Bovine Tuberculosis (Hansard, 26 April 2002)

§ Mr. Drew
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with the National Farmers Union on the subject of bovine TB. [52414]

§ Mr. Morley
I met the Vice President of the National Farmers Union on Wednesday 24 April to discuss ways forward on bovine TB. Topics included clearing the backlog of TB tests, possible practical measures to manage the risk of bovine TB, and how the economic impact of control measures might be reduced.

§ Mr. Drew
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress is being made on measures to deal with bovine TB, with specific reference to(a) vaccination, (b) husbandry and (c) genetic testing and evolution. [52416]

§ Mr. Morley
The Government has, with advice from the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG), put in place a wide-ranging research programme into bovine TB. The programme is described in the ISG's reports which are available on DEFRA's website at http://defraweb/animalh/tb/. £1.4m is being spent annually on vaccine research and although the sequencing of theM. bovis genome announced recently is an important step forward, the ISG has cautioned that it is likely to be 10 years or so before a successful vaccine is found. On husbandry issues, a vital element of the research programme is an epidemiological questionnaire (TB99) which will give an insight into risk factors associated with husbandry practice and biosecurity. The research programme includes projects on genome sequencing postgenomics and genotyping of M. bovis.

§ Mr. Drew
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on Government advice offered to dairy farmers on the subject of bovine TB. [52415]

§ Mr. Morley
In October 2001 the Chief Veterinary Officer wrote to all cattle keepers enclosing copies of leaflets entitled, TB in cattle reducing the risk and Golden Rules for a healthy herd. The second contains general advice on disease risk assessment when bringing cattle into the herd. Specific advice has been given to all veterinary practices on herd health following the foot and mouth outbreak.