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TB Free England. Lots of independent and reliable information about bovine TB. Unbiased information about bTB, its causes and methods of control.
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Chris Benfield of the Yorkshire Post reports on worrying figures about the number of animals slaughtered following positive bovine TB tests where post-mortem tests have raised doubts Only about one in three of the farm animals slaughtered in order to contain TB in cattle over the past few years has been confirmed as infected after death, a Yorkshire Post inquiry has discovered. In most cases, there has been no post-mortem examination, despite scientific advice to the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs to prove the reliability of its tests. The checks that have been made have produced nearly as many inconclusive results as confirmations.
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The main repository for DEFRA information on TB.
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DEFRA's report, 'Options for vaccinating cattle against bovine tuberculosis', by the Veterinary Team bTB Programme, Food and Farming Group (last updated 12 July 2007), said that cattle vaccination has potential benefits to reduce prevalence, incidence and spread of bTB in the cattle population. The BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guerin, the human TB vaccine) was suggested as the lead vaccine candidate in the short to medium term.
DEFRA revealed, several times, in the 2010 consultation document, Bovine Tuberculosis: the Government's approach to tackling the disease and consultation on a badger control policy' (September 2010, para 62), that a vaccination (BCG) for cattle would be licensed in 2012 (with the DIVA test). Professor Glyn Hewinson of the Veterinary Laboratories Agency at Weybridge also confirmed this during the BBC's On the Farm broadcast on 19th December 2010 and again in September 2012 when Hewinson indicated the license had been applied for but we are apparently still years away from cattle vaccination being legalised and actual field trials can't start because of current EU regulations. . This is just not good enough and if the political will existed we could get a derogation..The BCG vaccine will not give 100% protection (estimates range from 50 -70%) and is not perfect – but then neither is the existing skin (or blood) test (estimates range from 70%). Vaccination does not give absolute immunity but it significantly increases natural resistance to the disease and can provide herd immunity. Bearing in mind the average lifespan of cattle, it could therefore be used as the basis for a successful control, rather than eradication, policy. It will be easier for farmers and cheaper in the long term too as cattle would no longer have to be slaughtered needlessly (with subsequent compensation costs) just because they are reactors or unconfirmed reactors to an unreliable skin or blood test.
The stumbling block, we are told, is the EU and procedures involved, which, according to Defra could not be completed until 2015 but more recently this date has changed yet again even further into the distant future. This is not good enough and derogation should be sought NOW so a vaccination programme can be started for cattle as a matter of urgency.
Vaccination has been successful in trials in Ethiopia and Mexico (New Zealand and Argentina too are considering vaccination) where the BCG vaccination can still be used. Countries like Ethiopia insist they cannot afford to keep culling cattle needlessly - can we here in the UK? Interestingly, the BCG vaccination was only made illegal here in the 50's when the skin test became compulsory. This was because vaccinated cattle showed up as reactors to the test.
If cattle are vaccinated there may then be no need to tackle wildlife reservoirs, thereby saving these costs too. In these times of severe financial restraint and public cuts affecting so many people, the onus is on our politicians to choose affordable options. The Government has persistently failed to adequately justify the need for the existing expensive, archaic and draconian bovine TB policy, either on the grounds of human or animal health or even on economic grounds. Change is needed - and now!
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The different perspectives of the scientist and the public can be summarised by saying that scientific experts seek to reduce uncertainty while stakeholders and the public aspire to learn the truth. The scientific method is rarely suitable to be applied by itself when taking decisions on public policy. This paper draws on the author's knowledge of how some real policy decisions were made and seeks to draw general conclusions on the best way to make judgements in these circumstances ...
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The reason for this mass slaughter was that last November a highly controversial new blood test, lately favoured by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, had shown 89 of the Yewdalls' north Devon herd to be infected with TB.
But when the cattle were subjected the same day to the long-proven "skin test", only one showed a positive reaction. The discrepancy was so glaring that Tony Yewdall, twice president of the Guernsey Society, pleaded with Defra for a re-test. Local officials were sympathetic but were overruled by London, which insisted that no further tests could be allowed - and eventually all 89 animals were destroyed.
Defra claims its blood test picks up TB "in its early stages". But post mortems last week showed only five cows to have been infected. If the test was reliable, TB should by now have been raging in them all. Thus 84 healthy cows were unnecessarily killed, costing taxpayers nearly £100,000 in compensation alone. The farm's losses are estimated at £100,000 more.
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This is a link to the web page for Shambo, the Temple Bull at Skanda Vale in South Wales. It tells the whole story, right from the start of their battle with the ministry, to the slaughter of Shambo.
