Wales names badger cull review panel

Six weeks after plans to cull badgers in Wales were unexpectedly halted, the scientists who will review the evidence relating bovine TB eradication have been named.

The chairman of the panel, professor Christopher Gaskell, principal of the Royal Agricultural College, was appointed to lead the review last month and will be joined by several leading scientists:

• Professor Sir Mansel Aylward – chairman of Public Health Wales and director of the Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research at Cardiff University
• Professor Malcolm Bennett – co-director of the UK National Centre for Zoonosis Research and professor of Veterinary Pathology at the University of Liverpool
• Professor Bridget Emmett – deputy director of the Biogeochemistry Programme and section head and head of site at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Bangor
• Professor Charles Godfray – fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and Hope Professor at the Department of Zoology of the University of Oxford
• Professor Dirk Pfeiffer – professor of Veterinary Epidemiology and head of the Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health Group in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences at the Royal Veterinary College.

Professor Gaskell said the make up of the panel brought together a range of experience that would enable a full assessment of the evidence that informed the bovine TB eradication programme.

“I very much look forward to working with the panel in taking forward this important work on what is undoubtedly a difficult area,” he said. “The panel will invite and take evidence from experts in the area as appropriate.”

The report is expected to be completed by the autumn.