from animal to animal and then onward, spreading via excreted bacteria e.g. from badgers' urine and other excretions to cows - and, it is feared, to humans, cats, dogs and other mammals too. In regularly tested cattle herds, half of those reactors killed will show no lesions at all and no bacteria can be cultured. Even open lesions in cows often contain few or no bacteria to be traced in the laboratory as colony-forming units (CFU).
However, in infected badgers there may be huge amounts of bacteria in even microscopic lesions - e.g. "up to 300,000 bacteria per ml" may be found in the urine of a badger with tuberculous kidney lesions of which,
"30ml can be splattered indiscriminately (across grassland ?) at each incontinent void".
Alpacas, as we see below, develop open lesions very quickly just as badgers do. Inter-herd spread in alpacas is, unfortunately, likely to be fast and inevitable. This is not true of cows.

January 1 2010 ~ "Let 2010 be the year that government plays its part and puts a genuine eradication plan in place," Peter Kendall

NFU online The NFU president Peter Kendall said in his New Year Speech that unless the disease was tackled in the wildlife population, it would never be eradicated: "We live with the silent spread of an infection which wreaks havoc in cattle and wildlife alike and causes untold stress to the farming families whose herds are affected. What a waste; of productive animals, of farmers' investment in their businesses, of taxpayers' money. We live with the silent spread of an infection which wreaks havoc in cattle and wildlife alike and causes untold stress to the farming families whose herds are affected."

January 1 2010 ~ "Vaccinating badgers cannot be the solution...

.. for there are locally far too many badgers and setts infected... the future of battling bTB looks bleak."
The recent comments of the Swiss vet, Dr Ueli Zellweger, can be read in full here.

December 31 2009 ~ ".. the Government's heart and mind are focused elsewhere than on agriculture..."

The Darlington and Stockton Times also quotes the words of Greg Bliss, the national chairman of the Tenant Farmers' Association calling for a dedicated Agriculture Minister:
"...The lack of any policy to control and eradicate bovine TB, the imposition of new nitrate vulnerable zone regulations without the help to implement them, plans to pass the Government's animal health bill onto the industry, threatening the reintroduction of setaside on arable farmers and bringing the hill farm allowance to an end show clearly the Government's heart and mind are focused elsewhere than on agriculture."

December 30 2009 ~ "You have to weigh up all these facts - the emotive thing of killing badgers against all the damage the disease is doing and the compensation."

The Western Morning News quotes Stuart Burgess, chairman of the Commission for Rural Communities who says that Hilary Benn should "keep the door open" to a cull in the worst-affected areas.
"....I can quite understand because many farmers, though not all, don't like the policy Hilary Benn has come out with. I think there may have to be a tough decision made earlier rather than later, in terms of there has to be a balancing act. If TB really is becoming rampant all the way through the country and a lot of herds of cattle, there has to be a turning point. I don't know how far that has reached so far. There will come a time, I am pretty sure, when the whole subject will have to be revisited. When I really don't know."
Read in full

December 30 2009 ~ Health Check Wales is hailed a success

See Farmers Guardian:
" Welsh Assembly Government's 15-month initiative to test all cattle herds in Wales for bovine TB comes to an end tomorrow (Thursday, December 31) and has been hailed a resounding success by Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones...."
The Chief Vet for Wales, Dr Christianne Glossop, is quoted "... while the health check has helped us contain the disease in some areas, in those areas where the disease is now endemic we need to use different measures."

December 28 2009 ~ The Badger Trust is applying for a Judicial Review against the Welsh decision to allow the killing of badgers in its attempt to eradicate bTB.

The Farmers Guardian reports:
"The challenge is being mounted on the legality of the decision and if successful could seriously delay the eradication programme.... In its submission the Trust said before taking the action it had exchanged several letters with the Assembly's legal department to state its case and clarify the Assembly's intentions. "However, there have been considerable delays in receiving answers and the three-month time limit is about to expire," the Trust said. "We have been advised that further delay could risk the application being declined."
Read in full

December 19 2009 ~ TB Awareness Meetings 2010.

The British Alpaca Society has put together a series of TB Awareness Meetings around the UK, open to all camelid owners and anyone interested in helping fight TB. (You do not have to be a BAS member nor do you have to own alpacas/camelids. Everyone is invited and welcome. Please encourage your vets to attend.)
Introducing the meetings, Mike Birch, the Chairman of BAS, says,
"Renowned camelid Vet, Gina Bromage, will make the presentation, and answer any questions on TB that the audience may have. Her talk will cover the disease itself, what to look out for, current and future testing developments, and practical preventative measures that you can take. The process that takes place once TB is diagnosed in a camelid herd will also be discussed. (read in full)
The fourteen venues around the country are listed here.

December 13 2009 ~ Disease spillback in camelids (and other species).

The desperate situation that is becoming more and more apparent to alpaca owners is that camelids are highly susceptible to bTB, and - it appears - become as infectious as badgers very quickly. Unlike badgers, however, they die quickly. The spread of the bacterium between herds during mating, or at shows, means that cross infection between other species, particularly human contacts, is a risk too serious to ignore.
The intradermal skin test is proving even less accurate with camelids, ( as low as 20% accuracy is suggested) than with cattle - yet is still preferred as the 'primary test' on statute.
Even blood tests, although thought better, are not accurate enough, especially for animals which fall between 'pet' status and 'farmed'.
Our understanding is that what is most urgently needed is a marker test for animals (not just camelids, of course) that are early in infection so that they may be pulled out of a herd before they spread it.
The ideal, we are told, would be interval testing to detect early infection. And finding the organism early on is what is so difficult at present. The organism hides out of the blood stream and grows slowly in the lymph nodes and spleen. It may be in the liver and lungs and elsewhere, later on. The lymph tissue associated with the gut may become infected which is probably why it is readily found in the excreta of infected badgers. Later the saliva may excrete the organism - but by then the animal has it in spades and a saliva test is far too late (spitting, it will be rememered, is a form of communication characteristic of camelids).
It is of deep concern that for camelids there is no statutory backup for tracing or slaughter or even recording - only "reporting" is demanded.
The issue of rapid and accurate diagnostic testing is now a matter of the greatest urgency - and although funding may seem a hurdle, the ever accelerating social and financial losses involved in bTB must surely be a very important part of the equation.

December 11 2009 ~ "...the Department is doing as much as it can.."

(Hansard) Andrew Robathan (Blaby) (Con)
"... I am sure that the Minister is aware of the devastating impact that the slaughter of herds has not only on the farmer's business, but on the farmer and his or her family- it completely destroys their entire life. Furthermore, there are questions about the reliability of the TB tests. How much does the slaughter policy cost and what is the long-term policy, because we cannot just go on slaughtering more and more cattle when it obviously is not working?"
Jim Fitzpatrick answered,"We are sensitive to the tragic impacts on farms, families, regions and areas when TB strikes. The Secretary of State set up the TB eradication group last November. It has met 19 times and has already produced a report that recommended a raft of initiatives to try to deal with this. The problem will only be eradicated in the medium to long-term, but I assure the hon. Gentleman that the Department is doing as much as it can to support the group."

December 11 2009 ~ "Infection acquired through consuming food products infected with M. bovis may affect any part of the human body..."

In August, the Health Protection Agency issued a two page leaflet entitled "Reducing the risk of human M. bovis infection: information for farmers" and includes the following:
"... the BCG vaccine is no longer universally given at school age, local healthcare services can identify, test and immunise children that are at increased risk of developing TB, on a case by case basis. Screening is only routinely offered to children aged under 16 who have not had a BCG vaccination, if they have regularly drunk unpasteurised milk from an animal with TB in the udder. If you suspect you and/or any member of your family or workforce have been exposed to bovine TB, contact your GP, NHS Direct (England & Wales) or NHS24 (Scotland) for advice. (Contact numbers in the 2 page pdf file)

December 10 2009 ~ About 2 in every 3 animals slaughtered are not confirmed cases at post mortem

On Dec 7 (Hansard) Nick Ainger asked "how many of those slaughtered did not show signs of TB at post mortem in each year; and how many of those slaughtered had cultures taken at post mortem which subsequently did not confirm the presence of TB in each year" Although this did not get the straight answer hoped for, the table given appears to show that unconfirmed cases in the last few years are roughly twice the number of animals that proved to be positively infected. It was Tim Farron who asked the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs "how much his Department has spent on research on a bovine tuberculosis vaccine in each of the last five years". Again, in view of the extreme unhappiness caused by bTB, it is disappointing that the table given shows £3,207,000 was spent last year on cattle vaccine research - a little less than was spent by Animal Health on "consultants" in the same period.

December 8 2009 ~ New Welsh plan to reduce TB compensation to 'bad farmers'

The Farmers Guardian reports that Welsh rural affairs Minster, Elin Jones, wants to cut compensation to cattle owners who do not comply with regulations, and "put their neighbours at greater risk from TB."
"The move is included in an eight-week consultation, launched on Tuesday, on legislation covering the Tuberculosis and Brucellosis (Wales) Order 2010, which would also allow amendments to existing legislation covering pre-movement testing of cattle, some exemptions to which remain incompatible with the eradication goal....
All herds in Wales will be subject to an annual test and compulsory pre-movement test in 2010.... "
In 2008 over 12,000 cattle had been slaughtered in Wales with compensation reaching almost £24 million. If current trends continued could reach £80m by 2014.

December 3 2009 ~" I wanted to show how the disease has got out of control and yet is not being addressed."

Bovine TB - A Way Forward - the film by Christopher Chapman and a team of expert witnesses will soon be available. As we read in the press release today:
"...The film tells the story of the effect that the disease has had on two farms in the South West of England, one within the Dartmoor National Park which raises pedigree cattle, the other a family dairy farm on the Mendip Hills, Somerset. By cataloguing the history of the disease and talking to expert witnesses, Chris Chapman has a made a film that successfully bridges the gap between those who view the problem of Bovine TB as contentious and insurmountable, and those who believe that there is a way forward... "
Chris Chapman himself says: 'I knew this would be a very difficult film to make, and from the start I was determined to steer clear of the politics and produce a film with a firm educational base. People love wildlife and I wanted to show how the disease has got out of control and yet is not being addressed. I personally don't agree with a blanket cull as has been suggested by the Welsh Assembly. This film makes a strong point for healthy cattle and healthy badgers by a different, and to my mind, far more acceptable route'.
More detail and contacts on today's press release

December 2 2009 ~ Hedges a factor? "This is at variance with our experience."

As expected, there has been some reaction to the theory below. Today a farmer writes, ".. We farm extensively, only cut our hedges once every 8-10 years, have copses and unused corners in fields but, as you know, have suffered our first ever TB breakdown in our farming history. In fact my husband rather thinks the opposite. The increased width of the hedges and copses actually allows the badger free hidden runs up through the hedges and copses and enhances their environment - encouraging increased population". (As usual, all comments are very welcome.)

December 2 2009 ~ Are hedges a factor? Blog reveals a 2006 paper made a link

locksparkfarm.wordpress.com links today to a paper published in 2006 in Biology Letters, Bovine tuberculosis in cattle: reduced risk on wildlife-friendly farms (Mathews F. et al) The paper (pdf) begins "The associations between habitat and other factors that lead to the risk of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in diary cattle were examined in an unmatched case-control study..."
Like the writer of the Locks Park Farm blog, we had not heard of this paper which claimed that "...'Nature friendly' management practices - the presence of ungrazed wildlife strips, and the greater availability, width and continuity of hedgerow - are all associated with reduced bTB incidence" It concluded that
"managing the landscape in ways that are also beneficial to conservation generally may provide an additional means of controlling bTB."
"may provide" is vague - but the paper adds, "there is little evidence that increasing farm woodland area or altering its configuration would adversely affect bTB risk."
It seems that the study that generated the Mathews paper was DEFRA funded research project no.SE3009 "The risk to cattle from Mycobacterium bovis infection in wildlife species other than badgers" This, as we see from page 329 of DEFRA's 450 page Review of the Bovine TB Research Programme of July 2006 - was the 1999-2004 study by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit of the University of Oxford and produced, like most other studies in the research programme that year, at a total cost of considerably more than a million pounds.

November 29 2009 ~ "In whose interest is it to keep this disease circulating, its casualties increasing and becoming more varied by the day?"

The bovine TB blogspot today on rapid test PCR looks again at correspondence from Dr. Roger Breeze
"We have heard from top officials in Defra that PCR technology 'will never be used in bTB diagnostics'. And one may be entitled to ask, why not?.....We have said many times and will continue to say, that this technology has more than a small place in bTB diagnostics. Whether that is to speed up positive diagnosis in cattle lesions after slaughter (as the US were doing 8 years ago), supporting positive identification of bait marked infected badger setts, or refining the blunt instruments of less than specific current diagnostic tests, ahead of slaughter.
For many of the cattle, farmed deer, alpacas and other animals now suffering continuous testing and slaughter, the wildlife reservoir now awash with infection and its inevitable spill over victims, that day cannot come a moment too soon. "
Read posting in full

November 26 2009 ~ Vaccinating cattle "..options which would result in significant restrictions on trade are not being considered"

Cattle vaccines for bovine tuberculosis are currently prohibited under EU legislation. Cattle vaccines are based on BCG and this interferes with the tuberculin skin test so without a DIVA test herds could not be declared Officially TB Free. According to Jane Kennedy (Oct 2008 Hansard) "The Commission has indicated that an accredited DIVA test will be critical for a cattle vaccination policy."
DEFRA says that the earliest projected date for the use of a BCG cattle vaccine with a differential diagnostic test (DIVA) is mid to late 2015. (This date was given by the Farmers Guardian in May, having taken advice from Prof Glyn Hewinson, head of TB research at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency - who also said, "Vaccination could be part of the solution but it won't be the only solution. Expectation needs to be managed carefully because it will take quite a long time to see an effect.")
The 2007 paper (pdf 79 pages) on cattle vaccination with its four possible scenarios, can be accessed here at www.defra.gov.uk. Extract:
"In the event a vaccine is developed for cattle that i) confers protection, ii) reduces the transmission rate, and iii) is accompanied by the development of a satisfactory DIVA (differentiating infected from vaccinated animals) test and iv) is permissible under EU and domestic legislation, scenarios 1-4 below may be feasible."
Paragraph 302 says "The aim of cattle vaccination would be to create a large pool of cattle herds that are free from M. bovis infection and able to withstand future challenge via introductions of infectious cattle or contact with infectious wildlife or their excretions." Developing a DIVA test for bTB vaccine is therefore essential and urgent - but as the Advisory Group made clear, the issue of vaccination "should not negate the urgent need to tackle the problem now".

November 23 2009 ~ "I have been very patient with this slick, full of spin, young MP who, incidentally lives in lovely countryside a few miles from me. Very clever boy"

An email has arrived that characterises the frustration and despair of the present TB situation. Extract:
"...Never will farming be the same for us as every TB test is a nerve racking experience that can send you out of business very quickly.
My MP Dan Norris had promised me a visit to The House of Commons. Nothing. My MP Dan Norris promised me a meeting with Hilary Benn - DEFRA - to discuss this TB problem. I have requested this twice. NOTHING.
At the same time as this catastrophe hits the farm so does the Regional Spatial Strategy. Housing. ... my farm could be decimated by 9,500 houses being built on and around us. We have taken information stands around the area and sent tens of thousands of letters of objection to the RSS to MP's, John Denham Sec of State for Communities and Local Govt. and invited our MP, Dan Norris, to our Information Days. We held one on Sunday 22nd Nov 2.00pm-5.30pm and he promised to attend. He arrived at 5.50pm ....."(Read in full)
This isn't someone who likes to whinge but a most energetic and determined farmer who wants to protect others. It's hard not to agree that for some politicians it seems, people, the landscape and the animals that preserve it are mere pawns to play with. (It may be remembered that warmwell.com recorded on June 22 2009 that Dan Morris, the then newly appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DEFRA, had asked "What is TB in cattle?")

November 20 2009 ~ Rod Who?

An emailer echoes the widely held view that "TB will not be solved by government and especially not from London. It has to be a 'bottom up' initiative with both farmers and vets involved. Also local AHO - if they can shake loose from 'ROD' "

"Rod who? I asked when the term was first mentioned to me! ROD is the Regional Operations Director - a newly appointed civil servant who reads the Defra rule book and then pulls the local AHO officer's strings to obey. To the letter - or his interpretation of it...."
Why all these acronyms, one wonders. Is "Regional Operations Director" really too hard a phrase to say or write? We then heard about slaughtered post test animals which proved still to be clear of TB on Post Mortem - but since the rule book insisted they be kept in isolation for weeks with two animals genuinely and visibly unwell and riddled with TB (including major lung lesions), they would have probably developed TB afterwards anyway. As the emailer says,
"It certainly doesn't help establish accuracy of that blood test though, as in other parts of the country owners are being allowed to only test visibly unwell animals... This is what comes of having a 'ROD' - a civil servant reading from a Defra bible, in charge of experienced, highly trained veterinary personnel."
Unfortunately, as we know, existing diagnostic tests are tragically far from being able accurately to diagnose either bovine or human TB - as this summary, received in March, clearly shows. And as Dr Fink says, " I am sure that the present skin test kills perfectly healthy animals that have just met the infection but have walled it off and simply have a white cells reaction to the organism."

November 20 2009 ~ just published BMC paper "Performance of TB immunodiagnostic tests in Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) of different ages and the influence of duration of infection on serological sensitivity"

Extract:
"... These results are relevant to researchers and those tasked with formulating policy on badgers and TB, as well as those who use these tests in badger rehabilitation programmes. The findings are useful in interpreting immunological TB test results in badgers of different ages and in the absence of culture confirmation, as well as for determining the relative risks posed by test-positive badgers for transmission of infection. They also highlight the difficulty of performing this type of study in wildlife populations, where the numbers of samples available from animals in different age and disease classes are frequently limited."
See 21 page paper pdf from BioMed Central Its rigour and scientific practice are evident - but it is hard not to agree with the emailer above who considers that defeating bTB must first work up from the bottom. The fact that those "tasked with formulating policy on badgers and TB" are not more willing to take on board the knowledge, understanding and needs of vets and farmers is most unfortunate. As the TB Advisory Group Report (April 8 2009) pdf reminded the government:
".... there is a need to acknowledge the human costs of this disease. TB has negative effects not only on the health of animals and trade but also the health and well-being of the herd owners involved...."
Trying to solve this enormous problem by inflexible bureaucracy and often seemingly illogical regulation can cause extra anxiety, suffering and distrust.

November 20 2009 ~ "It's not just those with herd restrictions whose lives are affected by bTB," says NFU

Staring over the Precipice concerns brothers who, after "over 60 years of quality stockmanship and careful breeding selection..now have a very healthy, productive and noticeably calm herd of Ayrshires".
They recently learned that from January 2010 their local testing regime would probably change from four to two yearly, John Platt is quoted as saying:
"It will mean more stress for the animals, higher vets bills and more work for us but if it detects the disease in the early stages then that makes sense....What makes no sense at all is going to all these lengths with cattle but doing absolutely nothing about the fact that wildlife can carry it from farm to farm. I am encouraged to hear that the NFU is optimistic that there will be a change in policy next year...but just now it feels like we are entering a dark tunnel with no sign of light at the end."
George and John make it clear that they do not "have it in for badgers" but they are afraid that with two yearly testing they could be categorised as a 'dirty herd' meaning that every animal over 42 days old leaving the farm will need to be pre-movement tested. George Platt is quoted:
"We have a closed herd and are really careful with biosecurity....but cases of TB are becoming increasingly common and we feel very vulnerable. Whatever lengths we go to we can't stop badgers crossing our land and putting our cattle at risk."
Read article

19 November 2009 ~ "nice to meet Chris Chapman yesterday. Lovely chap, and a very good photographer / film maker

Warmwell has received an email from someone who "went to the launch of Chris Chapman's film 'Bovine TB - A Way Forward' , today. It was pretty well attended, and by folk from as far away as Ross on Wye and Somerset, as well as south Cornwall." See more on this below.

November 16 2009 ~ Just come to light- the DEFRA policy on testing camelids and Reporting Procedures

Thanks to Dianne Summers, whose efforts on behalf of her fellow alpaca owners has been so admirably determined, these documents may now be more easily accessible on the DEFRA website and that of the British Alpaca Society. It is hard to imagine the distress of those newly under restrictions - but it is even more frightening and distressing when vitally needed information is so hard to track down.
• Here is DEFRA's Disease Reporting Procedures (pdf file).
• And here the section on the Tuberculin Testing of Camelids
(It may perhaps one day occur to the writers of such documents that those needing to read them are likely to be in a state not readily able to cope with dense paragraphs.)

