HL Deb 09 March 1971 vol 316 cc48-51WA
THE EARL OF DUNDEE

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether, to clarify the public mind on the subject of myxomatosis, they will state:

  1. (1) whether this disease is now permanently endemic in Britain, as in other countries where it has occurred;
  2. (2) whether their veterinary advisers have found any good reason to believe that a rabbit infected by this disease suffers any serious degree of pain;
  3. (3) whether it is the case that in Australia the livelihood of many thousands of farmers has been saved from ruin by the action of the Australian Government in spreading the disease and introducing new types of virus into localities where older types appear to be losing their effectiveness;
  4. (4) whether the British agricultural ministries cultivate new types of myxomatosis virus, not with the purpose of spreading it, but for the purpose of scientific information and to keep pace with research in other countries;
  5. (5) whether the continuance of the legal ban on spreading myxomatosis under the British 1954 Pests Act is considered to be justified by some alleged discomfort suffered by the infected animal, or by the aesthetic displeasure suffered by human beings who choose to look at it;
  6. (6) whether our agricultural ministries encourage the use of Warfarin by farmers to poison rats, which inflicts severe pain on the rat by interference with its bloodstream, although the rat, unlike the rabbit, seldom exposes its condition to human vision before it dies;
  7. (7) whether, owing to the appearance in Cheshire of a breed of rats which has become immune to Warfarin, the agricultural ministries are now encouraging the use of an even stronger poison;
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  8. (8) whether, in order to protect a potato crop when attacked by Colorado beetle, the agricultural ministries encourage farmers to spray the crop with arsenical compounds which inflict a slow and painful death upon the beetles:
  9. (9) whether Her Majesty's Government consider it fair that they should impose a burdensome legal obligation on small farmers to carry out the expensive, difficult and time-consuming work of exterminating rabbits on their land, while at the same time making it illegal to employ the most effectual method of doing SO;
  10. (10) whether the failure to institute a single prosecution in England or Scotland under the 1954 Act for more than sixteen years is due to the consciousness in many rural districts that the law is unjust, since on some types of farm it may be impossible to fulfil the obligation of rabbit clearance without the aid of the disease;
  11. (11) whether this does not impose an invidious disadvantage on the law-abiding farmer who refrains from imposing a diseased rabbit from some other locality, although he may not be able to destroy the rabbits on his own land without doing so;
  12. (12) whether Her Majesty's Government will ask the Forestry Commission 10 give them an estimate of the amount of public money which might be saved in fencing and replacement costs if the Commission were permitted to use myxomatosis.

LORD DENHAM

  1. (1) Yes, myxomatosis is permanently with us but I believe the word is enzootic as it affects animals and not people.
  2. (2) We cannot be certain whether an affected rabbit suffers any serious degree of pain. The illness seems to cause discomfort rather than pain but in advanced stages it becomes difficult for the rabbit to get about and find its food.
  3. (3) There is no doubt that many Australian graziers have succeeded in producing more sheep since 1950 when the spread of myxomatosis depleted the rabbit population but efforts to introduce strains of higher virulence have not been 50 successful. They kill rabbits quickly but the disease does not spread so effectively as with the weaker strains.
  4. (4) No new types of myxomarosis virus have been cultivated at the Ministry's Pest Infestation Control Laboratory but they have received strains of virus from Australia for experimental purposes.
  5. (5) The ban on spreading myxomatosis is justified, in the view of Her Majesty's Government, for the following reasons. As I said to the noble Earl on February 17 (OFFICIAL REPORT, C. 584) nothing would be gained; and a large section of public opinion would regard with repugnance the deliberate spreading of a disease which might seem to cause suffering and which presents unpleasant symptoms.
  6. (6) and (7) For overriding reasons of public health, and because of the damage they do, I think everyone would agree that effective poisons must be used against rats. But this does not mean that these control methods are necessarily painful for the victim. I am reliably informed that with the anticoagulant poisons like warfarin death appears to occur without warning or pain. It is not known whether the acute or single-dose poisons recommended for the control of rats resistant to warfarin cause severe pain, but if they do it is only for a short duration.
  7. (8) I am glad to say that our potato growers have not suffered from an outbreak of the Colorado beetle since 1952. If one did occur the Agricultural Departments would need to make arrangements with spraying contractors to use effective sprays but those containing arsenical compounds would not be used.
  8. (9) The obligation on small farmers to keep their rabbits down need not cost them more than a few pounds a year if they join their local rabbit clearance society. Her Majesty's Government does not regard this small insurance premium a burden when measured against the benefit of improved crop yields and relative to the cost of other forms of protection for crops.
  9. (10) If the noble Earl, Lord Dundee, is referring to prosecutions for deliberately spreading myxomatosis, I should have said on February 17 that I knew of none. I have since been informed of two though, since these are not undertaken by Government Departments, there 51 may have been others. I have no reason to think that the bodies responsible for animal welfare would have failed to take action had there been sufficient evidence. If, on the other hand, he is referring to prosecutions for failure to control serious rabbit infestations, there have been three in England and one in Scotland since 1954. Prosecution is, however, regarded by the Agricultural Departments as a last resort when other persuasive methods have failed.
  10. (11) Since there are other well tried effective methods of controlling rabbits, such as gassing, shooting, snaring and trapping, I do not think farmers are placed under any disadvantage by not being allowed deliberately to spread myxomatosis.
  11. (12) For the same reasons, I doubt if any useful purpose would be served by asking the Forestry Commission for a necessarily very speculative estimate of their savings if it were lawful deliberately to spread myxomatosis.