§ Mr. MarlowTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the number of occurences of bovine tuberculosis and the numbers of cattle affected and destroyed for each of the last 24 quarters; and if he will make a statement on the evidence linking badgers to such outbreaks.
§ Mr. MacleanThe information requested is given in the following table. None of the cattle destroyed was showing188W clinical signs of tuberculosis. Every confirmed outbreak is investigated and all other sources of infection are eliminated before the possibility of cross-infection from badgers is assessed. This is based upon badger activity on the breakdown farm together with historical information on badger-related infection in the parish. In the majority of cases where a badger origin has been suspected, infection has been confirmed in badgers killed during MAFF control operations.
189W
Year/Quarter Number of herds with cattle reacting to tuberculin test Number of herds with infection confirmed in quarter Cases attributed to badgers Number of cattle destroyed having reacted to test Number of cattle in which infection confirmed by post mortem and/or culture of organism 1985 Q1 341 34 33 268 138 Q2 16 203 74 Q3 16 142 23 Q4 8 87 16 1986 Q1 306 24 36 150 40 Q2 23 172 58 Q3 9 109 17 Q4 9 86 16 1987 Q1 324 24 77 163 92 Q2 16 123 73 Q3 11 243 79 Q4 11 94 53 1988 Q1 363 38 65 180 78 Q2 20 183 45 Q3 29 155 44 Q4 13 159 81 1989 Q1 95 37 71 183 102 Q2 142 37 347 162 Q3 109 25 189 43 Q4 106 24 182 48 1990 Q1 103 23 81 229 97 Q2 149 49 341 142 Q3 105 31 239 83 Q4 112 37 239 75 1991 Q1 147 39 28 343 146 Total 2,402 605 391 4,809 1,825