November 13 2009 ~ "Both these systems will help farmers cope when under TB restrictions.."

The National Beef Association is represented on the TB Eradication Group by its TB Committee Chairman, Bill Harper. This extract is from the Group's initial report and action plan delivered in October .
"....The NBA has driven forward the work on making AQU's more manageable and has initiated the work on the new category AQU (Approved Quarantine Unit). These units have two uses, firstly to facilitate the rearing of TB restricted Holstein/Friesian male calves and the movement of them, once tested and at 12 weeks of age to a second AQU attached to the finishing farm. Secondly to allow the movement of TB restricted suckled calves below the age of 10 months to an AQU where they will be tested twice and if clean may be grazed. Both these systems will help farmers cope when under TB restrictions...
...The other recommendations we have made and Hilary Benn has agreed should be implemented are:
• Providing advice on bovine TB to restricted farms (implementation from early 2010);
• Providing a dispersal sale option for owners of TB breakdown herds (implementation by the end of 2009);
• Revised testing requirements for entry to and within Approved Finishing Units (AFU's) thereby encouraging more to be set up (implementation by the end of October 2009);
• Encourage the setting up of more "quarantine units" as a trade outlet for calves currently killed on farm (implementation by the end of 2009); and
• Providing greater flexibility on the timing of short interval tests in breakdown herds in high risk areas (implementation by the end of October 2009).
In addition to the changes discussed above we also agreed, in principle, with the Secretary of State that we need to find a new approach to tackling unconfirmed breakdowns; and, in order to overcome some of the confusion around TB controls, that the terminology around breakdowns will be changed...."
Read in full and for further details see the DEFRA website.

November 9 2009 ~ 49-9 vote by Welsh AMs in support of the Wales bovine TB eradication programme

The Farmers Union of Wales and NFU Cymru have welcomed last week's Assembly vote. It gives the Welsh Assembly Government the power to use both culling and vaccination of badgers as part of its bovine TB eradication programme. The Farmers Guardian quotes FUW TB spokesman, Brian Walters. "Some of those who spoke in support of annulling the Order had clearly failed to understand the scientific evidence on this issue and some AMs even suggested that there was no established link between bTB in cattle and badgers, which goes against the opinion of every single expert on the matter." Last year over 12,000 cattle were culled in Wales because of bTB and has slaughtered over 8,000 cattle this year.

November 6 2009 ~ Bovine TB statistics for GB from January to July 2009 show a slight decrease

The NFU Online reports that at the end of July, 5776 cattle herds were under TB restrictions. Defra have reported a budget spend of £108.4m on bovine TB during the 2008/09 financial year
"It has recently been reported by Defra that provisional statistics for new incidents of TB across GB during the period January to July 2009 show a 3.4% decrease compared to the same period in 2008. When you compare this with an increase in the number of herds tested over the same timeframe, we're looking at a provisional overall decrease in the TB incidence rate (new TB incidents, as a proportion of tests on unrestricted herds) of 8.8%."
But the statistics are still deeply depressing: over 4.2 million cattle had been Tb tested, although there were a further 3,063 herds awaiting their tests. 23,355 cattle had been slaughtered.

November 5 2009 ~ "There were also comments that vets were not allowed to advise freely because government doesn't allow them to say what they think."

As with foot and mouth, the authorities generally fail even to acknowledge the human impact and suffering of bTB - let alone attempt to address it One emailer writes,
"If pet owners had to stand by while their cats, dogs, rabbits, hamsters, etc, were dealt with in this way what an outcry there would be."
95% of farmers interviewed for the report produced by the Farm Crisis Network earlier this year (see 4 page briefing about the FCN report Stress and loss - the impact of bovine TB on farming families ) thought that what they were required to do by the TB regime would not contribute to the eradication of TB. The concern about the accuracy of the test is usually centred on a perception by farmers that the report of no visible TB lesions in slaughtered cattle meant that the animals concerned were free of the disease. "It would seem that government has failed to get across to farmers that the rate of false positives for the skin test is extremely low" says the FCN report. Read the full report 1.14 MB .

November 3 2009 ~ " I'm confident that what we have is a non political, educational and informative film which will go a long way to help the public understand the disease and how we might move forward."

The film, Bovine TB - A Way forward, is near completion and, with an added sequence discussing DEFRA's vaccination of badgers policy, is currently running at just over 24 minutes. A workshop on bTB has been organised at Roadford Lake Reservoir Conference Centre in Devon for the morning of Wednesday, 18th November during which the film maker, Chris Chapman, will both speak and show the film. A private initiative to control bovine TB will then be discussed. The normal cost of the workshop is £20.00 but those who have contributed to the workshop and those who have helped sponsor the film may have free entry. More details of the workshop here.

November 2 2009 ~ Irish Trials to stop the spread of TB in cattle by vaccinating badgers is showing good results, according to the Irish Department of Agriculture.

The Irish Times reports that the number of Irish cattle affected by bovine TB has fallen by nearly 20 per cent this year.
"...The latest figures from the Department of Agriculture have also shown a significant fall in the number of "reactor" cattle this year up to the end of October. In areas where the department killed off the badger population, the incidence of bovine TB dropped in the cattle herds, but this has caused outrage in animal welfare circles. Badgers killed in the field trials carried out in areas where there have been high levels of TB in cattle have been found to have TB infection levels as high as 40 per cent.
If the field trial is successful and subsequently a national badger vaccination strategy is adopted, the need to remove TB-infected badgers will reduce as tuberculosis levels falls in both cattle and badgers. However, it will be some time before the benefits of a vaccine can be seen, and it is envisaged that the existing strategy will remain in place for some time."
The figures reflect an improving situation in the 50-year fight to rid the national cattle herd of the disease which has cost the Irish taxpayer an estimated €1.5 billion and the industry probably twice that figure. (reader comment)

October 30 2009 ~ "continuing to make the case for a more effective strategy to tackle the disease in wildlife species...On such a highly emotive issue, we vets must always endeavour to inject the reality of science"

Prof Bill Reilly in his President's speech at the BVA North of Ireland Dinner last night, said that bTB is an issue that affects the four nations of the UK in different ways:
"... Earlier this year we were pleased to see the endorsement of Scotland's application for Officially Tuberculosis Freestatus but urged vets and farmers to keep up stringent disease controls. In Wales the Minister recently announced steps to move forward with a targeted badger cull in the west of the country - a move welcomed by the BVA.
In England, we recently supported the TB Eradication Group's acknowledgement that there is no one measure, no silver bullet, that can address the problem.
Although we continue to be frustrated at the lack of ministerial support for a targeted badger cull in England, we support the vaccination deployment project as another tool in the box whilst continuing to make the case for a more effective strategy to tackle the disease in wildlife species. ... the rest of the UK certainly looks forward to seeing the results of the Northern Ireland studies on the prevalence of TB in badgers. On such a highly emotive issue, we vets must always endeavour to inject the reality of science."
Read speech in full

October 30 2009 ~ "Have the Government looked into the spreading of bovine TB to alpacas? Is there a compensation scheme?"

Hansard
Mr. Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con): A constituent of mine is a breeder of Alpacas. Have the Government looked into the spreading of bovine TB to alpacas? Is there an appropriate test to ascertain whether that is happening and, if so, is there an appropriate compensation scheme?
Jim Fitzpatrick: The question of alpacas and TB is investigated by the Department. There are arrangements and tests in place, and I am happy to write in detail to the hon. Gentleman about the procedures.
So, we do not yet know and nor, it appears, does Mr Fitzpatrick .

October 30 2009 ~ "Far too many good dairy cows have been put down in my constituency ..." Ann Winterton

She asked whether the Secretary of State would accept that veterinary surgeons who are members of the British Veterinary Association and the British Cattle Veterinary Association believe that he should reassess his criteria for targeting and culling badgers in certain circumstances. Mr Benn replied that "... we have to do things that will work in the circumstances. I had to have regard to the scientific advice given to me on the basis of having tried culling."
Michael Jack then asked if he had come to a conclusion about "what he will do when the injectable vaccine is trialled and diseased animals are found? Will they be euthanased?" Mr Benn said that "no test is reliable enough to indicate whether a badger is infected" - but if the animal was in distress it could be put down (read exchange verbatim)

October 30 2009 ~"...whether he has received any as yet unpublished reports that would help the TB eradication group develop better policies that would assist in reducing the levels of TB in cattle and in badgers?"

Yesterday's oral questions on bTB left Hilary Benn looking as if he was unable to give much in the way of answers to the queries posed by Jane Kennedy, James Paice and Roger Williams. Jane Kennedy (whose departure as Minister has been regretted by many) was particularly concerned about farmers' suicides in the wake of bTB

October 29 2009 ~ " how much his Department has received from the salvage of carcasses or part carcasses of bovine tuberculosis reactor, inconclusive or dangerous contact cattle sold into the food chain..."

Answers to PQs on Bovine TB on October 26 are here - and we see that DEFRA received 4.5 million in salvage costs last year.
(Defra's figure for "Compensation" - £52.8 million in the last financial year sounds enormous until one realises that this includes all the costs from farm to incinerator of getting the reactor from the farm. Paying for haulage, abattoirs, knackering, incineration, salvage and valuers fees - all these are included in Defra's "compensation" figure - while a very much reduced figure ever reaches the farmers themselves.)

October 29 2009 ~ "The Secretary of State has discussed vaccination of badgers against bovine TB with the New Zealand Minister of Agriculture, Biosecurity and Forestry."

On the question of vaccination Jim Fitzpatrick says:
"The majority of DEFRA's TB vaccine research programme is led by researchers at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, who collaborate with researchers in both the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand. DEFRA officials have met with their counterparts from the Republic of Ireland and representatives of the industry-led New Zealand Animal Health Board several times recently to discuss work programmes and ensure a coordinated research effort, particularly in regards to the design of badger vaccine field studies and licensing requirements for the use of the BCG vaccine against TB."

October 23 2009 ~ Scientific review on Tuberculosis in wildlife in the EU

Adopted: 18 October 2009, the pdf file is here (117 pages) Headings include such issues as, How can culling wildlife contribute to bTB control? 8. What are the prospects for vaccinating wildlife? 9. What other options are there for bTB control in wildlife? Fertility control. The section on badger culling points out that
"... Culling assumes that reducing the population size of the target species results in a concomitant decrease in the prevalence and abundance of infectious individuals. However, this assumption may not hold, owing to the confounding influence of ecological phenomena such as social organisation, compensatory reproduction or immigration (Carter et al., 2007)"
. On vaccination:
"... The UK government is currently funding a range of research to support the development, licensing and implementation of a BCG vaccine delivery system for badgers. The most economically viable and practically achievable approach to delivering vaccine to badgers over relatively large areas, is likely to involve an oral bait (Bourne et al., 2007; Delahay et al., 2003)... In the absence of a licensed and effective oral vaccine bait, the UK government has announced plans to trap badgers and inject them with BCG from 2010 onwards... Advantages of the trap and inject approach are that each animal will receive a known dose, non-target species will not be exposed to the vaccine and if a system of temporary marking is employed then it should be possible to avoid repeatedly dosing the same individual badgers. However, trapping badgers is labour intensive and expensive, and it would only be possible to deploy vaccine over a much smaller area for the same resources than if delivered using oral baits. Simulation models have shown that a vaccination efficiency of 40-50% could result in a high probability of eradicating endemic disease (White & Harris, 1995; Smith & Cheeseman, 2002; Wilkinson et al., 2004)..."
Read pdf file in full.

October 23 2009 ~ Are alpaca owners taking bTB seriously enough?

The Farmers Guardian reports that the British Alpaca Society (BAS) has "warned its members ignoring bovine TB (bTB) could have dire consequences for the species".
"Pretending TB isn't an issue, or worse still, intentionally covering up the presence of TB, will risk the health of all of our alpacas, and damage the future of the alpaca in the UK," BAS says on its website. As we reported on September 17th, Dianne Summers lost the fifth alpaca to bTB from her herd in the space of a year and her concern has been largely responsible for the BAS itself takiung the issue seriously now.
The FG reports that
"she fears the problem is being compounded by the fact Defra cannot force camelid owners to test for TB and remove positive animals.
"It is frightening. Many alpaca owners don't know there is a problem, so we must raise awareness"
She is very much to be congratulated for taking upon herself the responsibility of raising the profile of this issue for the owners of camelids.

October 17 2009 ~ EU gives interim approval to the UK eradication plan

(Scotland is not included since it now has received recognition as an Officially Tuberculosis Free region.) The Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) agreed a 10 million euro funding package yesterday which will be available, as the Farmers Guardian puts it, " to contribute to the costs of TB testing and compensation for cattle slaughtered".
An emailer remarks drily:
"I bet they take some money out to pay the costs of the training of the vaccination volunteers and a couple of bureaucrats to supervise the operation.."
The plan needs the formal approval of the EU Commission, likely to be given later this year.

15 October 2009 ~ Defra is consulting on plans to amend the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 to allow non- vets to vaccinate badgers against bTB.

As the Consultation says,
"Under the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, the practice of veterinary surgery by unqualified persons is restricted a... Vaccinating badgers (via injection), constitutes an act of veterinary surgery for the purposes of this act...we therefore propose to pass an exemption order under section 19(4)(e) of the Veterinary Surgeons Act to allow the vaccination of badgers against tuberculosis by lay vaccinators. .... all lay vaccinators will need to undertake an approved training course in order to be licensed in accordance with the Protection of Badgers Act as well as be permitted to vaccinate badgers as non-veterinary surgeons in compliance with the exemption order..."
Responses to the consultation are asked for by Friday 8 January 2010.
(As for the qualifications for the job, this advert from FERA, seeking "expressions of interest from companies or groups that can contract as a company to trap, vaccinate, record and release badgers.." may be thought a little vague.)

13 October 2009 ~ "...from 1 January 2010 only a single re-test of repeat inconclusive reactors will be allowed before they are removed and slaughtered."

Hilary Benn in the House of Commons yesterday:
"This change brings us in line with EU law, and follows a similar move earlier this year in Wales and Scotland.... a change in the way that routine TB surveillance testing intervals are set. There are risks with the current approach of setting these on a reactive basis at parish level, in particular that it does not allow us to get ahead of the disease. ...an interim approach will be introduced for 2010....
Following recommendations from the eradication group, animal health has introduced changes to make it easier for TB-restricted farms to buy replacement stock and sell their own surplus cattle.....
There will be additional costs for some farmers, in terms of pre-movement testing requirements and TB restrictions; but I agree with the group that these are needed if we are to stop further spread and effectively tackle the disease.
The group's progress report addresses wildlife controls and the culling of badgers. I have had frank discussions with it on these issues and have agreed that they should remain on the group's agenda. I made it clear that the policy is that licences will not be issued to cull badgers for bovine TB control in England, and I will only revisit this under exceptional circumstances, or if new scientific evidence becomes available..."
Read speech in full

October 9 2009 ~ "It is not indiscriminate massacre of the wildlife.."

Alistair Driver's article today in the Farmers Guardian in which he discusses the reality of bTB with four farmers is well worth reading in full. They agree that they wouldn't begrudge paying £15-£20/head for pre-movement testing if they knew everything else was being done. Particularly interesting is the reaction of one of the farmers to the situation in Ireland:
"Mr Dale has just returned from a trip to Ireland, where he witnessed at first hand a very different approach to the problem. "Farmers can't come out and start controlling badgers but the Ministry can send somebody out to assess what action needs to be taken. It is not indiscriminate massacre of the wildlife. It is very focused. To me that seemed such a logical way to do it," he says. "If that doesn't happen the badgers just get a worse and worse name and then people may take it into their own hands. Nobody wants to see that happen because they will be doing it for all the wrong reasons. It won't be done properly and nobody will know," he says.
One farmer says that bTB should be central to the food security debate. "Defra is saying food security needs to be further up the agenda. Recent food riots have brought to mind an old saying: 'You are only ever three square meals away from anarchy.' It could come true one day."

October 9 2009 ~ Farmers Weekly Farming Champion of the year: Christianne Glossop and Elin Jones because of their stance in Wales on tackling TB

More detail on last night's awards at www.fwi.co.uk/fwawards2009/

October 8 2009 ~ "the Group also recognises that real progress towards eradication for those in high risk areas can only be made once measures are in place to tackle disease in wildlife on a large scale."

The Executive Summary of today's TB Eradication Group for England Progress Report can be seen here. Extract:
.... We will need to have in place and use a range of tools:
• effective diagnostic tests;
• targeted cattle controls;
• and vaccination for badgers and cattle;
• and to remain open to the possibility of using badger culling.
These tools need to be used in a targeted way to reflect disease risk so we have a proactive approach rather than continuing to play catch-up as we are with the current testing regime. We have defined five areas (high risk; edges of high risk; medium; declining and low risk areas) as a basis for considering and targeting different measures effectively. ... we need to find a new approach to tackling unconfirmed breakdowns; and, in order to overcome some of the confusion around TB controls, that the terminology around breakdowns will be changed.
.... the Group also recognises that real progress towards eradication for those in high risk areas can only be made once measures are in place to tackle disease in wildlife on a large scale. In their absence, we see the additional support to farm businesses under restriction as crucial. .."
Read Executive Summary here.

October 8 2009 ~ "However, we still believe that more can be done in England and we urge the Secretary of State to reassess his criteria for introducing a badger cull."

The TB Eradication Group for England presented its Progress Report to stakeholders today. The British Veterinary Association (BVA) and British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) say that they are "pleased at the consensus arrived at by the progress report for the Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication Group for England (TBEG -made up of representatives from Defra's Food and Farming Group, Animal Health, the farming industry and the veterinary profession), which recognises the limitations of the measures available to the Group".
Commenting, Professor Bill Reilly, President of the BVA, said:
"...we welcome the recognition that there has to be a package of controls available and that no single measure can eradicate bovine tuberculosis. The BVA and BCVA have stated clearly that a targeted badger cull may be necessary in certain circumstances and we are pleased that it has not been ruled out of a future eradication programme for England."
John Blackwell, President of BCVA, added:
"There are a lot of positives in this report and the work of TBEG in implementing measures to support farmers dealing with bovine TB in their herds is welcomed by the BCVA. However, we still believe that more can be done in England and we urge the Secretary of State to reassess his criteria for introducing a badger cull."
The report, 'Developing a Bovine TB Eradication Programme for England', (38 page pdf file) is available from the Defra website. More information on the BVA and BCVA policy on bTB is available on the BVA website.

October 7 2009 ~ Tuberculosis is the second leading cause of death from infectious disease worldwide; bovine TB is a growing problem throughout the world

Although Britain's problem with bTB is a growing nightmare, it isn't an isolated one for Britain alone. We read that an estimated 1.3 billion cattle are at risk globally. News today from Biomagnetics Diagnostics says that field deployable Integrated Optical Biosensor Systems (IBOS), such as those Biomagnetics Diagnostics is planning to soon introduce "hold the promise of significantly speeding up the diagnostic testing process and meaningfully lowering costs and improving lives".
One can only hope that this sort of technology really can make a difference - and soon. The extreme difficulty at present of diagnosing TB in both humans and animals is described here. "..It is a really difficult diagnostic, scientific and food standards problem."

October 5 2009 ~ Mushroom compounds to stop the spread of bTB?

Red Pig Farm in the Brecan Beacons, (which has an interesting website,) thinks they can. An enterprise at the farm grows more than 25 species of mushroom and the compounds extracted have been used to treat diseases associated with a depleted immune system. The senior partner in their mushroom-growing business writes to warmwell today with news of his conviction that a mushroom compound could prevent bTB: " ...We have been working with mushrooms in general for about 12 years and as medicinals for about 6 years, and during that time we have come across a lot of references to mushrooms being used to treat "consumption"... we deduced that we could develop a product, using the mushrooms suggested, to treat any form of TB - the issue is anti-bacterial properties and the subsequent actions of these compounds.. "
More detail (There is, of course, no suggestion here that such compounds are available or recommended for use at the moment.)

October 5 2009 ~ "Biology and organisms never do what they are told to in the text book..."

The exchange between clinical virologist and farmer has attracted interested attention and comment from emailers (see below). Both sides are very well worth reading. As Dr Fink says, "Cattle are not given the benefit of the doubt with a positive skin test. Only very modest numbers on post mortem are found to have lesions. In my experience, looking for any Mycobactarium in the blood (by PCR ) even in broken down cattle - I had the opportunity with DEFRA a few years back - will not show organisms, so one may be falsely reassured. Sputum testing may show either miliary ( widespread infection ) or a more localised lung infection. But not always. Biology and organisms never do what they are told to in the text book."

