§ Mr. Eadieasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assistance has been given to public funded agricultural research in the treatment of mastitis; and what have been the estimated financial savings to the industry annually since 1979, giving separate figures for England, Wales and Scotland.
§ Mrs. FennerPublicly funded research has led to a practical control scheme that is economic for farmers and reduces mastitis by at least 70 per cent. This scheme has400W been adopted by more than half of the dairy farmers. It is difficult to assess the financial savings as a result of this work partly because there are two forms of mastitis; "clinical mastitis" which is apparent to the herdsman, and "sub-clinical mastitis" which is only detected by testing.
§ Mr. Eadieasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assistance has been given by public funded agricultural research in the treatment of Marek's disease; and what has been the estimated financial savings to the industry annually since 1979, giving separate figures for England, Wales and Scotland.
§ Mrs. FennerMarek's disease cannot be treated in the strict sense and research has been directed at its control. Public funded research led to the production of the vaccine in 1969 that was immediately adopted by the industry; it is still used and is estimated to be at least 90 per cent. effective. It is not possible to quantify savings in the way asked in the question but some years ago it was estimated that losses prior to the introduction of the vaccine were about 5 per cent. of the farmgate value of poultry products; that loss at today's prices would be about £50 million.