§ Miss Fookesasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what investigations have been made by his Department into the Elisa test for establishing the existence of bovine tuberculosis in badgers; and what progress has been made.
§ Mr. StrangInvestigations into this test are in progress at the Central Veterinary Laboratory. A number of problems remain to be solved before it can be regarded as a sufficiently reliable and specific test for the detection of bovine tuberculosis in badgers. Solution of these466W (9) what EEC support in grants from the Agricultural Fund was allocated to the improvement of hygiene standards at a poultry processing plant at Eye, Suffolk;
(10) what EEC support in grants from the Agricultural Fund was allocated to the modernisation and expansion of an abattoir at Peterborough, Cambridgeshire;
(11) what EEC support grants from the Agricultural Fund was allocated to the construction of a pumping station and enlargement of drainage channels near Wisbech, Cambridgeshire;
(12) what EEC support in grants from the Agricultural Fund was allocated to the construction of a stern fishing trawler to be based at Lowestoft, Suffolk.
§ Mr. BishopFollowing are the details:
problems will not, of course, dispose of the difficulty of how to apply this or any other test to all badgers suspected of being infected.