October 5 2009 ~ bTB "Perhaps, somewhere in all these changes, we have damaged the immune system of both cattle and badgers...."

There are many views about the disastrous situation that prevails and what should be done. An email received from a vet this weekend is in support of Dr Fink's view that feeding stations with high dosage of triple antibiotics for 6 months would at least reduce the bacterial load in the reservoir for infection. Extract from the vet's email:
"...Should it work it will be a useful alternative to the indiscriminate slaughter and the problems of disturbance and re-colonisation of infected setts.
It is to be hoped that there is someone ...brave enough to turn their computer off and do some original thinking before proceeding...."
Read in full Another email received today from a Wiltshire farmer in reply, says that the "gradual failure of the bTB testing regime to continue to achieve what it achieved in the first 3 decades after WW2 coincides with legislation to protect badgers and the introduction of maize (that badgers find very palatable) as a winter feed for cattle".
The vet replies - while acknowledging, "I do not know the answer to our problem with TB but I would like to know a great deal more..."

October 1 2009 ~ New Zealand to spend £37 million on bTB

New Zealand's National Pest Management Strategy for Bovine Tuberculosis is being reviewed. tvnz.co.nz"Agriculture Minister David Carter says the TB strategy is a significant programme with an annual budget of $82 million a year. He says proposals include introducing new targets to reduce the size of the areas where TB is found in wild animal populations and accessing the feasibility of completely eradicating the disease from wild animals."

September 30 2009 ~ Bovine TB "...we need to reduce the load in the animal reservoirs in a humane and satisfactory way."

An exchange about the worsening scourge that is bovine TB from two correspondents to this website. They are both, but for different reasons, experts on the subject. One is the farmer Pat Bird, ( "Any country which ignores a reservoir of bTB as we are doing - in wildlife - is storing up problems for its human population in the future") who writes a TB blog for the Farmers Guardian, and the other is Dr Colin Fink, whose views are rather those of a medical man and clinical virologist . ("I am still of the opinion that feeding stations with high dosage of triple antibiotics for say 6 months coordinated, could be worth a try. It would not be that expensive, but would need very good attention to detail. It would at least reduced the bacterial load in those wild animals that are a reservoir for infection and often excluded from the badger setts.")
Their exchange of views, on the subject of risk to human beings as well as the toll on cows and other mammals can be seen here.

September 30 2009 ~ "I am still of the view that a badger cull in an Intensive Action Pilot Area (IAPA) is necessary as part of our programme to eradicate bovine TB." Elin Jones

The Welsh Rural Affairs Minister is quoted in the Independent: "Following the recent consultation on legal powers, and consideration of the responses submitted, I am still of the view that a badger cull in an Intensive Action Pilot Area (IAPA) is necessary as part of our programme to eradicate bovine TB. Before I make my final decision on an IAPA, there are further steps which need to be taken. I have always said that any cull of badgers could only go ahead when all preparatory work is complete. This order is an important step towards completing that work, providing the necessary legal powers for a Welsh Assembly Government-managed cull."
The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has welcomed today's TB Eradication (Wales) Order 2009. It will give the Welsh Assembly Government the legal powers to use culling and vaccination of badgers as part of the TB programme in Wales. The BVA's policy position on tuberculosis is available here

September 30 2009 ~ Bovine TB "...we need to reduce the load in the animal reservoirs in a humane and satisfactory way."

An exchange about the worsening scourge that is bovine TB from two correspondents to this website. They are both, but for different reasons, experts on the subject. One is the farmer Pat Bird, ( "Any country which ignores a reservoir of bTB as we are doing - in wildlife - is storing up problems for its human population in the future") who writes a TB blog for the Farmers Guardian, and the other is Dr Colin Fink, whose views are rather those of a medical man and clinical virologist . ("I am still of the opinion that feeding stations with high dosage of triple antibiotics for say 6 months coordinated, could be worth a try. It would not be that expensive, but would need very good attention to detail. It would at least reduced the bacterial load in those wild animals that are a reservoir for infection and often excluded from the badger setts.")
Their exchange of views, on the subject of risk to human beings as well as the toll on cows and other mammals can be seen here.

September 23 2009 ~ "... such crass dereliction of duty by an administration"

The Western Morning News on Friday reported on the joint campaign to highlight the plight of cattle farmers whose animals have been stricken by bovine tuberculosis. The organisation combines the efforts of the Women's Food and Farming Union, the Women's Institute and the Townswomen's Guild-whose chairman, Claire Crouch, is quoted:
"If we can get a campaign together, it will have a snowball effect. This Government is never going to grasp the nettle ..."
Lynne Askew, joint Devon county chairman of the Women's Food and Farming Union, told the conference:
"We need a joint force to bring the problems forward, because a large number of people just don't understand them. And it should not just be limited to Women Working Together, but join up with the National Farmers' Union, the Country Land and Business Association and the Countryside Alliance. If that happens, the politicians will begin to understand that we mean business, because this terrible situation cannot be allowed to continue and get worse."
Barrie Williams, the patron of Women Working Together, spoke of a situation brought about by Government ineptitude, incompetence and sheer ignorance, similar to that encountered during the foot-and-mouth disease disaster of 2001.
"But with bovine TB, nobody outside farming seems to be doing anything about it. What you don't have is mass media coverage, and that's all about imagery. There aren't the burning pyres, the piles of carcasses in country lanes, nor Phoenix the calf."
He reminded the conference that bovine TB would cost a billion a year - an unnecessary bill because it was a disease the Government had in its power to eradicate. He added: "I cannot remember such crass dereliction of duty by an administration. Take the message to your MPs before next year's General Election. Make yourselves a nuisance about bovine TB, and get your friends to do the same. The countryside has mobilised before - and it worked."

September 22 2009 ~ Bovine TB: "The cat owners et al may be reassured..."

Following the posting below, warmwell has heard from Dr Colin Fink (email) With regard to the concern expressed by the owners of TB infected cats, he writes, ".. If they (i.e. the human owners) were to become ill and remain unwell for longer than a transient infection might be expected to last, then further investigation would be justified....no intrusive investigation ( biopsy of lymph nodes, lung biopsies etc) to find the organism, can be medically justified in someone who is entirely well. - It would be a hazardous undertaking." Read in full

September 21 2009 ~ The spread of bTB to humans and pets

Anyone who has had contact with either a human or an animal euthanised as a bTB case should be checked out for the disease by the public health authorities. This is not happening as a matter of course - unless the infected animal is bovine.
The spread of bTB is now increasing in cats, alpacas, goats, sheep, pigs and other companion mammals. Their human contacts are mammals too and thus susceptible - but the latest posting at bovinetb.blogspot.com suggests that all too often humans at risk and whose animals have been put down are not being tested when they ask to be.
The Health Protection Agency booklet (pdf - large file) Zoonosis Guidelines of April 2009 rightly describes bTB as a statutory notifiable disease and that
"Responsibility for investigating transmission from animals to humans in a domestic setting rests with the HPA." (page 13 6.1.5)
But "responsibility" for doing something does not guarantee that anything is being done and humans at risk but without clinical diagnosis seem adrift. The 'multi agency discipline' too often means that responsibility is handed round like a parcel no one wants to open. 'Tuberculosis' in humans is classified vaguely as "tuberculosis complex" and not strain typed at all. This means that the true level of bTB in humans is not being properly calculated and the risk of bTB spreading to people contiues to be classified as "low".
The posting is worrying and should be read in full. As the comment from one reader with good reason for saying so concludes: "The bTB situation in the UK is a mess and a nightmare."

September 17 2009 ~ bovine TB "two-thirds of survey respondents said the cost of controlling the disease was a good use of government money"

Caroline Stocks in Farmers Weekly today reports that Jim Fitzpatrick has said the government is not going to change its policy on TB "simply because the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had declared they would allow a badger cull." She examines a survey carried out by England Marketing on behalf of the NFU which reveals how few people realise how many cattle are slaughtered due to bovine TB. Estimates range from 5000 animals killed each year to the true figure of 40,000. "There is even less certainty among the public of how bovine TB is spread or how widespread it is. But 75% of respondents said they were concerned or very concerned that the disease could spread to humans. Some 65% of survey respondents viewed farmers favourably, with 94% believing agriculture to be an important part of the countryside. Some 83% said farming was increasingly important in providing an adequate and affordable food supply."

September 17 2009 ~TB in alpacas. A growing problem

Warmwell has received information from the West Country alpaca owner, Dianne Summers. A lack of trust and scant information has, she feels, made it all too easy for alpaca owners to consider themselves both immune to the disease and to the precautions necessary to stop its spread. She points out that false negatives in the skin test can give owners an unfounded sense of security - which may well lead to heartbreak later on, as it did in her case.
"We need to inform the 1,000 members of how highly contagious TB is from alpaca to alpaca and therefore the risks attached to attending shows - sending females for mating etc. In 2008 there was an outbreak of TB in Golden Guernsey goats but they as a Society faced the problem head on - informed their members and assisted DEFRA with all movements and tracings etc....the camelid industry must be classed as livestock and follow the procedures and rules that stock have to endure.
Protecting our Alpacas article is attached (pdf). It was written by another member of our group and sums up the TB situation perfectly."
She adds that she has just had her entire herd X-rayed for lung lesions.
If anyone would like to get in touch with Dianne Summers please contact warmwell.com
Alpacas are not classified as an agricultural species, so there is no statutory movement recording, nor the routine testing that happens with cattle. Most of the TB problems in alpacas - and the disease can kill them very quickly - have been restricted to hot spot areas of the South West, with 10 farmers affected. BAS are now giving advice to members - such as ensuring that water troughs are inaccessible to badgers.
DEFRA has recently decided to make discretionary compensation payments of up to £750 per animal destroyed an attempt to encourage alpaca owners to report TB cases. (Breeding females can cost around £6,500 each)

September 17 2009 ~ Christopher Thomas-Everard believes most farmers would be prepared to contribute to the cost of a TB badger cull.

The Western Morning News today quotes Mr Thomas-Everard, chairman of the National Beef Association: "If we treat TB like rabies and properly explain that infected badgers have to be culled to stop infection spreading, then I believe that the public will accept diseased badgers being dealt with," he said. DEFRA Shadow Minister James Paice has been in the West Country and he told theWestern Morning News.
"I have always said that any cull of badgers should be targeted at those setts most likely to be infected, rather than simply deciding to cull all the badgers in any particular area".
It seems that he did not say that, under Tory policy, farmers would necessarily pay for badgers to be culled - although it is likely that they would. His actual words, quoted by the paper were: ""Frankly, I can't see me getting any extra money so either it is going to have to come from elsewhere in Defra's budget - which won't be immediately easy - or we are going to have to ask farmers to pick up some of the cost."

Sept 14 2009 ~ Tories plan to charge farmers for the cost of a badger cull

Farmers Weekly (Sept 11): "A typical dairy farm is likely to face a £600 bill under proposals for a targeted cull aimed at stopping bovine TB spreading from badgers to cattle... Tory plans for a cull are in their early stages, but proposals topped the agenda during a three-day visit by shadow farm minister Jim Paice to TB hotspot areas across south-west England this week. ... Mr Paice. "I have always said that any cull of badgers should be targeted at those setts most likely to be infected...." Mr Paice declined to put a figure on how much individual farmers would be charged. But industry sources suggested £7.50/ha (£3/acre), meaning a £600 bill for a typical 150-cow dairy herd run across 80ha (200 acres)." Read in full
The present government is expected to spend £100m combating bovine TB this year alone.

September 13 2009 ~ Scotland gets TB free status

(see also below) From Dumfries and Galloway Standard (here) following
".... a presentation this week by Scotland's Chief Veterinary Officer, Simon Hall, who outlined the low incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Scottish herds and the high standards of animal welfare. The unanimous vote was carried at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) in Brussels on Tuesday. ........... "There will be worries over any new TB testing requirements being placed on suckled calves and store cattle entering Scotland from low risk areas of England and Wales. This will create concerns for those Scottish producers who traditionally source store stock from low-risk areas in the UK and for those markets involved in facilitating that trade. ....The OTF application process means that those farmers attending current sales of calves south of the Border will be unaffected by any new testing requirements although it remains good practice to check the TB status of any stock being introduced to your herd. As for the future, we now have a period of time to sit down with Scottish Government and other stakeholders to look at trade implications of any additional TB testing requirements and how any concerns brought about by our newly ratified OTF status can be addressed."

August 30 2009 ~ NBA chairman Christopher Thomas- Everard: "There is no way the Government can afford this money. What are they going to do? The only answer is they will throw the cost back to farmers, by which time it will be too late."

The Western Morning News reports that forecasts made by the NBA, based on Government figures show that the public cost of bovine TB in England and Wales will amount to £100 million this year. The increase last year was 42 per cent.
"In 2008, 27,455 cattle were slaughtered, heaping misery on farmers who lost prized cattle and were forced to restrict the movement of animals, compared to just 5,027 ten years earlier, Defra figures show. Mr Thomas-Everard said: "This increase is highly unlikely to be additionally funded by the Treasury and will have to be funded by cutting other Defra work. If the disease continues to spread - and some farms remain year after year under restriction by repeat re-infection - the cost is likely to grow to £200 million within three years alone, long before vaccination can possibly have any effect." Even if the disease increased by only 25 per cent a year, the cost would still soar to £477 million by 2015, the NBA said.
Read article in full

August 14 2009 ~ Handy 'badger bins'

Noticing that Mycobacterium bovis, the causal agent of bTB, is listed as a Grade 3 pathogen, the bovinetb.blogspot notes that the EU, OIE and WHO demands special handling and containment rules. The blog then makes suggestions for protective measures at farms under TB restriction, the black humour of which is a symptom of the worry and frustration caused by the way this dangerous disease is now spinning out of control. Very seriously meant, however, is the final sentence: " It's about time Defra took the control and eradication of this pathogen as seriously as do the HSE and the EU." One of the many documents which relate to Grade 3 pathogens and their handling, can be viewed here.

August 10 2009 ~ Protecting our Alpacas - a review of the bTB Situation

A highly readable article and good advice by Richard Vickery of Loxbeare Alpacas (Pdf)

August 10 2009 ~ TB in camelids

A letter in the Veterinary Record of July 25, "Suspected transmission of Mycobacterium bovis between alpacas" (read in full pdf)
"These new TB cases provide evidence of the risk of spreading M bovis infection through uncontrolled movements of South American camelids between holdings, particularly those situated in recognised endemic TB regions. Herd owners should be encouraged to seek veterinary advice regarding appropriate biosecurity measures when animal movements are necessary. If private skin testing is being considered, permission to do so must be sought from, and test results reported to, Animal Health..."
The letter's authors include staff at the VLA.

August 7 2009 ~ suspected human case of bovine TB among staff at the Food and Environment Research Agency

The FERA agency at Woodchester Park near Stroud works on the ecology of badgers and their role in spreading bovine TB to cattle. The Gloucester Citizen reports that 30 other workers are being screened for the disease. The agency's head of executive support, Dr Alison Wilson, confirmed that the health of a member of staff was under investigation.
"Some of Fera's staff work on long-term wildlife research projects looking at the relationship between badgers and cattle in the spread of bovine TB. Fera is therefore treating the case seriously, as it may represent infection by mycobacterium bovis, the organism which causes bovine TB."
She would not say whether the member of staff suspected of contracting the disease was being treated in hospital but she confirmed that 30 other employees were being screened. This is the first instance of suspected bovine TB among staff at the agency, which has been working in this research area for more than 30 years. Read original article

August 3 2009 ~ Scotland is set to capitalise on its low incidence of bovine tuberculosis by applying to the EU Commission for TB-free status.

Farmers Weekly (Jonathan Riley) says, " Only the reservations of auctioneers and meat wholesalers have delayed the Scottish government from applying for "Officially Tuberculosis Free" status. The rest of the industry, including the country's chief vet, Simon Hall, have appeared keen to adopt even tighter measures to keep the disease at bay and give Scotland an edge over the rest of the UK....Detailed economic assessments are now to be made by Scottish government economists before an application for TB-free status is submitted to Brussels." Read in full

July 31 2009 ~ If DEFRA were acting on scientific principles it would authorise TB testing of badgers in 'clean' areas

Bob Spink (Hansard) asked the DEFRA Secretary "how many farms in (a) Essex and (b) the East of England were under bovine tuberculosis restrictions on the latest date for which figures are available." [288111] Jim Fitzpatrick replied that
"DEFRA cannot provide the information in the format requested. DEFRA collects data on the number of herds under restriction because TB measures apply to a herd and not a farm. We can provide the latest data from Vetnet (1 June) which shows that the number of herds under bovine TB restrictions on 31 March 2009 was (a) 19 herds in Essex, and (b) 636 herds in the East of England region.

Note:
Data downloaded from the Vetnet system is provisional and subject to change as more data becomes available."
Bob Spink's question was, of course, seeking information about the spread of bTB into "clean" areas. In order to establish the incidence of the infection in the wild, any ministry acting on scientific and veterinary principles would authorise TB testing of badgers in such areas as a matter of urgency. Instead, we get this rather less than satisfactory answer. Is any testing of badgers being done? The answer suggests not.

July 27 2009 ~ UK animal health policy 2009 - still killing the victim rather than the aggressor

A concerned veterinary surgeon, deeply disturbed by the section of the Farm Crisis Network on TB highlighted below, wrote to remind us that the mass slaughter of animals during the Foot and Mouth disease epidemic of 2001 took place at a time when many animals, especially sheep, were in the late stages of gestation. "It was obvious that the methods used to kill the mother condemned the foetus to a relatively slow death."
"... Yet we now learn that no specific measures are adopted to humanely kill the late stage foetus of pregnant cattle slaughtered as bovine 'reactors' .
Defra disease control policies, as those of MAFF in 2001, continue to be heavily dependent on killing the host rather than the causative agent and, whilst many scientists might question the logic of this approach, none would doubt that slaughter of both the mother AND the late term foetus must be carried out humanely."
The 39 page Farm Crisis Network report on TB can be downloaded here ( file size is 1.12MB.)

July 24 2009 ~ bTB - The Farm Crisis Network has just produced a report on the human cost of bovine TB

A copy of the 39 page report can be downloaded here: TB Report 23 July 09.pdf. Note file size is 1.12MB. Extract:
"The worst thing was that cows very close to calving had to be shot on farm. We could see the calves kicking inside as they died....I feel there is a constant dark cloud of uncertainty over me, causing stress, anxiety and fear. I feel weary, mentally and physically which results in pain in my body.....Financially it is very stressful. Cash flow is a huge problem. Having to keep animals when I would normally sell them puts more pressure on me, on my family, animal accommodation and feed costs. I don't know how long we can keep going...."
The interviews were carried out by FCN volunteers in three areas - West Wales, the South West and Worcestershire - all bovine TB hotspots.

July 23 2009 ~ Bovine TB - "widespread and continued baiting with more than one antibiotic may reduce the infectious load." "

The TB vaccine and badgers letter is just so true," writes the microbiologist, Dr Colin Fink, about the open letter for warmwell.com published on Monday from the Swiss veterinarian, Dr. Ueli Zellweger.
"We do not have sensitive and specific testing methods for differentiating truly diseased cattle... we do not have an effective vaccine either. ..this huge dilemma: Any animal that has met the disease and contained it, may under conditions of stress, other illness or just older age experience recrudescent disease which is then infectious and so transmissible to other species including man.
If badgers are the present major reservoir, and if they are the source of this disastrous increase in the infection in our herds, widespread and continued baiting with more than one antibiotic may reduce the infectious load. This would be potentially useful for the few often excluded animals that are heavily infected and transmitting the organism. But we risk in this way also creating a resistant strain of Mycobacterium bovis and other gut bacteria'... .
An alternative could be oral contraceptive bait for badgers and thus a slow decline in numbers. But we do not know how this would affect the hierarchy of colonies. ...."
Read the email in full.

Tuesday July 21 2009 ~ Bovine TB - An open letter to warmwell.com from Dr. Ueli Zellweger

A short while ago, the Farmers Guardian reported on a presentation given by Swiss vet, Dr. Ueli Zellweger. He described DEFRA's idea of vaccinating badgers in areas already infected as "not just daft, but bloody dangerous". The first rule, he explained, is "never, never vaccinate a stressed or weakened animal". Mr Zellweger also cast doubt on the vaccine since the human BCG vaccine was "poor at protecting most animal species". His letter in full below

DEFRA and its TB Vaccine for Badgers and Cattle

The vaccine is called BCG which stands for Bacille CalmetteGuérin. This strain of bovine TB bacteria was found 88 years ago and has been the main one reproduced for vaccination ever since. It is common practice to cultivate virus and bacteria for a long time for after some 10 to 20 generations they tend to lose their power to infect but still may produce specific antibodies.

