Research points finger at cattle in TB transfer row

The row over how to tackle the problem of bovine tuberculosis took a new turn this week, after researchers reported there was evidence to show widespread transmission of the disease from cattle to badgers.

The Badger Trust highlighted research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States, which suggested that cattle-to-badger transmission may be more of an issue than previously thought.

“The results suggest that it may be helpful… to replace the traditional paradigm of a wildlife ‘reservoir host’ from which infection ‘spills over’ into livestock with a more dynamic picture, including substantial transmission both within and between alternative host species,” it said.

The paper, based on statistics gathered as part of the Krebs trial, also claimed that killing badgers on a targeted basis increased bovine TB in surrounding areas, because it encouraged diseased badgers to move into areas that were previously clear of the disease.

Trevor Lawson, spokesman for the Badger Trust, claimed the findings confirmed beyond doubt that cattle were major vectors of bovine TB and that badger culling was not a solution.

“The NFU and other farming lobby groups should now have the courage to immediately withdraw their unsupported demands for state-sponsored badger culls,” he said.

But NFU deputy president, Meurig Raymond, insisted the clear message from the research was that TB needed to be tackled in the badger population as well as in cattle.

Mr Raymond said that, although there was a theoretical risk that cattle could pass TB to badgers, this risk had been largely eliminated by the cattle controls in place, and was in any case much lower than the risk of badgers spreading disease to cattle.

“Cattle do not secrete huge numbers of TB bacilli in the way that badgers do unless they are in the final stages of infection, by which time the condition would have become painfully apparent to the farmer and his vet,” he said.

“The results of this survey will be extremely helpful in designing strategies for culling diseased badgers, but they also confirm that such strategies will be essential if TB is to be defeated.”

Meanwhile, the south-west NFU is urging the union nationally not to enter any discussions with the government about the imposition of a disease “levy” until it acts against TB in badgers.

Livestock board chairman, Michael Weaver, said: “It is adding insult to injury even to discuss the possibility of yet more financial burdens being heaped upon them when the government is sitting back and doing nothing whatsoever.”