§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what research her Ministry has carried out into the ways in which bovine tuberculosis is transferred from badgers to cattle.
§ Mr. SoamesResearch is continuing at the Department's central science laboratory in Gloucestershire on the ways in which bovine tuberculosis is transferred from badgers to cattle. Detailed observations are made on the way in which badgers infected with bovine tuberculosis may contaminate the environment. This work has demonstrated the potential importance of badger excretory products in disease transmission to cattle, with field margins having been identified as areas of highest risk.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of her Department's badger culling in terms of the reduction of bovine tuberculosis.
§ Mr. SoamesThere have been no cases of confirmed bovine tuberculosis in cattle in the areas of Steeple Leaze, Dorset and Thornbury, Avon, since the ending in 1979 and 1981 respectively of the experimental programmes under which badger control operations were carried out continuously. The incidence of bovine TB in cattle in those areas had previously been high.
Analyses at the Department's central veterinary laboratory suggests that the effect of the routine badger 558W control operations carried out in other areas between 1975 and 1982 reduced the incidence of infection in cattle herds by around 60 per cent, compared with no control.
Similar studies have shown that badger removal operations between 1986 and 1993 on farms which suffered a breakdown may have reduced the chances of a subsequent cattle breakdown by between 40 and 65 per cent.
The new strategy announced on 8 December will include a trial element to measure its effectiveness. Further details are set out in the background note in the Library of the House, a copy of which I have sent to the hon. Member.
§ Mr Tony BanksTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will declare a moratorium on the culling of badgers; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. SoamesI have no such plans; I announced a new programme to control bovine TB in the House on 8 December,Official Report, columns 260–61.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will give details of(a) the incidence of bovine turbercolusis and (b) the numbers of badgers culled on the authority of her Department in each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. SoamesThe number of cattle herds experiencing new confirmed breakdowns of tuberculosis in Great Britain for each of the last 10 years for which figures are available were as follows:
Year New confirmed breakdowns Badgers culled 1983 79 1,239 1984 73 1,337 1985 52 1,119 1986 82 782 1987 108 711 1988 122 778 1989 125 727 1990 143 811 1991 125 993 1992 155 1,054 1993 1273 11,093 1 Provisional figures.