BCG is rather an uncommon type of vaccine. In most infections the infected body copes with production of a large amount of specific antibodies within a few days which protect against an infection becoming serious trouble and these antibodies can be traced for diagnosis. This is not so with Tuberculosis for 2 reasons:

1. TB bacteria need 12 to 18 hours to multiply ( E. Coli takes 20 minutes only).
2. TB bacteria have a waxy coat - quite unusual in microbes - to which antibodies cannot attach themselves.

"The BCG vaccine, sometimes used to control TB in man, has proved to be poor at protecting most animal species, and inoculation often provokes a severe local granulomatous reaction."

It is well known and common practice that if you do not succeed to vaccinate up to 95% of all animals of a target species, the long term positive effects in an area are likely to be pretty close to zero.
If BCG is used as planned by DEFRA there will be huge perturbation and stress for all badgers, high costs and risk that the whole project will backfire.

In the hot spots some 50 % or more of all badgers might carry the TB infection already increasing the risk of TB spreading when being vaccinated and according DEFRAs plans all badgers should get a booster vaccination every 12 months making things even worse.

Who will be liable when it all goes wrong?

Dr. Ueli Zellweger

July 15 2009 ~ Alpacas positive for bovine TB

BBC"An alpaca farmer in Cornwall has had to have four of her animals put down..."
One notes that DEFRA continues to downplay the risk of bTB to humans, and the BBC reports that the ".. Health Protection Agency, who identify the current risk posed bovine TB to human health as negligible."
During the recent Lords debate, the new Minister, Lord Davies said, "... I felt that being briefed on the Defra aspects of this Question was quite sufficient today without looking too much into the health aspects."
Only today, the Farmers Guardian blogger, Pat Bird, wrote us an email to say, "..... we have spillback from infected badgers into many other species, some of whom, especially camelids, are proving highly capable of sustaining and spreading infection both amongst themselves and onwards. A secondary maintainance reservoir over which Defra have no control whatsoever in England. Only Wales has roped them into a total control programme."

July 15 2009 ~bovine TB "I was a reactor and never developed the disease - something I have in common with most of the 40,000 cattle that were shot last year"

A Wiltshire farmer writes of the posting below:
"Yes Pat Bird is absolutely correct, the whole motivation for the scheme to eradicate (and it definitely was eradicate, not contain - although Lord Rooker when interviewed by the EFRA committee of the House of Commons claimed he was unsure on this point) bovine TB was Public Health. Before pasteurisation of milk became commonplace milk was implicated in much of the spread of TB in the population, although I have heard quoted a former Medical Officer of Health for Swindon who said that the germs in milk only harmed those who didn't get enough of it. We have had a vaccine for humans against TB for more than 50 years. As a schoolboy I was tested for TB and was a reactor and so was not immunised and I have never developed the disease - something I have in common with most of the 40,000 cattle that were shot last year."

July 15 2009 ~ "Talk about missing the point.." writes Farmers Guardian bTB blogger

The farmer whose TB blog is making such a stir at the Farmers Guardian writes a propos the Lords debate last month. She quotes the new Lords Minister, Lord Davies of Oldham:
"My Lords, that is the second time that the point has been made about the importance of the Department of Health in this respect. It is a very serious point and I will take it on board. The noble Baroness will forgive me if I felt that being briefed on the Defra aspects of this Question was quite sufficient today without looking too much into the health aspects."
But any country's programme for the eradication of TB is in place purely to protect public health, points out Mrs Bird.
"The 'health aspects' as he so quaintly puts it, are the core. The reason it exists..."
In the face of such enormous challenges from badger bacteria (vaccination) is unlikely to be 100% effective, and, as Dr. Lewis Thomas from Compton once asked, "Can you be a 'little bit protected' against TB bacteria?" Read email.

July 14 2009 ~"My Lords, would the Minister like to demonstrate joined-up government?"

About a month ago, a most important - although short - debate took place in the House of Lords on the subject of bovine TB. The new Minister, Lord Davies, found himself floundering. Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne felt it necessary to remind him:
".. While I appreciate that he is dealing with agriculture and the environment, none the less, given the extreme rise in the bacilli of the tuberculosis infection in the children of farmers whose farms are heavily infected with tubercular cows and killings, will he not connect with the Department of Health..."
The Countress of Mar had already reminded Lord Davies that bovine TB is not just a disease of cattle and badgers
".. It has been found in 30 different species of wildlife, including sheep, goats, pigs and camelids. With the number of bacilli expelled by badgers and cattle floating about in the atmosphere, there is a risk of it becoming a public health problem. What is the Department of Health doing to observe the atmospheric numbers of bovine TB bacilli and what precautions are being taken?"
No reply was forthcoming. Earl Cathcart then reminded us:
"surely the best solution is vaccination, rather than the killing of the 40,000 cattle last year and perhaps badgers in the future. If a vaccine for Mexican flu can be produced in months, why will it take another 10 years to produce a TB vaccine for cattle?"
Read in full What was not mentioned was the dead hand of Brussels. EU legislation will need to be amended to allow any cattle vaccination - as this 79 page DEFRA pdf file makes clear. Ironically, its title is Options for vaccinating cattle against bovine tuberculosis

July 9 2009 ~ BVA: "..... humane, targeted and managed culling of badgers in some areas will be necessary if we are to reverse the increasing prevalence of bTB"

The BVA today have issued a news release. Read in full.

July 9 2009 ~ "I think there is a definite change of attitude at Defra.."

The Western Morning News reports that Katrina Williams, DEFRA's director of animal diseases was accosted by a beef farmer at the Royal Show who is desperate, as are so many others, about bovine TB, "I'm flabbergasted that your Government is putting its head in the sand over this. What you are doing is having no positive effect on stopping bovine TB at all. You just have to bite the bullet on the issue of sick badgers." The WMN quotes Bill Harper, National Beef Association member of the TB Eradication Group who said every opportunity should be taken by farmers to tell civil servants and politicians about bovine TB and the devastation it can cause. He said: "I think there is a definite change of attitude at Defra and I forecast that the Eradication Group - for civil servants, for farmers and two independent vets - will prove highly effective." Read in full.

July 6 2009 ~ The TB Eradication Group held its thirteenth meeting in London on June 25

The NFU (here) reports that the group considered proposals developed following their discussion on 18 May that could help farmers maintain their businesses while under restriction. Alastair Sneddon of the Livestock Auctioneers Association, highlighted two specific issues affecting livestock markets and auctioneers where changes could offer farmers greater flexibility in their trading. These were:
1. Red Markets - Allowing farmers to sell restricted cattle which have not been tested within the last 60 days through Red Markets so they have the option of selling animals at live weight. The group raised concerns about the bovine TB risk and concluded this was generally small. There was concern the proposals could mean some herds were less likely to be tested regularly and members agreed this risk would need to be managed if this option was taken forward.
2. Permitting on-farm auction dispersal sales of restricted herds - If such sales were allowed, one or more abattoirs would need to be licensed as buyers so those animals not sold could go straight to the abattoir.
   Read the NFU's updated Bovine TB fact sheet here.

June 12 2009 ~ "Can we learn anything from Australia and apply it to the UK's bTB problem?"asks the Farmers Guardian today

It is tempting to answer with a resounding No. The article makes it quite clear that the two situations are entirely different. The wildlife reservoir of bTB infection in Australia was found only in water buffalo and feral pigs - and since both cause damage there were no loud objections to their being culled. The Farmers Guardian quotes a former councillor and animal health consultant for Cattle Council of Australia,
"... In 1984, Government and industry got together and industry was given a greater voice in decision-making...given 50 per cent of decision-making responsibility in exchange for covering half the cost of the eradication programme.. ... farmers introduced tougher TB measures .."
The article goes on to reveal just how draconian were the "tougher measures" that were used: 'Judas cows', fitted with tracking devices, led farmers to feral cattle groups - which were summarily shot. Entire herds were killed and farmers compensated - half the money coming from the levy on farmers themselves. Five-year-old stock in high risk areas were culled - as were eight-year-old stock in less prone areas - and when doubt was cast over exposure to infection in younger animals, they were pushed to "accelerated slaughter...." None of this makes for pleasant reading - but the situation in the UK is horrific too and here it is the cows alone who are being slaughtered in their droves by a Government policy that causes grief all round. read in full

May 25 2009 ~ "Dozens of lovely cattle with bloodlines going back generations have been destroyed and I have shed many tears of rage and frustration..."

The Farmers Guardian are now running farmers' blogs on life under the TB restrictions. Julia Evans (quoted above) is the first. The second is Pat Bird. She writes,
"...Now other bolt-ons have appeared on Defra's 'don't do' list which is supposed to keep herds free of TB. We don't share boundaries, equipment, access or grazing, but we share badgers. Currently three nearby farms have breakdowns and we are again snarled up in movement restrictions after two reactors in January.
Thirty stores, which should have gone this spring, are grazing on fields which should be feeding cows and their new calves. Others are still housed. We have a surplus of livestock but a deficit of cash flow.
The March test revealed one more reactor, and we test again early June. That will be almost 40 tests in 8 years - which have achieved just what exactly?..."
See Farmers Guardian In spite of the "rage and frustration" both of the first two blogs are written with almost saintlike patience. When one understands what TB on a farm means such cheerful forbearance may appear extraordinary.

May 19 2009 ~ "a targeted and humane cull of badgers must be a part of the action necessary to tackle Bovine TB"

The North Devon Gazette reports today that the Shadow Minister, Nick Herbert MP, the shadow secretary of state for DEFRA, met farmers on Holsworthy - a meeting described by Torridge and West Devon, MP Geoffrey Cox, as "useful and important" in developing a future Conservative government's policy towards the control of bovine TB. Mr Herbert told the farmers:
"The Conservatives understand the desperate need to take action now, without waiting what may be years for an effective vaccine, and that is why we support the views of many farmers that a targeted and humane cull of badgers must be a part of the action necessary to tackle Bovine TB. This is not just about cattle, it is also an animal welfare issue for the badgers - those that have TB are unwell and suffering." See also Farmers Guardian
Mr Cox it was an extremely useful and important meeting; "The Shadow Secretary of State for DEFRA has clearly stated that the next Conservative Government will take the necessary serious action to tackle this terrible disease that is killing so many cattle and blighting the livelihoods of farming communities in areas like ours." Read in full

May 15 2009 ~ "I can show you which badger setts are infected, where sick badgers are hiding out and trying to survive, and where they die in horrible circumstances."

The Western Morning News quotes a farmer, expert in TB, who has been promised by Nick Herbert (Shadow Minister for DEFRA) that there would be a focused cull of sick badgers as soon as possible if there is a Conservative government within the next year. He also promised that he or Jim Paice would accept Mr Hill's offer. Mr Hill warned, "You'll be really shocked with what you discover."

May 15 2009 ~ Killed reactors go into the food chain.

One warmwell correspondent
"I am afraid that the rate at which they are taking out cattle (a huge number of which show no lesions on slaughter) is very reminiscent of 2001. Apparently DEFRA have targets to achieve - still trying to find out what these targets are - possibly numbers of cattle to kill or blood tests to take....just wonder whether the amount of the compensation they claim they have paid out takes account of the fact that the cattle they kill (with or without TB) go straight into the food chain - and the cull cow prices are currently very good - we have had as much as £1200.00. for a very big cow. Keep wondering whether they are actually making money out of all this killing.
They are certainly determined, 80% of the animals they take out with the Gamma Interferon are free of disease and quite a few with the skin test.
Our Defra Vet didn't even know that the DEFRA website clearly tells everyone that the Gamma Interferon is recommended only where there is serious infection in a herd. Local office are busy taking blood from every single inconclusive tested animal they can find with the resultant killing of healthy animals. Very reminiscent of 2001."

May 15 2009 ~ " thinking of giving up, because he can't bear the thought of breeding quality pedigree dairy cows simply to feed them into the maw of the Government's bTB killing machine"

Telegraph yesterday: "....The Government says it spends £80 million a year of taxpayers' money on testing for the disease and compensating farmers who have to slaughter their animals, though farmers' groups estimate that the figure is more than £100 million. Moreover, the spread of bTB means our farmers struggle to compete with foreign providers, leading to a flood of imports....
trying to keep cows and badgers apart is pretty well impossible. ...they have over-run the countryside. One farmer in Warwickshire, who has recently had an outbreak of bTB among his cattle, had never seen a badger in his area 10 years ago. His neighbour found 12 scuttling around among the feed stocks recently.... The whole situation is utterly depressing for farmers who want to produce food when they get out of bed in the morning, not fill in compensation forms for destroying their livestock. "

May 7 2009 ~ TB has been found in several pigs in Cornwall over the past six months.

The Farmers Guardian quotes one unfortunate outdoor pig farmer whose pig was confirmed with bTB after tests following the discovery of head lesions:
"These pigs had only been in woodland which is totally fenced in. They have never been near cattle yet they have picked up bTB. Wildlife infection is the only thing it can be. I think I was the fourth case in Cornwall in the past six months and my concern is that if they don't deal with this matter in wildlife, it is going to take hold in outdoor pigs..."
According to DEFRA there were 10 confirmed cases in pigs across England in 2008 and it was also found in domestic cats, dogs, llamas, alpacas, deer, goats and sheep last year. A veterinary nurse from Cornwall also contracted bTB. The FG included this ominous sentence from DEFRA: "We have legal powers to place any suspect animals under TB movement restrictions... The Government will become involved if there is a threat to cattle..."..but many are questioning just how effective Government involvement has been when the disease is ever more rampant in the UK and other species are falling victim to bTB.

April 29 2009 ~ First full livestock animal genome sequenced

See veterinarynews.dvm360.com " The first full genome of a female Hereford cow has been sequenced by a team of veterinary and animal scientists at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst. L1 Dominette is the first livestock animal to be sequenced, the university reports. The sequencing project included more than 300 scientists in 25 countries. It "provides new information about the evolution of cattle dating back about 300 million years." Of particular interest to the university's adaptive immunity group is the potential to better understand bovine immunology and the gamma delta T cell, which could give researchers "critical information on how to fight diseases such tuberculosis and leptospirosis."... "The gamma delta T cells seem to be the key to the immune response in cattle. Knowing the genome sequence tells us what genes are there, what to measure in blood samples and the sort of molecules to test for. Overall, we can now hope to get a far more precise understanding of the animal's response to disease."

May 1 2009 ~ " more sociable cattle were more likely to be curious about badgers, and therefore more likely to catch and then pass on any infection"

FWi reports on new research that shows badgers and cattle come into contact with one another much more often than previously thought. Mike Hutchings, of the animal health research group, at SAC and Piran White, of York University's environment department, used data loggers to monitor encounters between badgers and cattle.

21 April 2009 ~ bovine TB- £27.5 million pounds spent on killing TB suspected cattle last year

Hansard yesterday: "Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cattle have been slaughtered because of suspected bovine tuberculosis in the last 12 months; and at what cost.
Jane Kennedy: In 2008, 27,455 cattle were slaughtered in England (26,038 as test reactors, 487 as inconclusive reactors and 930 as direct contacts). The 2008 spend on compensation for England was £27.5 million."
This stark figure cannot convey the distress involved. Unfortunately, as we know, existing diagnostic tests are tragically far from being able accurately to diagnose either bovine or human TB - as this summary, received in March clearly shows. And as Dr Fink says, " I am sure that the present skin test kills perfectly healthy animals that have just met the infection but have walled it off and simply have a white cells reaction to the organism."

April 9 2009 ~ Report says bTB vaccination "should not negate the urgent need for measures to tackle the problem now"

FWi (Jonathan Riley) today reports that the TB Advisory Group's report published yesterday highlights "the misery that TB had inflicted on vets, farms and communities ..."
"Within its 36 recommendations, the group said the disease would take at least 20 years to eradicate and criticised DEFRA for placing too much emphasis on vaccination in the fight against bovine tuberculosis. "Given the current rate of spread of TB we are concerned there may be over-reliance on a future vaccination programme for cattle and badgers - this should not negate the urgent need for measures to tackle the problem now." Vaccinating badgers would take many years to have an impact on the disease in cattle, the report added. For a cattle vaccine, the earliest date for introduction was still seven years away. The report warned the introduction would need a change in EU law which, if not addressed soon, could further delay the use of cattle vaccine.
An earlier report had advised that animals should be moved with paperwork indicating the testing regime they have undergone but this has not been introduced. The group expressed disappointment for this and criticised the government's lack of a sense of urgency. The FWi quotes the NFU animal health adviser Catherine McLaughlin:
"I hope DEFRA takes note of this. We are pleased that the social impact has been given recognition."
The Farmers Guardian notes grimly, "Bovine TB policy in England has reached something of an impasse. The disease may be spreading at record levels, but policy-makers appear increasingly powerless to do anything about it." The reason, says the FG, "is a general reluctance - even within Defra - to impose significantly tighter cattle controls in the absence of wildlife controls."

April 9 2009 ~ bTB - An oral vaccine for badgers is expected by 2014 at the earliest - and a change in EU legislation is needed before it can be used in the cattle population.

Once again we see how an unchallenged EU legislation is standing in the way of vaccination. Vaccine manufacturers will not research and produce bTB cattle vaccines for Europe in the hope that rules might change. Yet the example of bluetongue, (where even those most opposed to vaccine could see that there was no other viable control method), showed how rapidly the vaccine manufacturers sprang into action once they could see a market opening.
The Final Report of the Bovine TB Advisory Group made up of farmers, vets and Animal Health officials as well as DEFRA personnel, expressed concern yesterday that
".. there may be over-reliance on a future vaccination programme (cattle and badgers) - this should not negate the urgent need for measures to tackle the problem now... ."
As well as developing a plan, to be submitted to Mr Benn, "for reducing the incidence of bovine TB from cattle in England and moving towards eventual eradication", the new TB Advisory Group is drawing up an eradication plan to submit to the European Commission. It is to be hoped it will include an urgent request that the rules forbidding cattle to be vaccinated be re-examined. However outdated the rules about vaccinated animals may be, they will surely go on gathering dust until a vigorous effort is made to change them.

April 4 2009 ~ Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control - Parliamentary Questions

Answers to which can be summed up by Jane Kennedy's "The methodologies have not yet been finalised..." Read Hansard extract

Sunday March 29 2009 ~ Why aren't we already starting a programme of BCG cattle vaccination, and getting the rules about the use of vaccines changed in Brussels?

Humane and knowledgeable article in www.farminguk.com today.
"By foolishly allowing the TB bacillus to build up in the wildlife reservoir during the last 25 years, we are very nearly past the point of no return..... Just as eradicating TB was erroneously thought to be the only answer to the problem of tuberculous milk in 1932 (pasteurisation eventually solved that one), so attempting to vaccinate badgers now is too late and too costly in slaughtered cattle and disillusioned farmers.
Why did Defra take 11 years spending £23 million in vaccine research, before resorting to the BCG vaccine that is widely used in humans and is available in vast quantities from Sweden? And why, if that vaccine works for badgers, aren't we already starting a programme of cattle vaccination, and getting the rules about the use of vaccines changed in Brussels?" Read in full.
The writer, a Devon farmer of considerable experience, considers it is the only way ahead "with TB testing and the slaughtering of reactors a thing of the past. I hope I am around to see it." Getting rules changed in Brussels. They are not set in stone. For FMD too, this should be the vital and urgent first step. Only then will modern technology be able at last to transform our archaic and inhumane animal health policy

March 29 2009 ~ " Sooner or later it will splash out into more cats / pets / companion animals than we have now, and onwards into people."

