§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what impact the foot and mouth outbreak has had on(a) regular tuberculosis testing of cattle and (b) the culling of badgers for the study of TB. [7762]
§ Mr. MorleyRoutine TB testing of cattle has been suspended since late February and there is now a backlog of TB tests to be completed.
The effect of foot and mouth disease on the culling trial was considered by the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB in its Third Report, and they concluded that:
it will be unavoidable that the recent food and mouth disease outbreak, which affects directly some of the trial areas, will have an impact on our work. The inevitable effect will be to extend the time needed to complete the work programme. It will also make some analyses more difficult. However, at this stage we consider the impact to be manageable and also we do have the flexibility to readjust some of the final trial areas.