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This link is a video of a TB test undertaken in February 2008. Please note that the tester appears to be relying on his hands to 'feel' for any swellings and is not using calipers.
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In September 2008 – I lost my first beloved male alpaca to Bovine TB. When I got the PM results and was told it was TB I was devastated. At the time all I needed and wanted was to talk to someone else going through the nightmare. I had a million and one questions that I needed answering and only someone going through it would have been able to help. My first call was to BAS (British Alpaca Society) who had very little information on the subject despite at the time they told me 14 other alpaca farms were under restriction to TB. I asked them to put me in touch with a fellow sufferer as I needed advice and support as there was no information available to me. They never put me in contact with anyone and I felt I was the only one this has happened to and I felt very alone and totally isolated. For the past 2 years I have been Regional Group Welfare Rep and was therefore surprised I hadn’t been informed of how many losses there were to TB nor how we can deal with the problem. We received over 20 emails from them on Blue Tongue but none on TB. I have questioned them many times on this and they still haven’t explained why.
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PAC is a local group formed in response to the Welsh Assembly Government's decision to cull badgers in North Pembrokeshire. Unfortunately, the belief still exists in some quarters that culling badgers will help reduce the incidence of Bovine Tuberculosis in cattle even though recent scientific trials show this not to be the case. PAC is deeply concerned about the impact of bTB on the farming community but believes other methods including vaccination and cattle control measures to be the correct way to tackle the disease.
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So the Fera employee (Woodchester Park, Glos) with suspected TB did not have the disease and neither did anyone else at the centre. One member of staff was found to have a latent infection but is apparently well, with no clinical symptoms and is at work - if he was an animal he would be culled.
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In the desire to meet political targets and deadlines the 'hidden' costs of the policy in terms of human (and animal) suffering are ignored. The only report to deal with this area is by the independent group Farm Crisis Network
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There are cases where cattle owners have tried to get positive test reactions so they can claim compensation for their animals. Some are discovered, how many are not?
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There are cases where cattle owners have tried to get positive test reactions so they can claim compensation for their animals. Some are discovered, how many are not?
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Well referenced Bovine TB testing report dated 2006 which reveals some interesting facts and statistics relating to both the skin test and blood test.
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Paul R. Torgerson and David J. Torgerson believe policy needs to change. They are authors of the report published in November 2009, Public Health and Bovine Tuberculosis: What's All The Fuss About? In their report they propose that bTB control in cattle is irrelevant as a public health policy. They provide evidence to confirm that cattle-to-human transmission is negligible. They also state that aerosol transmission, the only probable route of human acquisition, occurs at inconsequential levels when milk is pasteurised, even when bTB is highly endemic in cattle. Furthermore, they believe there is little evidence for a positive cost benefit in terms of animal health of bTB control. Such evidence is required; otherwise, there is little justification for the large sums of public money spent on bTB control in the UK.
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Badger culls are unlikely to be a cost-effective way of controlling bovine tuberculosis in cattle, a report from the Imperial College London and Zoological Society of London (commissioned by DEFRA) warns.
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Farmers are being severely affected by the policy which is ruining businesses and causing associated problems as this recent case proves.
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An interesting site with useful and interesting discussions on the subject of bovine TB. It is regularly updated.
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Revealing the devastating effects a herd breakdown can have on a well established, and well respected farming business.
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The skin test poses real health and safety risks for farmers. In April 2010 an Irish farmer (from Moyne, North Longford), was injured whilst his cattle were being tested for bTB. He was pronounced dead when he reached hospital.
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Is this example of heavy-handedness by the Welsh Assembly Government going to become commonplace? Are our rights for peaceful protest being eroded? For some reason bovine TB has become an excuse to exercise draconian powers.
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Government reports and other information relating to badgers and bTB
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Vaccinating cattle against bTB - the options.
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Bovine TB: The Government's Strategic Framework for the supposedly sustainable control of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in Great Britain, 2005/2015
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Tuberculosis Alert by Mark Purdey - Dispatches from behind the iron curtain of a British 'biohazard'. European livestock farmers dread the day when their cattle succumb to a tuberculosis breakdown. The implications are severe; a ruthless cull of infected cattle and badgers, with all remaining healthy cattle impounded behind an iron curtain of government mandated movement restrictions and red tape. The knock on effects have virtually paralysed small farming businesses into a state of financial melt down. Mark Purdey, 'seeking the truth through science' was a scientist and an organic dairy farm who was not afraid to speak out on subjects that were politically sensitive if he felt there were vested interests and doubts regarding policy. He investigated and wrote about BSE, organophosphates and TB. Sadly he died suddenly in November 2006 but his work remains very relevant.