Farmers in the TB hot spots are in constant fear and grief. But they also fear that TB is spreading to human beings. Here is one of today's emails
"Have just heard that friends south of us on the coast, have lost 23 at the last swipe (dairy), they've lost over 200 now, in about 9 years. And others about 8 miles north, with their farm for sale, will lose 53 (out of 80 ish) dairy cattle. This is worse than FMD, Mary. It never ends. And won't until these infected badgers are removed from the equation. The level of tuberculosis contamination in the environment now, is phenomenal. Sooner or later it will splash out into more cats / pets / companion animals than we have now, and onwards into people. The Cornish woman (and her daughter and dog) ...the. VLA are pretty sure that was direct from badgers, but waters were muddied by her previous employment as a veterinary nurse in 2004.... ... vets tell me that by 1970, true cattle TB was all but eliminated. What we have now (they say) is badger adapted TB, feeding back up into sentinel tested cattle, and any other mammals who have the misfortune to come into contact with it. This level of environmental contamination is something we as human beings have not encountered before, and sooner or later it will blow up in Defra's face."
(Read in full)

March 26 2009 ~ DEFRA accounts for massive rise in bTB: " a combination of more cattle being tested for TB and a higher rate of reactors being identified"

Is this not rather like claiming that the world's population has risen because we are better at counting?
Elin Jones, the Welsh Rural Affairs Minister, has announced a strategy to tackle the wildlife element of the disease alongside cattle controls. DEFRA says England's position hasn't changed - and has attributed the massive rise in TB incidence to changes in TB testing.... Alistair Driver in the Farmers Guardian " ... a Department spokesman said: "The year-on-year increase in cattle slaughtered is the result of a combination of more cattle being tested for TB and a higher rate of reactors being identified per test in 2008 compared with 2007.."
An emailer in one of the TB hotspots writes today on the subject of DEFRA's projected figures (see (Hansard) )
"Cattle slaughter is rising hugely, so unless tabular valuation is to be tweaked again, with bio-garbage stuff, the only way is up - by sheer volume of numbers. So, £23 million for 2009/10 ?? I don't think so, unless the badgers are tackled in a meaningful way."
The farmer adds, with both apprehension and bitterness: "We're testing this week. Jabbed Tuesday. Read Friday (when we'll do annual BTV as well). This is on severe interpretation, as the two steers shot in January both had early lesions. (Nothing in the four young suckler cows taken on reinterpretation of the January test last month - except their unborn calves.)" "

March 25 2009 ~ "No allocation has yet been made for 2010-11 onwards and as such we are unable to provide any estimates."

James Paice (Hansard) asked how much DEFRA plans "to allocate for measures to tackle bovine tuberculosis in the next three years."
Jane Kennedy (Minister of State (Farming and the Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Liverpool, Wavertree, Labour)

The following table sets out the budget which has been allocated by DEFRA for expenditure on bovine tuberculosis in 2009-10. No allocation has yet been made for 2010-11 onwards and as such we are unable to provide any estimates.

Breakdown of bovine tuberculosis forecast expenditure for 2009-10
	£ million (forecast only)
Cattle testing	37.8
Compensation	23
Surveillance activity by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA)	6.7
Other research	8.4
HQ/overheads	1.8
Total	77.7
Notes: 1. 2009-10 figures are provisional and subject to change 2. Data sourced from DEFRA Oracle financial system 3. Cattle testing—the cost of carrying out the testing of cattle for tuberculosis by arranging, assessing and monitoring tests, conducting investigations of incident herds and diagnostic testing by Local Veterinary Inspectors on behalf of DEFRA. (NB This expenditure is funded by DEFRA for the UK) 4. Compensation—includes payments for 'reactors' and 'contact animals' which are compulsorily slaughtered. This includes 'salvage' money received by the Government for those carcasses which are permitted to go into the food chain or are eligible for Over Thirty Month Scheme payments. (NB This funding is for England only) 5. Surveillance activity by the VLA—includes all DEFRA funded work carried out by the VLA relating to tuberculosis in cattle and badgers including the supply of tuberculin. (NB This expenditure is funded by DEFRA for the UK) 6. HQ/overheads—includes staff costs for veterinary advice and administration of tuberculosis policy in England only.


(gratefully lifted from www.theyworkforyou.com)

March 23 2009 ~ "... a 'trend line' on our graph of cattle casualties up to 2014 when we are told a vaccine may be available, is not a pretty sight..."

The Bovine TB blog, bovinetb.blogspot.com shows the graph....

... and the entry should be read in full. Extract: "...Last year was the worst on record - and far worse than during the eradication clearances of 1950s. Defra have presided over a one sided policy which has hoovered up just short of 40,000 cattle during 2008, has snarled up 7,928 herds - and shows no sign of slowing down..."

March 21 2009 ~ bTB "I am truly THRILLED about this film..."

Tim Garratt, Auctioneer at Rendells in Devon has written to Chris Chapman about the film he is making: "Bovine TB - A Way Forward"
"Hi Chris! I am truly THRILLED about this film. You may have heard we were unable to hold the Chagford March Store Cattle Fair this year because all the regular users of the market are either restricted by TB, unwilling to have pre-movement tests in case the herd is found to be infected or, having just gone clear, had sold their (temporarily) clean stock at the first available weekly market before they got infected. This is the first time in more than 200 years (apart from in F&M outbreaks when ALL markets were closed) that the Chagford March Fair has not taken place. Tim Garratt, Auctioneer. Rendells, Chagford, Devon."
On the film, a vet from north Devon, talking about the bTB figures for his particular branch of the practice, says
"In 2006 the total number of reactors was 250. In 2008, despite the introduction of tighter measures and restrictions on cattle movements, the figure had risen to 505'. It might be that we will have some form of vaccine on stream in a couple of years time, but I can't honestly see the point of vaccinating sick badgers. If they already have bTB you will not stop it. To my mind a far better approach would be to vaccinate the healthy ones, such as badgers from this historic sett. Assessment of where the sick badgers are and the healthy badgers are is crucial"
© BTB - A Way Forward

March 20 2009 ~ "A vaccine would avoid that dispersal effect, which as the science reveals, is a major flaw in a badger cull"

Today's Farmers Guardian article by Alistair Driver on the badger vaccine campaign quotes Colin Booty, the Senior Scientific Officer of the Wildlife Departmentof the RSPCA:
"This is certainly a step in the right direction, as this method of control, unlike culling, targets the disease itself rather than the animals, which can be its unfortunate host. A vaccine would avoid that dispersal effect, which as the science reveals, is a major flaw in a badger cull."
Stephanie Hilborne, chief executive for The Wildlife Trusts, seemed to sum up what many people feel about the news: "We know this trial will not provide an immediate answer to combating bovineTB but it is a very welcome initiative."

March 20 2009 ~ TB Decision too little too late, says Farming UK.

Farming UK quotes Melanie Hall, the National Farmers' Union regional director, : "....Vaccination can't stop the tidal wave of bovine TB by itself - particularly not in the South West where the disease has us in such a stranglehold.. " and also North Cornwall Lib-Dem MP Dan Rogerson, member of the EFRA committee: "The Government has finally heeded calls from the farming community to get on with a vaccination programme. The news is long overdue. Now Defra must confound its reputation for bungling big projects by deploying the vaccine effectively. But Ministers cannot use this programme to dodge the question of badger control. A vaccine will only ever be part of the solution."

March 19 2009 ~ The five-year Injectable Badger Vaccine Deployment Project - efficacy trials show a "very noticeable protective effect" on badgers.

See Alistair Driver's report in the Farmers Guardian today: He quotes Hilary Benn, who acknowledged the project was primarily a 'stepping stone' to a more widespread vaccination policy in the future owing to the practical limitations of vaccinating badgers in the wild and thought its impact on disease incidence would be "relatively small". The ultimate goal was to produce oral badger vaccines and a cattle vaccine but acknowledged there are major hurdles to be overcome (e.g. see below : "Article 13 requires Member States to ensure "anti-tuberculosis vaccination" is prohibited under their eradication plans. ) FG
"....Defra has invested £23 million in vaccine research over the past 11 years, and a further £20m will be spent over the next three years. Additional funds will be made available to set up and run the deployment project. Injectable badger vaccine deployment project
• The project starts in 2010 and will continue for at least five years.
• It will take place over six 100 sq.km TB hotspot areas, the location of which will be decided by Defra in consultation with the Bovine TB Eradication Group and other stakeholder groups.
• Badgers will be trapped and vaccinated by trained officials in the field. The aim is to vaccinate 'as many badgers as possible'.
• The project will focus on developing practical approaches to using the vaccine.
• The BCG vaccine will be identical to that widely used in humans and made by the Statens Serum Institute, in Copenhagen, where vast quantities of the human vaccine are produced.
• The vaccine is set to be granted a licence by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate next year.
• This follows five years of safety and efficacy trials in laboratories and in the field by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA).
• Defra will provide additional funding for the project. "
The FG report also gives the verdict of Prof Glyn Hewinson, head of TB research at VLA

March 19 2009 ~ "Farmers query development cash snub to TB problem"

FWi reports: "South-west livestock farmers are questioning why TB is not being made the priority when it comes to allocating £12.7m of funds aimed at improving animal health and productivity. The funding, through the Rural Development Fund, is earmarked for projects to improve productivity, performance and value related to animal health, and could boost livestock producers' profitability by 25%. But at a meeting of stakeholders, including farmers, vets, colleges and levy bodies, last week, to identify specific priorities and spending targets, farmers expressed anger at the total lack of focus on TB. "There was clearly dissatisfaction that there was not enough emphasis on TB," said Ian Johnson, spokesman for the south-west NFU. "Everything else is dwarfed by its spectre." ..." Read in full

March 19 2009 ~ Bovine TB: Campaign to trap and vaccinate badgers to begin next year.

The Times today reports that a vaccination campaign will begin next year in six of the worst-affected areas,
"....expected to include the South West and the Gloucestershire and Herefordshire borders. Farmers are likely to be involved in vaccinating the badgers and will be trained this year."
This will be considered good news by those who, like the filmmaker Chris Chapman, want to see healthy badgers vaccinated against the disease. His update upon the progress of the film about TB in Devon contains the heartening news that Anthony Gibson OBE, who was South West Regional Director of the NFU during FMD, has agreed to take part in the film.

March 19 2009 ~ A Way Forward - update on the film's progress

Chris Chapman writes:
".... some good news. Anthony Gibson OBE, who was South West Regional Director of the NFU during FMD, has agreed to take part in the film. Anthony gained an enormous amount of respect for his response to the FMD crisis and I believe his presence in Exeter is missed by many farmers. Now retired and working as a freelance journalist, his article on BTB in the farming section of last Wednesdays 'Western Morning News' caught my eye, and as my wife Helen used to work for him, I thought it prudent to get in touch. His reply was encouraging:
' ... I'd be happy to appear if needs be. The thinking behind the film seems very similar to mine'.
In my present predicament all I can do for the time being is fundraise, so I must ask you all to put your minds to whom we might approach to reach the £12000 target. We have £3,250 to date but you will appreciate that is difficult for me to write if I don't have names to approach! I am in hope that the farming community will spread the word. - donations, small or large, is all we need to see this to fruition.. If you would like another copy of the PDF fundraising pack please let me know."

March 10 2009 ~ "a combination of approaches will be required to achieve significant control of bTB"

The Society for General Microbiology Independent Overview of Bovine Tuberculosis Research in the United Kingdom;a Defra Sponsored Review published in November 2008 (see pdf file) gives small comfort in its conclusions about present methods of control for bovine TB
".. even new diagnostics based on g-IFN release are unlikely to be effective in identifying latently infected animals and will only be used periodically;
the use of diagnostics in cattle will not eliminate environmental reservoirs of disease;
vaccines for either badgers or cattle have limitations with respect to their likely efficacy and, in the case of badgers, the degree of coverage of the population;
culling may only be effective in certain circumstances, for example where geographical barriers reduce the extent of the 'edge effect';
improved husbandry measures could have some impact on the frequency of disease, but the required husbandry procedures are poorly defined and their impact is unquantified.
Consequently, a combination of approaches will be required to achieve significant control of bTB. This means that future models should consider how different control measures would interact if implemented together, and how appropriate different combinations of control measures would be to different areas defined either in terms of their geography or in terms of their disease status."
See pdf file in full

March 8 2009 ~ Bovine TB is "out of control"

The Observer today, reporting on the cost in money, misery and the ever increasing numbers of cattle slaughtered, quotes Peter Kendall;
"This disease is spiralling out of control. At a time when the country needs a robust farming sector, providing high-quality food and rural job security, the government simply can't ignore this issue. The misery and stress levels affecting cattle farmers is immeasurable and it is absurd that the slaughter of 40,000 otherwise healthy cattle is seen as acceptable."
Nearly 36,000 cattle in the UK were slaughtered between January and November last year, reports the paper, compared to 27,000 in 2007. There was also a 22% year-on-year increase in the number of new cases, mainly in the west of England, from Shropshire south to Cornwall. DEFRA is quoted as calling this "a serious and increasing problem",

March 4 2009 ~ "an absence of an effective partnership approach on this issue "

More from today's NAO report:
"...there are no comprehensive minimum standards for bio-security enforceable on farms. Attitudes of dairy and cattle farmers towards the value of bio-security measures to prevent Bovine Tuberculosis have been influenced by debate over the need for and effectiveness of badger culling to control the disease. Many farmers consider that an absence of an effective partnership approach on this issue, as they see it, threatens to undermine the current testing and surveillance regime for Bovine Tuberculosis. The Department has not authorised any badger culling in England, but announced in July 2008 further research to develop a vaccine effective against Bovine Tuberculosis. ...
... during all of our four case study visits farmers and livestock owners, and other industry stakeholders, consistently felt that the information (i.e. the DVD and leaflets sent to farmers illustrating "bio-security precautions") was often simplistic, of poor quality and too often impractical. Farmers preferred, and were more likely to trust, advice from their private veterinarian, industry association or from the trade press..."
See full report (pdf)

March 4 2009 ~ NAO report says Defra is failing on bovine TB

This important report from the National Audit Office, published today, "The health of livestock and honeybees in England" concludes that DEFRA is failing on bovine TB. Although it accounts for a large proportion of the expenditure of DEFRA and Animal Health (SVS) this disease,as all readers know, is out of control and getting worse.
"...The Department spent £225 million in 2007-08 on managing endemic diseases. Of this £77 million related to Bovine Tuberculosis....In 2007-08, 86 per cent of Animal Health's expenditure on managing endemic disease was absorbed by measures to control Bovine Tuberculosis, compared with 78 per cent in 2005-06..
...The reluctance of some farmers to cooperate with the testing regime is due to their concerns that they will be subject to compulsory culling, disrupting trade, dairy production or calving and consequential lost income. In areas such as Gloucestershire, there is also a wider frustration and belief that cattle testing alone, in the absence of badger culling, will not deal with the Bovine Tuberculosis problem... Infected animals have to be isolated from the rest of the herd until they are removed for slaughter, and farmers raised concerns that in practice isolation can be difficult to maintain for an extended period and can cause the animals distress.."
More extracts from the report to follow above as soon as possible.
See also warmwell page on bovine TB and the page on the honeybee crisis.

March 4 2009 ~ Diagnosis of TB - the problems

Accurately diagnosing both bovine and human TB is very problematic - as this summary, gratefully received by warmwell.com from Dr Colin Fink (Micropathology Ltd), clearly shows. The search for host proteins as specific marker of active TB infection is being undertaken as a matter of urgency; the problem of diagnosis is just as important in children. Unfortunately, as we know, existing tests for cattle are tragically far from being efficient and, as Dr Fink says, " I am sure that the present skin test kills perfectly healthy animals that have just met the infection but have walled it off and simply have a white cells reaction to the organism." Read in full

March 2 2009 ~ Bovine TB: A Way Forward

Dartmoor Photographer and Filmmaker, Chris Chapman is currently working on an independent film about the bTB crisis in the Westcountry. (See below) From the press release:
"Bovine TB - A Way Forward will highlight the current anomaly whereby vets and farmers, under present legislation, are unable to take control of the crisis. The film will cover as many viewpoints, suggestions and arguments as is possible and will offer a positive way forward for both farmers and the public to understand the interaction between cattle and badgers and the need to identify and accommodate healthy 'green' badgers..
.... I've never been a political animal with my camera, but I do believe in highlighting the issues from the grass roots, especially when the people on the ground offer sensible solutions to a problem.
Bovine TB - A Way Forward is a not for profit film and is being made with the help of sponsorship from business, the farming industry and private individuals. Its target for the complete production will exceed £12000 and to date over £3000 has been raised..."
If you would like to contribute, and are interested in further details, please contact Chris Chapman direct on 01647 231508 or by email: chapman88@btinternet.com I know that Chris would be grateful to receive contributions - however small - from anyone with an interest in what he is doing.

February 27th 2009 ~ "The film will highlight the current anomaly whereby vets and farmers, under present legislation, are unable to take control of the crisis. .."

The Devon photographer, Chris Chapman, whose work in 2001 so successfully highlighted the tragedy of foot and mouth, is working on a proposal to make a film about the present bovine TB crisis. £3000 has been already raised towards a target of £12000 - and he hopes to begin filming very soon. He writes,
"We are in a TB hotspot here on the edge of Dartmoor and not far from my house is a huge old badger sett which we know has very sick animals...It seems utter madness to me that this can be allowed to continue - no decent farmer would let his animals suffer in this way and yet we have legislation in place that prolongs suffering in wildlife. ...
We have good vets on board willing to speak, and a retired bacteriologist who will speak about vaccination (without being gagged!).."
What does the film hope to achieve and who is the film aimed at?
1. The film will explain the current situation with bovine TB in order to inform the public on the true seriousness of the disease. It will dispel the myth that the farmer is solely to blame for the spread of the disease by the movement of cattle and will endeavour to promote a greater understanding of the crisis.
2. The film will portray and encourage development of an inclusive disease control programme, not random activity that may be ineffective.
3. The film will facilitate a new and open debate on the desperate need for local assessment, with the option of management of unhealthy badgers to encourage the establishment of healthy badgers in tandem with healthy cattle. The film will highlight the current anomaly whereby vets and farmers, under present legislation, are unable to take control of the crisis. The film will cover as many viewpoints, suggestions and arguments as is possible and will offer a positive way forward for farmers and the public to understand the interaction between cattle and badgers and the need to identify and accommodate 'green' badgers. The film will highlight the desperate need for a solution to be instigated by government, so that farmers can be encouraged, under supervision, to take control of their situation.

February 19 2009 ~ We lost about 47 cattle over 4 and half years from that 'closed herd', 2001 - 2005. Only 3 had lesions or were culture positive

An email from a West Country farmer who had done everything possible to ensure that the farm was "biosecure". It starkly details the present bovine TB situation - in which, after a short respite and renewed hope,
"we lose another 4 young cows, three of which are heavily in calf. One would have calved six weeks after she is shot, which pretty obscene - to be polite - which I am not."
As for the cost of such losses to the country:
".. immense, as most of these cattle were in calf, so two lives lost not one. And their milk potential all of which has to be replaced by imports. Ditto with beef cattle slaughtered.
...The environmental contamination from free roaming infectious badgers (as opposed to tested, slaughtered sentinel cattle) should not be underestimated. And this is a risk human beings have not faced before. M.bovis is a zoonosis, it is not easily cured, and it does readily transmit between human beings. .."
Read in full - particularly the detailed information about the spoligotyping on carcasses of heavily infected badgers nearby ("This info was dragged out of a very reluctant Defra/VLA.") which showed that the badger TB genotypes - type 9, vntr 6-5-5-4*-3-3.1 - exactly matched the farm's reactor cattle genotypes - type 9, vntr 6-5-5-4*-3-3.1.
"...Three recent cases in humans (Bristol, Glos and Cornwall) have all traced back to an identified environmental spoligotype, with the Cornish case identifying 'badgers known to inhabit a sett in the garden' as a prime risk. Are they still there?"

February 19 2009 ~ "Article 13 requires member states to ensure "anti-tuberculosis vaccination" is prohibited under their eradication plans.

What the farmer terms DEFRA's "gem re legality" for the use of badger vaccines hardly inspires confidence that DEFRA has the will, energy and understanding forcefully to question and challenge the EU on TB vaccination. DEFRA says,
"...The possible grounds on which we might argue that they do not require Member States to prohibit vaccination of badgers - separate from any arguments for cattle vaccination - is that Article 13 only requires a prohibition on the vaccination of cattle, even though it is not expressly so limited, on the basis that a reading of the Directive as a whole indicates that its obligations are only intended to relate to cattle. However, there is no certainty that this argument could successfully be relied upon as a basis for introducing a badger vaccination policy and we would run the risk of being infracted by the EU Commission if we did so.
.....we will discuss our proposed intentions with the Commission to seek their views ..."
Read email in full

February 13 2009 ~ ".... the potential for being a very serious risk to public health"

Alistair Driver (Farmers Guardian) relates how BVA President, Nicky Paull, told Hilary Benn at a recent BVA dinner:
"The continuing spread of bovine bTB within cattle and wildlife - particularly badgers but also other susceptible species such as deer - has not only an unacceptable impact on animal health and welfare but also the potential for being a very serious risk to public health. And we should not forget the health and welfare of our farming communities."

