Tuberculosis in Cattle and Badgers (Hansard, 25 July 1996)

Lord Lucas

I am pleased to tell my noble friend and the House that, following consultations with interested parties, the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales and my right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food have decided to set up an independent scientific review into the policy on TB and badgers. Professor John Krebs, who is Chief Executive of the Natural Environment Research Council has kindly agreed to chair the review, which is expected to report in the early summer of next year. The membership of the review, team will be announced later, together with the date when the review will commence. The current control policy for bovine tuberculosis will continue for the duration of the review.

The terms of reference for the review will be:

"To review the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle and badgers and assess the scientific evidence for the links between them; to take account of EU policies on reducing and eliminating the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle; to take account of any risk to the human population; and accordingly to review, in the light of scientific evidence, present government policy on badgers and tuberculosis and to make recommendations."