Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress they have made
towards identifying a vaccine for eradicating bovine
tuberculosis.
(Con)
My Lords, I declare my farming and land management interests as
set out in the register. A candidate vaccine, CattleBCG, has been
identified. The Animal and Plant Health Agency, APHA, has also
developed a companion candidate test to detect infections among
vaccinated animals. This represents a major scientific
breakthrough. Field trials are ongoing and, if successful, will
move us closer to being able to vaccinate cattle in England
against this insidious disease. Deploying a vaccine against TB in
cattle remains a top government priority, but I am pleased to say
that vaccinating badgers against TB is already a reality.
(Con)
I thank my noble friend for his positive and most encouraging
reply. Bovine TB devastates both emotionally and financially
those farmers who find that their herds contain positive
reactors. It also hangs a Damocles sword over those neighbours
who fear infection contagion, as we are experiencing with the
current ever-expanding TB cluster in Kent. I ask my noble friend
to agree with me that, given that deer are carriers of TB and the
national deer herd is at a historical high and still increasing,
we must accelerate all preventive measures at pace across all
possible carriers, whether by way of the vaccine he has described
for cattle or the contraceptive feed that has proved so
successful with American white-tailed deer.
(Con)
My noble friend is absolutely right to raise the issue of other
species that carry bovine TB. Deer are not a protected species
so, if evidence emerges that deer are involved in the spread of
TB in a particular location, measures can be taken to control the
population. In Great Britain, deer are generally considered to be
spillover hosts of TB—that is, they are unlikely to sustain the
infection within their own population in the absence of infected
cattle or a wildlife reservoir.
(Lab)
I declare my interest as a farmer in Cheshire. Badger controls
are an emotive issue. Does the Minister agree that where a policy
based on science is found to work in practice, care should be
taken before abandoning it? Over the four culling years between
2016 and 2023, across three subregions in Cheshire a reduction
just short of 51% of herds under restriction was achieved. This
is not to be dismissed lightly, when there is in fact little
evidence in England of the effectiveness of a vaccine that has
operational difficulties. Does it not make sense to allow all
areas of England to undertake a cull to control disease in
cattle, disease in badgers and stress in rural communities before
introducing vaccination?
(Con)
The noble Lord is absolutely right on the 56% reduction in
incidence in cattle; that was one of the statistics I had
prepared for the Dispatch Box. With our culling strategy, we will
continue to follow the science. Culling will remain part of our
toolkit for tackling this insidious disease for as long as
necessary. However, we are moving to the next phase of our long-
term strategy, which will also focus on wider-scale badger
vaccination as the primary TB control measure in badgers.
(CB)
My Lords, a cattle vaccine will be a very valuable tool in
controlling bovine tuberculosis, but it is likely to be several
years before it is rolled out. In the hotspots of TB in the
south-west of England, there is mounting evidence that outbreaks
and breakdowns in herds are being linked to the continuing
presence of infected cattle in those herds that are not detected
by the current statutory tests. Will His Majesty’s Government
urgently support the introduction, as a mandatory requirement, of
additional diagnostic tests, which exist and are well proven, to
aid the detection of such carrier cattle and their removal from
herds? That would expediate the eradication of this terrible
disease.
(Con)
My Lords, I defer to the far greater knowledge and experience of
the noble Lord, , in this area than my own. No
diagnostic test for TB or other diseases is 100% accurate. The
causes of recurrent cattle TB breakdowns in areas of endemic
bovine tuberculosis are complex and manifold. The skin test is
useful as a primary screening test and is supplemented by
approved, ancillary tests where needed, based on stringent risk
assessments. Defra supports the development of new diagnostic
tests for TB and encourages test providers to seek World
Organisation for Animal Health validation for UK regulatory
approval.
of Hardington Mandeville
(LD)
My Lords, Scotland has maintained its status as free of bovine
TB, despite minor outbreaks. It also has a population of badgers
and deer. In the past, one Welsh farmer lost 500 cattle to the
disease. An outbreak of bovine TB can have a devastating effect
on a dairy farmer. Given the density of dairy cattle in the
south-west, is it not time for the Government to take a much
stronger line on preventing the disease spreading by speeding up
the vaccination programme so that farmers can protect their herds
and livelihoods?
(Con)
I take on board what the noble Baroness said and agree with much
of it. As we all saw from the pandemic, diseases and viruses do
not respect borders. The Welsh Government are pursuing a
different strategy and seeing the incidence of bovine
tuberculosis increase in Wales; that goes completely against what
we are doing. For cross-border livestock trading, this is
incredibly worrying—I say that as someone who comes from
Oswestry, a market town.
of Ullock (Lab)
My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the Rare Breeds
Survival Trust. I really appreciated the thoughtful contribution
from the noble Lord, , on alternatives to a cull;
that has to be the way forward. How does the Minister anticipate
that the government Bill to ban live exports, particularly given
the exceptions that it includes, will tie in to the need to
review existing trade standards for exports of vaccinated
animals?
(Con)
Defra is engaging with WOAH, the European Commission and
international trading partners. On completion of field trials of
the vaccine and the new DIVA test, we will submit a formal
application to WOAH as part of the process of gaining
international recognition. Many countries worldwide battle with
bovine TB and will be interested in developments in England, but
I cannot make specific mention of anything that will be included
in a future Bill.
(Con)
My Lords, farmers will appreciate what my noble friend the
Minister said: the cull will continue, as scientific evidence
shows it to be working very well. Can he also comment on the
reported increase of ground-nesting birds in areas where the cull
has been effected? It has increased biodiversity in those
areas.
(Con)
My noble friend is right to raise this: biodiversity net gain is
a key Defra priority. Badger culling has been linked with
positive effects in some bird species, although recent studies by
the British Trust for Ornithology, looking at the effect of
badger culling, have not found consistent evidence for effects of
the badger cull on breeding bird populations. Badgers are known
to predate bumble bee nests, which is increasingly worrying. The
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust is currently conducting
research to investigate the impact of badger culling on bumble
bee density.
(CB)
My Lords, is it not about time that we put badgers more on the
basis of deer—permissible culling throughout the country? People
see deer old and diseased, and everybody realises what the
problem is. With badgers, they have no idea of the cruelty going
on underground with sick badgers, old badgers, badgers without
teeth and badgers with broken legs. That is where that love of
badgers leads. If we culled them generally, we would know where
TB really was in the badger population, instead of just taking it
out in these super-big culls.
(Con)
My Lords, as I explained earlier, we are moving to the next
phase, a targeted approach to badger culling.