February 13 2009 ~ Another plea for trial vaccination of badgers

In Devon, a farmers' delegation led by the MP for Totnes, Anthony Steen, told Hilary Benn about the emotional and psychological impact when 300 cattle a week are being slaughtered in Devon alone. A trial vaccination of badgers in the county was once again asked for (as did David Drew in November) - but as the Herald Express explains, "inoculation combined with a badger cull..has controversially been ruled out by ministers."
Mr Steen found "extremely distasteful" the present policy of protecting badgers at the expense of prize cattle.
On the matter of the vitally needed badger vaccines (see below) Hilary Benn is evidently willing...but, as usual, "subject to advice that I receive.."
In the eight years of running this website, one has not become more optimistic about the quality, experience and expertise of the source of such "advice" as is listened to by policy makers and those who control the purse strings: for major diseases, vaccination strategy verges on farce, surveillance is almost wholly inadequate and animal movement policy often seen as unhelpful. (bTB page)

February 13 2009 ~ "Animal Health" keen to review "the reactor removal process" ..."with a view to improving timescales."

The surreal situation of bovine TB continues with farmers more and more powerless and distressed. An example is Stephen Yates in Shropshire, who told the Farmers Guardian that he has been waiting three weeks to hear when a single reactor would be removed - and has heard the same complaint from farmers across the county. The paper quotes an "Animal Health" (i.e. SVS) spokeswoman, who referred blandly to the "target" being to remove 90 per cent of reactors within 20 working days and that "the reactor removal process was being reviewed with a view to improving timescales."

January 30 2009 ~ Online questionnaire on bovine TB

The University of Reading's Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics Research Unit (VEERU) is carrying out some online research to try to discover
"descriptive information which may not have been recorded previously, in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the outbreaks and possible risk factors".
The research (project SE3253) has been commissioned by DEFRA. Reading's Keith Allison hopes that anyone affected may be kind enough to devote between fifteen to twenty minutes on ticking boxes - "more if you want to add 'free text' comments, but that is optional."

January 17 2009 ~ "...one of the reasons why there is such a problem in animal medicine"

Dr Ruth Watkins, the farmer and expert virologist, who hopes to attend the TB meeting called by Mr Harris, writes to warmwell,
"....TB - an ancient and complex bacterium and disease....There is no easy answer to diagnosing TB as you know and certainly the skin test is the cheapest of the tests that are or might be available including those improved ones being worked up on the back of those available in human medicine by the veterinary TB lab I referred to."
What she says (from her vantage point of being able to comment both on human medicine and veterinary science), suggests that the lack of resources and specialisms in veterinary medicine compared to those in human medicine is resulting in ever more worrying animal health situations in the UK - as the deteriorating bovine TB statistics show. As Dr Watkins says to Mr Harris:
"In human medicine we have trained specialists in various aspects of infectious disease such as myself, and there are specialists in TB and other mycobacteria infections. There are none that I know of in animal medicine except for a group of scientists working in a research laboratory on M bovis which is not in fact equivalent to those trained specialists in human medicine. I believe this is one of the reasons why there is such a problem in animal medicine and of course the issue of trade which is an important reason why the skin test has been adhered to for so long."

January 17 2009 ~ TB compensation in Wales to be linked to farmers' "good farming practices and disease control measures".

It seems that Elin Jones is implying that compensation for animals killed under the TB policy will now be paid only if officials consider that affected farmer did enough to protect his stock from the disease. The Welsh Rural affairs Minister says, "I have said all along that action by government alone will not eradicate bovine TB. The role of the farming industry is crucial."
There is much talk of "taxpayers' money" and the emotive comparison is being made between the cost of compensation forecast for this year, £20 million, and the cost of "community hospitals" - but no mention in the article of the crippling costs both emotional and financial to farmers. One wonders how Mr Harris of Trioni farms in Pembrokeshire, for example, could have "modified his behaviour" to avoid the destruction of his organic, award-winning herd. See article "Crippling cost of bovine TB payments" in the Daily Post today. TB Blogspot can be viewed here.

January 16 2009 ~ TB "The present policy's bias against cattle is immoral and could compromise human health."

Farmers Weekly reports that the organic award-winning farmer - so many of whose cows were slaughtered (see below) in an attempt to stop the spread of bovine TB - in North Wales has now called for an inquiry. Mr Harris is angry that there was dithering from Welsh Assembly about whether inconclusive cattle should go for slaughter: "Incomprehensibly, it took a day for the assembly to change its mind and agree that all inconclusives must be killed." He has issued an open invitation to
"all those societies and trusts who are concerned with the countryside and the wildlife to a meeting at Ffosyficer for a frank discussion about the issues that have arisen during the past few weeks. Tragically, we have lost nearly all our dairy herd, 325 cows, and 230 of our young stock. We need to restock, but feel that unless this disease is eradicated from all our buildings and surrounding land, then it will be a costly and pointless exercise..."
For contact details and full article, see FWi

January 8 2009 ~ "The deplorably deteriorated bTB situation in the UK ..."

Yesterday's ProMed posting gives the distressing news of the mass culling - 335 cows out of a dairy herd of 390 slaughtered in an attempt to stop the spread of bovine TB - at the award-winning organic family-run milk firm, Trioni, in North Wales (see Welsh Daily Post). It is followed by moderator comment (from Mod.AS) that Great Britain shows an "unusually high incidence" for a west-European country.
".....The number of cattle herds registered in Wales is 13 875, of which 1610 (11.6 percent!!) were under TB2 restrictions. The situation in Wales deteriorated during 2008....
The deplorably deteriorated bTB situation in the UK has already been reflected in the introduction of infected animals into importing farms elsewhere (see postings 20080718.2186 and 20080909.2813).
A government-backed vaccine to combat bovine TB in cattle is unlikely to be available until 2015. We are reminded of the words of Lib Dem shadow DEFRA secretary Roger Williams in November "....Not only has there been an increase in the incidences of bovine TB but the number of tests has decreased, which could be masking an even bigger problem.....By the time the vaccine is available for widespread use it may be too late for many livestock farmers. I urge the government to rethink its policy."
DEFRA's most recent provisional statistics show a 25% increase in the number of new TB incidents in January - September 2008 compared to the same period in 2007

November 24 2008 ~ Tuberculosis in cattle up 28 percent

FWi (Nov 19) "The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) among cattle has soared by 28 percent, according to the latest DEFRA statistics. Provisional statistics show a 24 percent increase in the number of new TB incidents in the 1st 9 months of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007. Combined with a decrease in the number of herds tested over the same period, this equates to a provisional overall increase in the TB incidence rate of 28 percent.
Monthly bovine TB figures were released by DEFRA on Wednesday (19 Nov 2008). They suggest some 47 564 tests will be carried out on herds during 2008, resulting in 3379 new herd incidents. The statistics prompted the Liberal Democrats to call on the government rethink its policy on bovine TB and badger culling.
Lib Dem shadow DEFRA secretary Roger Williams said: "These figures will be of major concern to livestock farmers. Not only has there been an increase in the incidences of bovine TB but the number of tests has decreased, which could be masking an even bigger problem.".....
.... A government-backed vaccine to combat bovine TB in cattle is unlikely to be available until 2015. Mr Williams said: "By the time the vaccine is available for widespread use it may be too late for many livestock farmers. I urge the government to rethink its policy." Read in full

November 12 2008~ bTB " I would be tempted to assume that the risk both to household animals and humans is a lot higher and more widespread than is being appreciated by the UK authorities." ProMed

After quoting the Western Morning News article (here), the ProMed moderator, MHJ, says
"Finding bovine TB in household animals (cats in this case) must be an indicator that unpasteurised milk from reactor herds is available and is being purchased by the public. And thus the humans in these households are also at risk of acquiring an _M. bovis_ infection, which in humans can be nasty.
And even if all these cats are farm cats that does not diminish the human risk.
The account is brief but if there were 8/15 cats in 2007 infected in the high bovine TB-incidence counties of Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset, the remainder, 7/15, which is statistically identical with 8/15, were in counties of lower incidence or risk. When one must consider that only an unknown fraction of the infected cats is being identified, I would be tempted to assume that the risk both to household animals and humans is a lot higher and more widespread than is being appreciated by the UK authorities." Read posting

Novemer 9 2008 ~ EFRA Committee Nov 5 - Hilary Benn was asked about vaccination against bTB

His answers (extracts) while evidently sincere and concerned, have no short term answers for those who must watch 100,000 prized cattle a year being prematurely killed:
"...you will have seen the timelines on vaccination. For an injectable vaccine there are some field trials going on at the moment, and one of the things that we are very keen to do, as you will be aware, is the injectable deployment project to start to show that this might have an effect, recognising that, for reasons probably of practicability, an oral vaccine for badgers is likely to be more productive, but that is slightly further away....
.. In the medium to the long term it is vaccination.... I disagree, Mr Cox, with your description of vaccination as a pipedream...
..I have spoken to the scientists...we think there will be an injectable vaccine available in 2010...... The earliest date for a badger vaccine for an oral version is 2014 probably...
... the purpose of the vaccination deployment project is indeed to say, "Look, we're going to have before very long, we think, an injectable badger vaccine. Let's take an area or a number of areas and try it out to get those, in the end, for whose benefit the vaccine is being developed", and a considerable amount of money is being put in, "to be a part of that process, to be able to see".
It would not be a scientific trial in the same way as the ISG was, but you would hope to take a big enough area and say, "Well, let's give it a go and then let's look at the figures in relation to that area in relation to others". It is about really building confidence and of course seeing how practical it is, and I think the general view is that, at the prospect of trapping and then injecting on an ongoing basis, badgers are going to be pretty tough and you would have to train people to try it, which is why we are putting money into the oral vaccine because, if that can be made to work, that is a better delivery mechanism than trying to catch and to inject.
Similarly, with cattle vaccine, part of the timetable is not the development of the vaccine, but getting all of the evidence ready to then have the really important conversation with the European Union, and I did raise this briefly at a discussion with Commissioner Vassiliou recently, and obviously European Union law currently prohibits.
Now, in order to demonstrate, you have got to say,
"We've got a vaccine. This is its effectiveness and here is a DIVA test which is going to enable you to differentiate vaccinated from infected animals".
If and when we get all of those things in place, well, then I think all of us would have a shared interest, the industry, the Select Committee and certainly myself, in saying, "Well, come on, can we agree to allow this to happen?" and we are putting a considerable amount in because I think it is an investment that is well worth making..
( uncorrected evidence to EFRA Committee, Nov 5th ( NB neither witnesses nor Members have had the opportunity yet to correct the record. The transcript is not yet an approved formal record of these proceedings)

Nov 9 2008 ~ Can we not get on with it - initially injecting the badgers - to see if hotspot areas can be dampened down?

Mr David Drew asked ".... let us go with the hunch rather than a pure scientific proven outcome to see if we can dampen down an area by using the vaccination, initially injecting the badgers, because that is all we have got at the moment, we have not got the oral vaccine, we have not got the cattle vaccine, but we know, we have got some evidence, not yet proven, of whether you can dampen down TB in that area by using an injectable vaccine.
Hilary Benn: I would certainly be keen, it is obviously subject to advice that I receive, to try this out in hotspot areas. That would seem to be a really sensible and logical place to have a go. ..."
David Taylor ( "I am a fully paid-up member of the jabbing tendency!") expressed the utter frustration of many when he spoke of the discussions with the EU not even scheduled to take place until 2014 or 2015
"... Are you even allowing enough time from the serious discussion, so-called, until the licensing of the vaccine and its availability for use.... it takes just simple arithmetic, two four-and-a-half-year periods, nine years from 2007, the last date that is available when you are into the first year when the vaccine is theoretically going to be available and you are going to have a quadrupling of herd breakdowns to, on that trend, 16,000 herd breakdowns a year..... another seven years really beyond that and every damned herd is broken down. In terms of animals slaughtered quadrupling, it would produce a figure of 100,000 animals slaughtered. Do you think that the British public, farmers and others could sustain that sort of level of loss, 300 cattle a day being slaughtered because of TB, which is a herd a day or whatever it might be? That is an astonishingly high figure which should really provoke, and stimulate, a perhaps rather more rapid reaction."
(Read uncorrected evidence)

November 9 2008 ~ "TB bacteria plastered across the environment is a very different source of exposure from unpasteurised cows' milk 50 years ago"

An email from the author of the bovine TB Blogspot is worrying. Extract:
"The EFRAcom stuff was very disappointing. I listened to whole thing ahead of its publication, and was horrified at what Benn was able to get away with. He was told by Gabrielle Edwards that vaccination for badgers would be pretty ineffective within an endemically infected population, and ignored it. We have cattle slaughter on a 'industrial scale' in Devon /Cornwall. (that's AHO description, not mine) He fudged the overspill to pets / people (Rogerson) by looking at historical exposure. But the risk to which we are exposing these mammals, is very new. TB bacteria plastered across the environment is a very different source of exposure from unpasteurised cows' milk 50 years ago. And it is one to which we have not had exposure before...."
Here is the link to the latest posting and Ken Wignall's cartoon, first published in Farmers Guardian, illustrating Defra's addiction to taxis. bovinetb.blogspot.com
On the latest report on the long term effect of badger culling Mr Cox said: "What I would remind you, Secretary of State, if I may, is that Rosie Woodroffe and the scientists have said as follows: that the beneficial effects may last. Now, that is what they concluded in their recent report, having shown that post-trial, two years post-trial, it is going down in the neighbouring areas and it is 54 per cent lower in the proactive area. In other words, you have shut the door before the evidence has had properly time to mature." See uncorrected evidence to EFRA Committee, Nov 5th ( NB neither witnesses nor Members have had the opportunity yet to correct the record. The transcript is not yet an approved formal record of these proceedings)

November 6 2008 ~ TB Eradication Group's priority is not eradication, says Hilary Benn

The Hexham Courant has quoted CLA North East director, Angus Collingwood-Cameron:
".....The use of the word eradication instead of control would suggest that this new group has been set up to achieve rather than to procrastinate. Bovine TB is devastating the dairy industry in parts of the country and costing the taxpayer a fortune every year. It cannot be ignored any longer."
Today, however, the NFU's Peter Kendall has expressed himself as "very disappointed and concerned" by comments made to the EFRA Committee yesterday by Mr Benn when he made it clear the decision to set up the group did not signal a change of direction and that he had not come to the hearing to tell them he had changed his mind about a badger cull.
Mr Kendall is quoted by Jack Davies at the FG:
"The terms of reference announced on Monday have been very carefully negotiated with Defra and set out for the group to look at all the issues to work towards the eventual eradication of bovine TB. It is the NFU's intention to hold Defra and the Secretary of State to those terms of reference. If that does not happen, then the NFU may need to reconsider its position with regard to the TB Eradication group."
Read Farmers Guardian article. See also EFRA Committee page

November 6 2008 ~ "the change in language is encouraging."

The Hexham Courant on CLA reaction to the setting up of the TB eradication group quotes CLA North East director Angus Collingwood-Cameron:
".....The use of the word eradication instead of control would suggest that this new group has been set up to achieve rather than to procrastinate. Bovine TB is devastating the dairy industry in parts of the country and costing the taxpayer a fortune every year. It cannot be ignored any longer."
Goals are provisional: .... to set up a new England group to make recommendations to the Secretary of State on bovine TB and its eradication. .... to invite other experts in their field to contribute as it sees necessary, including other industry bodies and wider interest groups. ....Reviews on the current TB strategy will be carried out

November 3/4 ~TB Eradication Group -

NFU ".....A priority output from the work of this group will be a series of measures which can be submitted to the European Commission for approval as part of a formal eradication plan. The group may wish to make recommendations on other issues as they arise, and Defra may also choose to refer specific issues to the group. The group will look at the options available to address infection in cattle and to reduce the risk of transmission between cattle and between cattle and wildlife, and consider costs and benefits in making recommendations for action.
It will consider options for using vaccination in cattle and badgers..."
Neil Parish MEP " The creation of a new Bovine TB Eradication Group - with input from the European Commission's TB task force - is a welcome step towards finally ending the government's dithering over TB and find a long-term solution, .... If the disease is not adequately controlled, the cost to the taxpayer is predicted to reach £300 million by 2012.
"Finally we are seeing some action from the government, but it is far too late for the farmers whose livelihoods have been destroyed by Labour's dithering over bovine TB. It is regrettable that Defra only acted after the EU began to scrutinise Britain's control and eradication mechanisms. Farmers on the Continent have regrettably begun to take matters into their own hands, and continued inaction would risk an export ban. While the government is rightly looking for long-term solutions, it must find them and implement them quickly. Defra may be steering the TB Group, but it must also listen to the advice coming from farmers on the ground whose suffering intensifies with every day this problem is left untackled."
Country Life "Defra's Food and Farming group, the NFU, CLA and other animal health and farming groups will be represented in the Bovine TB eradication group, which will be run by Defra. The exact make-up of the group is still to be finalised, according to the CLA."
Farmers Weekly quotes the "industry statement: "... the industry statement said.
"In carrying out this work the group will have full access to information on DEFRA's TB budget and be able to make recommendations on its use within DEFRA's funding ceilings," it added. "It will also be able to make recommendations for additional expenditure where these can be supported by a robust business case."
Farmers Guardian
"..The key point for many farmers affected by the disease is that the statements stress the intention of 'moving towards eventual eradication'.
The group will consider the issues surrounding a badger cull. This will be limited, however, to 'considering exceptional circumstances or new scientific evidence that might arise relating to the established policy on badger culling for control of TB, recognising that the terms of this policy are currently subject to judicial review'. It will look more widely at the options available to address infection in cattle and to reduce the risk of transmission between cattle and between cattle and wildlife. It will also consider options for using vaccination in cattle and badgers.
..... A key strand of its work will be to come up with a series of measures which can be submitted to the European Commission for approval as part of a formal eradication plan. In carrying out this work the group will have full access to information on Defra's TB budget and be able to make recommendations on its use.
The industry had initially refused to participate in the TB Partnership Group proposed by Mr Benn in the summer because its focus was to be limited to new cattle controls. ."
English Cattle Industry (NFU, NBA, CLA, TFA, RABDF, LAA, AIMS) Statement

October 18 2008 ~ Bovine Tuberculosis: Vaccination

On 29th Sept, Mr Shaw told the House of Commons that the vaccine study at Aston Down will not be completed until March 2010.
Hansard: Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he plans to publish an evaluation of the fieldwork being undertaken as part of the vaccine trials for bovine TB taking place at Aston Down. [224009]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 17 September 2008]: The badger vaccine study, which is designed to collect data on the safety and efficacy of Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) as an injectable vaccine against bovine TB, is due to be completed by March 2010. The field work finishes in autumn 2009. An evaluation of the work will be published once the results have been analysed and findings have been peer reviewed."
An announcement last July that Hilary Benn would make £20m available to develop a TB vaccine "over the next three years", was encouraging - but there is a very pressing need to control this disease needing, from the government, a sense of urgency behind the funding given for diagnostics and vaccine.

October 18 2008 ~ TB in cattle is costing the country ten times as much as is spent on human TB - but there is a terrible emotional and social price to be paid too

The systematic and intractable killing of "reactor" cattle continues apace but farmers are frustrated that the door is always left open for further infection - nor satisfied by the imprecise nature of diagnosis. Although vaccine has been talked about for years, the reality always seems to recede. Polarised and angry positions, taken up in frustration at what must seem wilful ignorance on the opposite side, are understandable - but more useful will be to look at the issue in a holistic way. The issue of trace elements, for example, is evidently important as we say below - but tends to be left out of the equation. In April, Welsh Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones, asked officials to look into the use of micro-nutrients or trace elements in tackling the disease in badgers as well as cattle. www.walesonline.co.uk

October 16 2008 ~ From Normal Baker's website

www.normanbaker.org.uk "....In respect of badger-cattle transmissions, I am afraid that I have concluded on the evidence I have seen that this is a route for infection and action does need to be taken to tackle this arm of the triangle as well. It is unhelpful that no test exists to determine the presence of TB in live badgers and this has undoubtedly made matters worse. The absence of any vaccine for cattle is also a serious drawback and I regularly push Ministers for more work to be done on this front. In the meantime however I am afraid I have reluctantly concluded that there is a case for the removal of badgers from infected areas, providing this is done comprehensively and of course humanely.
The Krebs trials were not carried out properly and because of that, they have indeed, in my view, made matters worse...." Read in full

October 14 2008 ~ A European Commission task force on how to tackle Bovine TB has now been requested by the UK

The European commissioner for health, Androulla Vassiliou, has confirmed that the UK has given the commission a telephone invitation for their animal disease task force to visit the UK to investigate methods for eradication of the disease. She also confirmed that the UK has agreed to bring forward a plan by April (sic) on how the government intends to tackle the problem. The cost to the taxpayer at the present rate is predicted to reach £300 million by the year 2012 - the cost to farmers and to cattle is harder to calculate.
See FWi, and on www.conservativeeurope.com, Neil Parish is quoted:
"The British government's dithering over how to control bovine TB has unfortunately made EU intervention necessary. British farmers do not want to take matters into their own hands, nor do they want bureaucrats in Brussels to intervene, but if the government is not prepared to take the difficult decisions needed to ensure that the disease is properly eradicated, they risk both things happening...."