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The current approach of the UK veterinary establishment towards the control of TB remains rooted to the reductionist mindset of bygone times; the uncivilised world of blanket slaughtering and badly managed "Badgerogeddons" that are naively aimed at achieving the impossible – to annihilate the TB agent from the face of the earth.
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Cattle vaccination has potential benefits to reduce prevalence, incidence and spread of bTB in the cattle population. Vaccination could help prevent breakdowns by preventing herds becoming infected by any
source - wildlife or cattle and could also reduce the severity of a herd breakdown. Vaccination that is less than 100% effective will not guarantee all cattle are fully protected from infection and therefore vaccination alone cannot be used to define disease free status. Lead vaccine candidate in the short to medium term is BCG.
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Interesting links to bovine TB information and debate, with particular reference to culling of badgers.
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Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs. Others are starting to question the wider programme.
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This websites (run by Dianne Summers, alpaca owner and Gina Bromage, a vet) provides detailed help, information and advice to those who suffer a bTB breakdown in their herd. It provides information to owners through the sometimes traumatic experience that bTB brings. It is also to educate all camelid owners about bTB with the hope that the advice given will greatly reduce the risks involved.
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The Small Farms Association's view on TB is that there should be a concerted effort to put in place a nationwide TB vaccination programme for cattle, which could be administered by vets, on behalf of DEFRA, for the first time following a negative herd TB test. Future boosters to be administered, by DEFRA vets, as and when necessary.
The government should continue to look for a vaccine which does not cloud the TB test results, but this problem should NOT prevent something being done now to avoid the huge costs and waste, not to mention the distress and economic problems to cattle farmers.
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Evidence Plans are part of Defra‟s business planning processes. They have been developed for each policy programme, ongoing function or hub with a substantial evidence base. This one relates to bovine TB.
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A cull of badgers significant enough to work will generate a huge public reaction and raises big questions about our relationship with the natural world.
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Website, and associated databases, initiated in response to the need of the Mycobacterium bovis molecular typing community for standardisation of nomenclature. The website is supported by DEFRA and the VLA, Weybridge.
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An interesting site full of useful, well researched information. InfluentialPoints concludes:
'We are not saying here that vaccination is the silver bullet to eradicate bovine TB - it is not. But, if we want feasible cost-effective control of bovine TB, we need to vaccinate both badgers and cattle now.'
'The proposed reactive (and no doubt very patchy) badger cull makes no sense scientifically, and may well worsen the situation.'
'Given these facts, could it be the UK government has adopted' a dysfunctional disease control policy merely to placate wealthy livestock farmers and avoid spending money?'
InfluentialPoints provides information and training in statistics for students and professionals working in:
Clinical and Epidemiological Medical Research
Livestock Health and Production
Agricultural, Fisheries and Environmental Science
Ecology, Biodiversity & Wildlife Conservation.
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A spokesman for the Animal, Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) part of government’s DEFRA department said: “Following an audit of TB testing procedures, which identified a failure to follow standard operating procedures, AHVLA has suspended a private veterinary surgeon working in North Wales from operating as a panel 1a (bovine TB testing) official veterinarian, pending re-training.
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Something for the youngsters - promoting the joy of wildlife, and in particular badgers.
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The badger is the scapegoat. Peter Smith, Wildwood Trust's Chief Executive (and a scientist) talks about badgers and the British Farming Industry.
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TB Free England. Unbiased information about bovine TB, its causes and methods of control. This is a totally independent site and nothing to do with the NFU which also has a website with a similar name.
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In January 2013 another person lost his life (an Irish farmer was killed in 2010) whilst involved in bTB testing his herd. He was crushed by a bull. bTB testing is more frequent. Many involved sustain injuries. Cattle too are killed or injured in the process. The Health and Safety Executive is investigating alongside Dyfed-Powys Police
Is the existing policy now having more of an adverse impact on human and cattle welfare than the risks from the disease it is aiming to control/eradicate?
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This report (The Control of Bovine Tuberculosis in Northern Ireland) by the Northern Ireland Audit Office reveal just how unreliable the skin test can be and also refers to fraud.
Bovine TB testing procedures (Part 2 of the Report)
• the limitations of the Bovine TB Skin Test in detecting infected animals
• the cost of testing carried out by Private Veterinary Practitioners (PVPs)
• the quality of work being carried out by a number of PVPs • Departmental supervision of PVP testing
• disciplinary action against PVPs who breach procedures
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Interesting news, research, poliitical views and comments relating to bovine TB from Dr Gordon McGlone.
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