§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list all the measures he(a) has taken or (b) plans to take to control the spread of tuberculosis from farmed deer, indicating whether the Government or the farmers bear the cost of each measure; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. CurryLegislation making tuberculosis in deer a notifiable disease and giving power to require the testing of deer (which will be used in known infected herds) came into force on 1 June 1989. Marking and movement record requirements came into force on 1 September 1989. The cost of administering these schemes falls to the Government, but the cost of testing, marking and keeping of movement records falls to individual farmers. A compulsory slaughter with compensation scheme was introduced also on 1 September 1989 with the Ministry paying compensation at 50 per cent. of the value of the slaughtered animal subject to a ceiling of £600 per animal.
Several meetings of the deer health scheme advisory group have been held and agreement has been reached to introduce a deer health scheme within the next few weeks. Details of charges under the scheme are still being discussed.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the research projects he is carrying out or funding to look into the level of tuberculosis in wild and farmed deer and methods of controlling the spread of the disease; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GummerResearch on the development of diagnostic tests for detecting tuberculosis in deer is currently being carried out at my Department's central veterinary laboratory. This forms part of a wider programme, designed to safeguard human health by reducing the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle and wildlife through improved diagnostic tests and the development of a vaccine for badgers.
My Department has recently invited proposals to begin in 1990–91 under the open contracting fund on the following topics:
the ecology of deer as it relates to domestic animal husbandry and the possible spread of tuberculosis and pathogenic mycobacteria;
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Number of cases confirmed in 4 week periods ending: County (a) (b) (c) (d) 16 July 16 August 16 September 16 October Avon 10 9 13 11 Bedfordshire — — 2 1 Berkshire — 3 1 4 Buckinghamshire 3 — 1 6 Cambridgeshire 1 — 2 — Cheshire 4 1 13 16 Clwyd 1 — 2 11 Cornwall 38 31 42 32 Cumbria 9 11 11 1 Derbyshire 4 2 10 7 Devon 10 61 63 70 Dorset 40 39 41 59 Durham 4 1 1 1 Dyfed 4 9 21 20 Essex 1 — 3 1 Glamorgan Mid — — — 5 Glamorgan South 2 — 3 2 further work on improving the sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests for deer.