October 8 2008 ~ Bovine TB in France

On Oct 6, ProMed reported on the case of bTB discovered in Brittany. For France the disease is "rare". The 146 animals of the farm will all be slaughtered, and the farmer has been placed under medical surveillance. Interestingly, the french newspaper emphasised the human risk of M.bovis
"This disease is indeed potentially transmissible to humans either by direct and prolonged contact or through consumption of raw milk. "
The ProMed moderator remarked
"Has the decision to slaughter (all?) 146 bovines on the affected farm been taken since multiple suspected cases were detected? It will be interesting to note how many of the animals will be found affected following their slaughter and how old the lesions are. .."
Meanwhile, the disease rages on unchecked in the UK with dire consequences. The Farmers Guardian today: "Whether or not the Commission does impose strict new rules, the Dutch industry ban on calf shipments from the UK looks set to stay until at least the end of the year."

October 1 2008 ~ Lord Rooker "had enough" of DEFRA secretary Hilary Benn's "indecision"

Farmers Weekly says that Lord Rooker
"was rumoured to have offered his resignation after Benn announced his decision not to allow a badger cull to control the rising bovine TB problem in England.
The reshuffle is also expected to see Benn leave his position as DEFRA secretary..."
Wales' £27.7m TB eradication programme aims to find out the extent of the disease across Wales. The test used will be the tuberculin skin test and all bovines over 42 days will be tested. As for the "rising TB problem in England", the bovine TB blogspot reminds us that last year
"...Defra proudly announced they had killed 28,000 cattle... This year will be another vintage, with numbers up a staggering 42 per cent to May and some say, heading for 40,000 by the end of the year. But while Defra may be able to ignore this farm based carnage (except for moaning about its monetary cost, said to account for 40 per cent of Animal Health's budget) they will find it increasingly difficult to ignore the steadily increasing pile of 'other species'.."
The Farmers Guardian last week mentions the veterinary opinion that considers it unlikely that the woman infected in Cornwall (whose daughter and pet dog were also found to be infected with bovine TB) could have caught it from infected cattle. Since she had left her job as veterinary nurse three years earlier and there was no sign of latent infection, the scientists conclude that the badgers seen in her garden were a more likely source of infection. They fear that human infection with M Bovis is longer a thing of the past and that "airborne transmission now presents an ongoing risk to humans where disease is prevalent in cattle and badgers."

August 10 008 ~ Bovine TB confirmed in another human

Although DEFRA has always maintained that the current risk posed by bovine TB to human health in the UK is "considered negligible," a woman in Cornwall has had the disease confirmed. (See Western Morning News) "..... In the past 14 years, 44 people have been confirmed as having the disease in the South West, which represents a tenth of the national figure for the same period." See also below.

July 31/ Aug 1 ~ bTB: The EU Working Document's ten point plan adds restriction and cost to farmers

As we have seen, it is much easier and more politically expedient to kill cattle who react to controversial TB testing than to concentrate on eradicating bTB in wildlife reservoirs - but farmers, frustrated with Defra and deciding to complain to the European Commission may, according to today's Farmers Guardian, discover that such an appeal could backfire.
" and it is not impossible that restrictions could extend to all live animals, raw milk and raw milk products. .."
The Commission's 'Working Document on the Eradication of TB in the EU' suggests whole herd culling in places - and includes such bland-sounding but devastating sentences as "Provided depopulation of a herd is carried out in accordance with a well-defined and appropriate strategy, then there is a reasonable likelihood that the reconstituted herd or epidemiological unit will remain free from the disease...."
The FG says,
"Defra could apply 95 per cent of the Working Document's ten point plan (which add restriction and cost to farmers) and concentrate on wildlife alternatives (not removal), thus creating a far worse situation for the British livestock industry."
A sobering read

29 July 2008 ~ "a better understanding of diseases present in wildlife ... is of key importance to develop control measures," says Bernard Vallat

The Director General of the OIE said on Friday. "....the OIE strongly encourages its 172 Members to put efficient monitoring systems in place and notify outbreaks of diseases in wild, feral or partially domesticated animals, as is the practice for all other animals. .
....There is clearly a duty to manage wildlife diseases. ....This relies mainly on the Veterinary Services. A technically competent, adequately resourced Veterinary Service is needed..." Read in full

28 July 2008 ~ Bovine TB - As we saw with Bluetongue, vaccine producers can work miracles when the money and commitment are really there.

Lord Rooker said recently at an EFRA committee meeting that vaccination for bTB was a "trade catastrophe" and "illegal under EU law" - but that, although it could not be used, such research could still be funded. The winners here are not farmers, cattle or wildlife.
Vaccination was politically demonised two decades ago because of the EU's dishonourable insistence on finding a tool to maintain its trading differential. The inevitable acceptance of Bluetongue vaccines has hardly dented this mindset: profits have been much more highly prized than animal health.
In England last year, 19,800 cattle were slaughtered as a result of the government's policy. Compensation in the UK for this was £24.5 million (Hansard). But in today's economically unstable situation, we cannot afford such miserable waste of life and public money. Worst of all, livestock farmers now wearily reject any form of "partnership" plans with government so the future looks bleak indeed.
Yet no one wants to make money out of importing or exporting badgers . Why should badger vaccines not be developed and used? As we saw with Bluetongue, vaccine producers can work miracles when the money and commitment is really there.

28 July 2008 ~ While we care about the badgers, lets not forget the hedgehogs

Concern for the fate of badgers might be considered alongside concern for the demise of the British hedgehog, considered by many to be a result of the explosion in the number of badgers across the country. One emailer writes today:
" I never see sight nor sign of hedgehogs in my garden, except flayed skins. This is because they are a favourite food of badgers...."
He suggests that concern for Mr Brock might be extended to the demise of Mrs Tiggywinkle, also a favourite British mammal. Perhaps it is time for a realisation that to allow one species to have no predators at all comes at a very high price for others. We need to care - and indeed accept - that many animals die horribly as a result of the spread of disease and of well meaning but disastrous human interference

28 July 2008 ~ "Farmers have had a rough deal from this Government who understand so little about the rural way of life. If we neglect our farmers we are going to really regret this now and in the future."

It is encouraging to read of the prospective Conservative candidate for Loughborough, Nicky Morgan, who has spent a day with a local farmer getting the lowdown on the real difficulties and pressures farmers face. She .used the opportunity "... to discuss a number of issues affecting the farming community such as Bovine TB, meat prices, the lack of support for farmers from the Government, security and crime and food production..." See Loughborough News

26 July 2008 ~ Jim Paice says the public would be "horrified" if they saw how badgers suffered as they were dying from the disease

Speaking at the Game Fair at Blenheim Palace this weekend (see Fwi) James Paice urged farmers with TB-infected badgers on their land to take photos of them.... "They suffer immensely. If we can bring this to the public's attention, we can change their minds about a badger cull." Mr Paice may well be right. Badgers are certainly endearing creatures, but when they have been excluded from the sett, wandered in misery, and succumbed to TB, they can look like this. (Photos taken by vet.)

July 26 2008 ~ No EU ban

Although the EC had tabled a proposal to SCOFCAH which would have made the export of calves from Britain virtually impossible, the committee rejected the idea of such stringent changes.
In an article dated July 23, the FWi quotes an official: "Even with this additional testing, it would not have prevented the export of these calves to Holland. The EU Commission is still keeping our TB control programme under scrutiny. A number of Food and Veterinary Office reports have identified perceived shortcomings - for example in the frequency of testing and the use of parishes as control areas. They may come back on this in future."
Lord Rooker's comment (Fwi) was "We were close to a difficult decision in Europe, but we got away with it this time."

July 25 2008 ~ "In England, the control and registration of bovine TB is not organised sufficiently...." Siem-Jan Schenck, Dutch Agricultural Board

We are still not sure what will be the eventual ruling on exports from the UK as a result of Wednesday's ScofCAH meeting. The Scotsman's Dan Buglass in an article today "Scots calf trade on horns of UK TB dilemma" quotes Siem-Jan Schenck, chairman of the department of cattle with the Dutch Agricultural Board, who says that no more calves should be imported into the Netherlands.
" To prevent further spread, Brussels should impose an export ban."
Some sources apparently have indicated the country would still be willing to import UK calves, as long as herds are subjected to an annual test for TB - but as we hear from one experienced farmer
".....if an area is designated 'low incidence' of TB, then the testing is four yearly! NO area would qualify - not even Scotland - unless it jigs up its testing to annual. Areas of high incidence are on annual testing but as 'risk' (i.e confirmed cases in cattle) decreases, so the testing interval lengthens. Some areas are on two year testing, some on three or four and then adult cattle only, no calves.It is a real muddle.
So Mr Buglass' assertion that "Testing for TB in most of England is carried out yearly at government expense" may be in error (clarification would be much appreciated). But certainly, testing all farms yearly who want to export is expensive and, as he says, "it might be cheaper to cull at birth than accept £50 per calf" At a time when waste is even more of an issue than ever, this seems a miserable solution.

July 24 2008 ~ "We must not be too English...."

In the bTB debate on July 22, Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury & Atcham, Conservative) spoke with great energy. While, like so many of us, he knows that culling badgers is not a panacea, he would have liked the opportunity to discover what impact a small and limited cull would have on the disease and would have used it in his own rampantly infected constituency. "As it is," he said, " I have to joke with farmers in my constituency about chasing the badgers across the border into Wales. The Government have given the Welsh Assembly autonomy and responsibility, but they will not give it to us in the west midlands." In answer to a PQ on the same day, Jonathan Shaw said that " if badger culls do take place in Wales, their effects will be considered as part of our overall TB strategy..."
Mr Kawczynski: (Hansard)
"We should be more like the French... We should make the Government sit up and listen to what we have to say...They must take more specific and proper action. ...."
He has written to Mr. Barroso, ("even though it was galling to me as an arch-Eurosceptic") in order to check the EU's stance on the Government's handling of bovine TB, adding,".... I wanted to ask Mr. Barroso and legal experts what are the human rights implications of not dealing with the disease in the UK?..." Read in full

July 23 2008 ~ "This is not good enough - it fails to recognise fully the seriousness of the situation."

The EFRA Select Committee has published today a 26 page report which is a reply to the government's own response to the EFRA report on TB back in February. We have extracted here the major points that appear in bold text. Few punches are pulled:
"...The response indicates that there is little in the Government's strategy, beyond the current policy of surveillance, testing and slaughter, to tackle the disease in the short-term. This is not good enough - it fails to recognise fully the seriousness of the situation. ."
What the EFRA All Party Committee certainly takes for granted is that DEFRA needs "to regain the confidence of the cattle industry" and that "important discussions and decisions on cattle-based measures will be delayed should the industry not be prepared to participate in the work of the Bovine TB Partnership Group."
The pdf file in full can be found here.

July 23 ~ GOVERNMENT IS PLAYING DOWN THE SERIOUS NATURE OF CATTLE TB

The EFRA Committee is disappointed with the Government's response to its report: "Badgers and cattle TB: the final report of the Independent Scientific Group on cattle TB", which was published on 27 February . The Committee says the Government response to its report is tentative in many areas and appears to play down the serious nature of cattle TB, asserting that the problem is a regional one. However, the statistics for incidence of cattle TB in 2007 show that the number of herd breakdowns is still increasing. The Chairman, Rt. Hon. Michael Jack MP, said: "The Committee unanimously felt that the response by the Secretary of State was less than satisfactory and that certain key deficiencies in it should be highlighted. We look forward to hearing from the Secretary of State again on this subject in the autumn". For further details regarding this publication please see the press notice date 23 July 2008.

July 23 2008 ~ An end to UK calf exports?

Today's SCoFCAH meeting begins at 3.00 pm. Although the EU Commission views the July 12 incident below as a "one-off" and says it wants to find a more "proportionate" response than a ban on UK calf exports, it is feared that the draft regulation for today's meeting virtually amounts to a ban. The draft says calf exports may continue only from regions that are "TB-free" and from farms which test annually. Since most of the UK is unable to give such an assurance (there are now few areas where the average TB incidence is less than 1%) the cost to export becomes impractical . See Fwi article by Philip Clarke

July 23 2008 ~"Information from the United Kingdom on the tuberculosis situation in calves exported to other Member States"

This will be the first item on the agenda of today's SCoFCAH meeting It seems some protective measures will be discussed. More on bovine TB at warmwell's bTB page.

July 23 2008 ~ What a mess....

One farming emailer writes this morning on the subject of bTB
"What a mess. I know Defra are very much against PCR, mainly because it would place the responsibility for disposing of the inmates of positively infected setts, on 'someones' shoulders. But interesting that they plan to use it in lab for cattle lesions, even when sensitive to many other bacteria within the complex than m.bovis.... says it all really. And very like gammaIFN.
The Dutch calves thing rumbles on. There is a second case pending - unrelated to the Worcs batch. The Worcs. farm has one of the top holstein herds in the country. ET work, big sales, big show winners.
Its location is only 5 miles or so from the Broadway area, where in the ten years up until 1997, the badgers caught in removal ops. postmortemed at over 80 percent lesioned. The highest of any area. That is unlikely to have reduced in ten years of no culls at all, plus those awful floods a year ago would have scattered them around even more..."
And if the farm goes under restriction again, "that will about be it. I am not prepared to go through all that hassle again. You can't run a business at all, Can't trade - too much stock - stress. I don't need it. We'll grow crops and rent out the steeper land. Or sell up and buy a cottage .... Sorry, feeling angry and fragile today. Always do when we come to play Russian roulette with these tests. "
A mess indeed. And no sign at all of any effective help or improvement from a government whose parliamentary answers are those below..

July 22 2008 ~ PCR test for use on environmental samples and excretions collected from badgers "ruled out" except in laboratory

In the course of his answers to Jim Paice, Jonathan Shaw said yesterday (Hansard)
"....while the PCR test specific for M. bovis was found to be only 50 per cent. as sensitive as the gold standard of culture, the sensitivity of the M. tuberculosis complex PCR test (i.e. a less specific PCR able to detect mycobacteria that are members of the M. tb complex) was increased from 70 per cent., to 90 per cent., by the end of the project. While such low sensitivities for M. bovis detection rules out the use of this PCR test for use on environmental samples and excretions collected from badgers, with further development and evaluation this test could be used in the laboratory to achieve faster confirmation and subsequent tracing of bTB infection in slaughterhouse cases.
Mr Shaw said that work funded by DEFRA " to validate the PCR test developed by Warwick University to detect M. bovis in the environment is ongoing" and added that a final report on the work will be published following its completion in April 2010. He said,
"If it is shown to be usable as a robust practical field test, consideration of its potential use in any bTB control policy will need to take account of the results of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial, which showed that localised culling was associated with an increase in cattle herd TB breakdowns due to the perturbation effect on badgers and increased transmission of bTB."
It is difficult to speak rationally about such an answer - particularly one that refers to a report that will not be published until 2010 when the disease is, as we see below, wreaking such havoc every single day. Warmwell.com would very much welcome informed comment. (email)

July 22 2008 ~ Bovine TB: More Parliamentary answers yesterday

The questions and answers from James Paice and Jonathan Shaw can be read here (Hansard). What we learn includes the
• "....Studies TB99 and CCS2005, found an association between feeding silage and the use of grass feeding types for grazing/forage and an increase in risk of TB breakdown, respectively.."
• "....associations were found between low levels of selenium and a higher risk of an animal being infected with M.bovis. However, given the design of the study and the evidence that the action of some micro-nutrients can be substantially influenced by the levels of others it was not possible to conclude that the observed associations were causal....I am not inclined to fund further research into this subject. "
• " increased use of the gamma interferon blood test.... increase our ability to identify infected cattle..the enhancements to the TB testing regime introduced over the last two years (such as pre-movement testing and gamma-interferon blood testing) are expected to result in higher numbers of reactors being identified each year."
Read in full

July 22 2008 ~ Bovine TB in the Netherlands: 32 more animals infected and 60 undecisive.

One can guess how the Dutch feel about having been handed this horrible disease. According to our limited understanding of the Dutch article today on www.minlnv.nl, the six premises that had had contact with the original 12 calves from the UK have returned 32 positive results with 60 possible positives. A further 21 premises were provisionally quarantined. Tuberculin tests have been carried out on 4000 animals - and of the 27 premises originally quarantined, 20 have returned negative results. The central veterinary institute in Lelystad is carrying out further bacteriological research on the animals whose results were positive or not clear. Results are expected in the course of next week.

July 22 2008 ~ Bovine TB in Welsh goats - "many of the goats from that herd went to two other herds, from both of which stock had been sold on quite widely..."

BBC "Cases of bovine TB have been found in goats in Carmarthenshire. The Welsh Assembly Government confirmed the outbreak and said it knew of a similar case in England, but it is not clear if they are linked. The disease in goats is "unusual", and animal health officials are checking to see if it has spread to other herds. ......
....The GVS on its website said the disease was first found following a post mortem examination of a goat in Wales a few weeks ago. "The herd in question was in the process of being sold up due to retirement at the time the discovery was made," writes the society's secretary Nick Clayton to members. "And many of the goats from that herd went to two other herds, from both of which stock had been sold on quite widely."
The FUW's Mr Walters said it was a "worrying development". "It's another reservoir of TB that could affect the whole industry," he said. "The question is why and how did the goats pick it up?" ..."

Monday 14th July 2008 ~ bTB compensation: The judge not satisfied by the Secretary of State's stated position

A Devon farmer of pedigree Holsteins, David Partridge, who has in recent years lost 100 of them to compulsory slaughter, has won his Judicial challenge on the matter of the level of compensation paid by DEFRA. See BBC
"Mr Patridge's barrister, Hugh Mercer QC, had told the judge the current compensation scheme amounted to a "disincentive" both to careful cattle breeding and the introduction of bio-security methods to reduce the impact of TB on the UK's dairy and beef herds..."
Lord Justice Stanley Burnton - who has given DEFRA leave to challenge his ruling - said: "The Secretary of State has not satisfied me that reasonably reliable means of fairly compensating farmers with high value cattle at reasonable expense is impossible or impractical to achieve"

July 13 2008 ~"It is ridiculous to expect farmers to continue fighting TB with one hand tied behind their back.

"At a time when we have the Prime Minister telling the public not to waste food, it is astonishing that the Government is prepared to continue to preside over the needless waste of tens of thousands of productive cattle." National Farmers' Union president Peter Kendall quoted by www.kentnews.co.uk
It will seem unfortunate to many the the major part of this article is given to the views of such as Peter Smith, chief executive of the Wildwood Trust: "It is infuriating that the subject of culling keeps coming up. All the evidence indicates that badgers are not responsible for the spread of bovine TB, yet farmers still blame these animals for the problem."
Opinions differ on whether a targeted cull could be effectively carried out - but it is simply not true to say that "All the evidence indicates that badgers are not responsible for the spread of bovine TB". Doing nothing at all is causing deep distress - and diseased badgers, wandering alone and rejected from the now infected sett, are a sorry sight indeed.

Wednesday 9 July ~ RABDF Questions Government Bovine TB Funding

www.stackyard.com "The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers has expressed dismay that Government's announcement for a £20 million research and development package to develop bTB vaccines represents little new funding. Furthermore, the availability of both cattle and badger vaccines continue to remain more than six years away....RABDF chairman, Lyndon Edwards is quoted,
" The Minister also confirmed that an oral badger vaccine would not be available until 2014, and while research for an injectable cattle vaccine is underway, its earliest likely launch date is 2015. Last year, bTB led to a cull of 28,000 head, up 40% on the year; if the trend continues, then that figure will have risen to well over 400,000 head for 2015, a figure that can't be taken lightly. In the meantime, government will have to overturn current EU legislation that prohibits cattle vaccination. We also beg the question, who is going to pay for and administer these vaccines, in particular that for badgers."
RABDF is led to believe that government's entire bTB vaccine research funding programme has so far been placed with its own scientists.
"bTB research is likely to continue to remain in government research institutes because it has very, very limited appeal for commercial take up; its marketplace is confined to relatively very small numbers and restricted within the UK In the meantime, the issue of Defra's proposed responsibility and cost sharing policies will not go away, and we fail to see how dairy farmers will be able to participate when continued burdens are being placed on them and further increases in movement restrictions are only going to increase costs. For example, RABDF's farmer survey earlier this year concluded that bTB pre-movement testing is already costing livestock producers more than £15 per animal, a figure that we deem is a major cost sharing burden to businesses, and one that continues to be ignored.
Hilary Benn stated he would reconsider his decision against a licenced cull in the light of evidence. We question what evidence that needs to be in view of the fact scientific evidence which we believe to be important has so far been ignored by Government. Ministers and their officials need to remember that scientific fact over rules public emotion."

July 8 2008 ~ "... this method did not do away with the badger population but TB was virtually unheard of. Surely someone in DEFRA is aware of how it was dealt with in those days..."

Another email pointing out that there is nothing compasionate about the decision to do nothing practical about bovine TB:
Extract:" DEFRA should insist that everyone in the country is on 12 monthly testing and then deal with the badgers as in the 1960s.. TB is destroying healthy cattle and healthy people. We have friends in Devon who are on 60 day testing - and that is a strain not only for the humans but cattle as well - and they are losing 12 pedigree cattle at a time. This is a closed herd of pedigree cattle started in the 1940's.
It is heartbreaking seeing what this is doing to the whole family, not to mention the cattle. ...." Read in full

Tuesday 8 July 2008 ~ Bovine TB. The British Veterinary Association (BVA) "expresses disappointment, but no surprise"

"... at the Government's decision to reject the multi-faceted approach unanimously recommended by the House of Commons Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRACom) to address the spread of Bovine TB within the cattle and badger population.
BVA President Nick Blayney said that the veterinary profession was "deeply concerned about the ongoing lack of disease control and the resulting impact on cattle and badger health and welfare.
"Be in no doubt," he said "to date measures directed at cattle alone have not led to disease control."
As for the increased funding for research on vaccines Mr Blayney said that, although welcome, " any progress is some years down the line." Nothing, other than yet another group under a new name -"the Bovine TB Partnership Group"- is envisaged for the foreseeable future. (Read in full)

July 6 2008 ~ "a few of the basic facts about this disaster which the BBC has not been telling us..."

Sunday Telegraph comment from Christopher Booker "..... The Government is in breach of EU animal health rules obliging it to "eradicate" the wildlife reservoir of the disease..... The Government's decision to rely on a grotesquely unreliable "blood test" for diagnosing TB in cattle, rather than the long-proven "skin test", is resulting in so many faulty diagnoses that thousands of dairy cows are now being needlessly slaughtered. The animal rights lobby raises no objection to this but is quite happy that thousands of infected badgers should continue to die a lingering and painful death (as we see from the corpses of TB-weakened badgers on our roadsides). It has indeed been a remarkable "victory"." Read in full

July 6 2008 ~ "We confidently expect this to duck the elephant in the room, and concentrate on more severe cattle measures...."

As expected, the Bovine TB blog yesterday addressed all the issues in the fullest possible way, giving particular attention to the EU working document SANCO 10200/2006 and to the responsibilities of the government.
The blog entry is important and has done much of the hard work of sifting through and summarising key points. What emerges clearly is that eradication of bovine TB is a statutory duty for all Member States and that eradication can be achieved only if measures to control the disease in cattle are accompanied by equally effective measures to control the disease in the wild. As the paper puts it
" ... It has now been reliably demonstrated that the persistence of an infected wildlife reservoir that enters into contact with cattle is a major obstacle to the eradication of TB. This obstacle should be addressed in tandem with the measures implemented in relation to the cattle population.
While future prospects for the development of suitable TB vaccines for use in wildlife are promising, considerable obstacles remain which make it difficult to foresee the use of such vaccination on its own as the most suitable tool to use to address the persistence of the variety of infected wildlife reservoirs worldwide in the near future. In the meantime, therefore, alternatives to vaccination, in order to address the role of infected wildlife in the persistence of TB should be implemented without any delay so as to allow the progress of the eradication programmes..."
The BovineTB blogspot commentary can be seen here. Many thanks to Matthew.

July 5 2008 ~ "wildlife is a major source of new herd infection ....may be a more important source than cattle"

Hansard two days ago. Jonathan Shaw: "....the situation is quite different in the high incidence areas of the country where 85-90 per cent. of all confirmed breakdowns occur. Some herds in these areas are also infected by purchased cattle, but wildlife is a major source of new herd infection and in many counties wildlife may be a more important source than cattle. It is impossible to put precise figures on these possible sources."

July 5 2008 ~ "We want to see healthy cattle alongside healthy badgers"

Jim Paice and others are quoted in fwi.co.uk in the wake of the news.
If Hilary Benn really does announce on Monday that the government prefers to sit on its hands it maym by some, be thought that they'd rather hand the poisoned chalice to the Tory hopefuls waiting in the wings - some of whom are actually aware of the grim reality of the situation for farmers. In last week's food security debate, Daniel Kawczynski the member for Shrewsbury and Atcham in Shropshire, who shares the affection many of us have for badgers, said:
"It does not have to be like this. France has eradicated bovine TB. ...France has tackled bovine TB through a huge investment in extra testing, vaccines and a limited cull of badgers. If the French can do it, why can the Government not do it? They will not do it because, in their growing unpopularity, they are desperately worried about those marginal seats ..... my priority has to be my Shropshire farmers.... I have seen all the evidence that there is a definite link between badgers and the spread of bovine TB."
Nobody wants a mass cull of healthy badgers - but a targeted cull of infected groups seems the best solution when so little has been done in Britain to produce a vaccine, suggest treatments to keep the badger population healthy or keep up a proper surveillance. There is a callous inhumanity in doing nothing, in ignoring the suffering caused by - as Bill Wiggin put it -
"leaving sick badgers to crawl around, excluded... then slowly dying, riddled with lesions that start in the bladder..... we should be acting responsibly towards our wild animals, but the taxpayers are footing a £100 million bill each year for culling infected cattle, and this bill looks set to rise inexorably higher. This situation cannot continue."
See also pdf of the ISID paper on the badger trial.

June 26 2008 ~ "Results from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial show that badgers are the main wildlife reservoir and contribute to bovine TB (bTB) in cattle." Jonathan Shaw

In a Parliamentary Answer on June 24, Mr Shaw clearly stated that badgers are the main wildlife reservoir and contribute to bovine TB (bTB) in cattle. He also commented on the risk to cattle of infection from "wild species other than badgers" concluding that there is no evidence that small mammals such as rats "have been shown to be able to be infected with bTB" but that "there is no evidence that they can transmit the infection to other species"- and also that "Quantitative risk assessments commissioned by DEFRA demonstrate that the risk of cattle infection from deer is only likely to be significant if the prevalence of TB infection in deer is high."
On the subject of the risk to humans, he also said,
"A number of Government departments (DEFRA, Department of Health, Food Standards Agency, Health Protection Agency, Health and Safety Executive) work together to protect the public from contracting infection caused by Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis). The potential risks to public health from exposure to wild animals infected with M. bovis are minimal, therefore no wildlife-specific public health protection measures are necessary. However, advice is available on the HPA website and from local animal health offices if people have concerns."
"Advice" however, is not easy to find on the Health Protection Agency website which, like DEFRA's own, is somewhat labyrinthine. We found links to video presentations from the USA and Canada but only after searching for some time did we light upon a page specific to bovine TB, wildlife and humans: Extract:
"Transmission of M. bovis can occur between animals , from animals to humans and vice versa and rarely, between humans. As with M. tuberculosis, transmission is most commonly by the aerosol route but also through the ingestion of milk and meat from infected animals..." (See http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&Page&HPAwebAutoListName/Page/1204619502284?p=1204619502284 One does rather wonder about the evidence for the diagram that appears on the page


Cycle of Mycobacterium bovis transmission between cattle and humans. The thickness of the arrows suggests probability. Adapted from Collins and Grange (1987).

In fact, as we see below, cattle-to-cattle transmission is thought to account for just 1-2% of herd breakdowns. The remaining 98-99% of bovine TB is brought in from other sources.

June 20 2008 ~ "... cattle-to-cattle transmission accounts for just 1-2% of herd breakdowns. The remaining 98-99% of bovine TB is brought in from other sources."

The Farmers Weekly quotes Jilly Greed in its article today about the a CD for farmers made by DEFRA
"The science says cattle-to-cattle transmission accounts for just 1-2% of herd breakdowns. The remaining 98-99% of bovine TB is brought in from other sources. In other words it is brought in by badgers and this advice shows DEFRA knows that."
Mrs Greed acts as a demonstration unit for best practice on biosecurity measures to control TB. But even so her herd has succumbed to the disease. The CD gives advice on how to cut the risk of TB spreading in which, of
" .... the 26 points, made in the Bovine TB Husbandry Best Practice guide, 23 focus directly on the risk of infection spread presented by badgers.."
Mrs Greed (see below) is a byword for biosecurity but even her extreme level of care did not save her. The FG article talks of double standards and says, "The content leaves no doubt that DEFRA knows how big a problem badger to cattle transmission is. And that has added to the anger and frustration of farmers."

June 16 2008 ~ Even a closed herd does not protect cows from DEFRA's rules

A closed herd is thought a good way to help protect cattle from infectious disease. No cattle enter the farm either by purchase or loan, and resident cattle do not make contact with any cattle from other farms - yet it was from a closed herd that the mother of the suckling heifer calf, shown on the WMN report today, came. Her test was positive. She was slaughtered. The photo showing the hand-reared calf illustrates what happens when suspect cows are slaughtered by DEFRA's rules. WMN says, "In the week that a long-awaited Defra announcement on badger culls is expected, the calves' owner, Jilly Greed, has joined desperate farmers in calling for "radical" action to control the spread of the disease and avoid more heartbreaking scenes like this."

June 16 2008 ~ Just 70 colony forming bTB bacteria are needed to infect a cow. A badger with kidney lesions can excrete up to 300,000 cfu of bacteria in just 1ml of urine

The mantra of gamma's 'early detection' was blown apart when Defra slaughtered Tony Yewdall's cows - only to find that of over 400 cattle piled up, just 6 had visible signs of disease after waiting in limbo for the best part of eight months. (See also bovinetb.blogspot.com/2008/05/early-detection-potential-of-gammaifn.html) and Jonathan Shaw's recent answer to Mr Clifton-Brown's Parliamentary Question is heartbreakingly misleading - as we point out below. One of the authors of the bovinetb blog writes, "The answer to the PQ is that 18.6% of cattle slaughtered as positive gammaIFN reactors are either found to have VL or be culture positive, or both whereas approx 50 per cent of skin test positive animals are found to have VLs or are culture positive.
As Colin Fink says, the location of any lesions (lymph glands or lungs for example) and their state of closed / walled up or open, will influence onwards transmission. Cattle and deer can have huge open lesions containing very few cf (colony forming) bacteria, whereas badgers are the opposite. Kidney lesions, sputum and bite wounds are absolutely loaded. Our PQs dragged out of Defra that a badger with kidney lesions can excrete up to 300,000 cfu of bacteria in just 1ml of urine. They void 30ml at a time, indiscriminately over grassland, and use the mechanism for scent marking and 'fright / flight' spraying. Just 70 cfu are needed to infect a cow. That's infect as opposed to provoke skin test reaction. Just 70. We were shocked and asked in a different way. Same answer. WMD?"

June 13 2008 ~ Why is DEFRA not heeding expert advice on the desperately important subject of bovine TB but instead giving partial and muddled information to its Minister?

Mr. Clifton-Brown asked in a Parliamentary Question on Wednesday, " what percentage of cows receiving positive (a) gamma interferon blood tests and (b) skin tests for bovine tuberculosis were subsequently demonstrated to be clear of the disease at post mortem in each of the last five years. [Hansard PQ 208239]
Jonathan Shaw:
" It is a misconception that failure to find post-mortem evidence of bovine TB in animals that have previously had a positive reaction to a TB test means such animals are clear of the disease..."
Not quite such a misconception as Mr Shaw implies, actually. We are told by an expert microbiologist this morning, "In cattle many will have met the infection and will have a few organisms walled off somewhere. That does not make them infectious, nor does it make their milk or meat infectious. But they will have positive skin tests and possibly positive interferon tests. So as our testing system is so poor and does not properly discriminate between sero-converted (positive on skin test) and truly active infection, we are culling perfectly good animals."
Below is what the expert informed us in full....

June 13 2008 ~... "The great irony is that those with rampant infection (similarly in humans) do not produce any antibodies or white cell response and their skin tests will remain negative"

The microbiologist, Dr Colin Fink, writes,
"M.Bovis like M. Tubercle hide in host tissues and surrounds itself with a host tissue reaction which attempts to wall off the organism and keep it out of harm's way. You and I will have some in our lungs (Tubercle) which causes us no trouble, but could possibly re emerge if we were immunosuppressed.
We would have positive skin tests but that does not mean we have TB that is of any significance. We have met the infection.
In cattle many will have met the infection and will have a few organisms walled off somewhere. That does not make them infectious, nor does it make their milk or meat infectious. But they will have positive skin tests and possibly positive interferon tests. So as our testing system is so poor and does not properly discriminate between sero-converted (positive on skin test) and truly active infection, we are culling perfectly good animals. The great irony is that those with rampant infection (similarly in humans) do not produce any antibodies or white cell response and their skin tests will remain negative although on post mortem they may be filled with lesions and be generally highly infectious carriers."
He concludes that we need to come up with a better test or continue culling perfectly good animals - "which to my mind," he says,"is a sad waste and we could do better."

May 18 2008 ~ "Defra itself admits on its website that the blood test is cruder and less "specific" than the skin test..."

Booker's Notebook in the Sunday Telegraph eloquently echoes our latest entries below:
"...Eleven times a gunshot signalled the killing of a cow from the Yewdalls' 450-strong pedigree Guernsey herd. Sixty nine more, 30 still in calf, were loaded onto trucks to be killed at a local abattoir. For father and son, and for their herdsman who refused to be present, it was the blackest day of their farming lives.
...Mr Justice Mitting....resting his judgment solely on the law...ruled that, because the blood test had been approved by the EU, it was therefore lawful for Defra to rely on it. Even though Brussels had regarded gamma interferon as only an ancillary test, not to be relied on for a definitive diagnosis... ...." Read in full
The bovine TB epidemic, costs taxpayers £90 million a year and within six years, we read, the total bill could reach £2 billion. The path chosen by the government, like the 'kill to cure' of FMD 2001, is mismanagement on such a massively tragic scale that it can hardly be comprehended by those not involved.
See also today Tim Worstall and the ever excellent EU referendum Blog

May 18 2008 ~ What an appalling waste.

From the bovine TB blog which really must be read in full to comprehend the nature of the tragedy being enacted by officialdom in the name of 'disease control'.
".......The postmortem results on Mr. Yewdall's cattle are now to hand. After 6 months in isolation, just 2 cattle had Visible Lesions and a further 3 were found to have the very beginnings of small closed granulomas. Over 80 cattle were slaughtered in this carnage - as 'reactors' to the secondary, ancillary gamma interferon blood test. They had survived under an injunction for the best part of eight months in which the opportunity was there to produce full blown disease and prove Defra's point.
What a splendid result for our beloved Defra.
What a total waste of £100,000 for the UK taxpayer.
What a devastating and irreplaceable waste for the Yewdall family...."
http://bovinetb.blogspot.com/2008/05/carnage.html Do read this in full. It is important that people know how their money is being spent at a time when DEFRA's cuts are biting into the country's ability to protect itself, *see below.

May 17 2008 ~ "The fact that Defra insisted in doing this without a re-test is just awful. All those poor healthy cows have been put down without reason."

Kill first. Ask later. Many were shocked at the killing of an entire herd of uninfected cows in Somerset - as we reported on May 1 - when in spite of wholly negative results from the TB skin test, DEFRA ordered that all the animals in a Pewsey herd should be destroyed. And now, the story below about the High Court TB case that we first reported in January has the miserable sequel that 75 out of the 80 pedigree Guernsey cows, slaughtered under the anguished gaze of the Devon farmers, Tony Yewdall and his wife, were shown to be free of bovine TB on laboratory testing.
The Western Morning News reports this latest case with unease in spite of the "balance" they show in quoting a DEFRA official's words about "sound disease control reasons". As we have been saying for seven years, killing hordes of healthy animals pour encourager les autres does rather defeat the object of the exercise - unless, of course, there is a different object in view. The motives of those ordering such wholesale, insensitive and unscientific destruction must inevitably make us wonder. Certainly, no kindly consideration seems ever to be given to the farmers, their families, their futures. Nor, apparently, is there the faintest conception of the idea that there should be a contract of decency between animal and consumer and that the waste of a healthy farm animal is as sinful as anything referred to by David Attenborough below.

May 1 2008 ~TB blood test clear - but all the cows to be destroyed...

Private Eye's Muckspreader this week on the misery that is the UK's bovine TB policy - and the fact that, in the Somerset farmers' attempt to get sanity from a judicial review "Mr Justice Mitting dismissed the arguments of the farmers' learned counsel, ruling that Defra's 'policy is lawful'...." It is unbearable too that
"....Tom Maidment of Pewsey, thirty-one of whose cattle had been condemned after the (gamma interferon) blood test had shown them as positive. He pleaded in vain with Defra in London for the chance to have them retested using the skin test. But, unaware of this, his local Defra Animal Health Office instructed him that his cattle should be skin tested after all. The results showed a stonking negative. Not one of his animals showed any sign of having been exposed to TB. And what was Defra's response? It naturally ordered that all the animals should nevertheless be destroyed, at the taxpayers' expense. Who gives a fig for science when someone else is footing the bill?"
Read in full and see also below for more background

March 31/April 1 2008 ~ bTB - part of the answer at least lies in the soil

Very little notice has been taken, it seems, of the conviction expressed over the past years by ex-colonel Danny Goodwin-Jones, director of the Carmarthen-based Trace Element Services Ltd, that "once you put back the trace elements all the creatures that live in the soil recover and they keep it healthy" (see earlier posts).
He maintains that restoring trace elements into the soil cuts fertiliser and vets' bills. Now, the Western Press' Steve Dube reports that Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones wants officials to look into the use of micro-nutrients or trace elements in tackling the disease in badgers as well as cattle. Four years ago, the 2003 - 2004 EFRA Committee report on bovine TB ( pdf file 85 pages) (link mended) took Col. Goodwin Jones work on trace element restoration seriously: (Extract here)
Anecdotal evidence at least shows that trace element treated farms are free of TB, while their neighbours are going down with it

March 6 2008 ~ Bovine TB - polarised positions

"The Government's current method of controlling cattle TB, that of surveillance, testing and slaughter, is not working effectively Government must now make a decision on what its strategic objectives are. The impact of this disease has reached a stage where further procrastination is unsustainable". ." So said the EFRA Committee report last week. The Farmers Guardian reported: "Badger Trust spokesman Trevor Lawson insisted that badger culling was still 'effectively off the agenda' because of the demanding conditions that would have to be met, while the RSPCA said any attempt at badger culling 'flies in the face of sound scientific judgement'..."
Parliamentary Questions asked on Tuesday show the proportion of cattle killed without disease having been confirmed. Clarke Willmott's case challenging Defra's refusal to allow re-tests on cattle that tested positive to the gamma interferon (gIFN) bovine TB test has been adjourned until April. See latest bovine TB news

February 22 2008 ~ Bovine TB gamma interferon test "One farm business has issued legal proceedings against DEFRA, a date has yet to be set for the claim to be heard."

Asked yesterday, "how many cases are before the courts on challenges to the accuracy of the test for bovine tuberculosis", (Hansard) Jonathan Shaw replied,
"One farm business has issued legal proceedings against DEFRA, a date has yet to be set for the claim to be heard. Their claim for judicial review disputes the validity of the results of gamma interferon TB tests within their herds. The caimant is challenging DEFRA's decision not to re-test (using the tuberculin skin test) cattle within their herd that have had a positive reaction to the gamma interferon test. DEFRA has been put on notice that three other farm businesses are intending to issue proceedings on the same basis, but has agreed with those farmers that their animals will not be slaughtered pending the outcome of the judicial review. It is expected that this case will determine the issues in respect of all four complaints."
More on this in our Jan 25th report below. ( See also the Farmers Guardian today on farmers' reaction to the lack of decision over bTB)

February 12 2008 ~ Clarke Willmott case challenging Defra's refusal to allow re-tests on cattle that tested positive to the gamma interferon (gIFN) bovine TB test has been adjourned until April.

Farmers Guardian "....the law farm acting on behalf of the partnership, Clarke Willmott, were granted permission for the case to be adjourned on Monday night. They had asked for more time, so they could respond to the scientific evidence submitted by Defra in support of the gIFN test. ...... agricultural specialistist Tim Russ said this suggested 'something is seriously wrong with one or both of these tests'. .... "

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 continui