Farmers vs scientists over badger cull

AFTER a ten-year investigation costing £50 million, scientists have decided that the spread of bovine TB cannot be stopped by the cull of thousands of badgers, it was revealed today.

The disease is mainly confined to the South West of England but, with memories of the rapid spread of foot and mouth still fresh in the minds of environment department officials, this has been achieved by strict testing and transport rules - carried out mainly at the farmers' expense.

Badgers are widely believed to spread the disease amongst cattle but the wholesale slaughter of such much-loved animals has been hotly opposed by many countryside groups. This has meant that infected cattle have been culled instead.

This infuriated the National Farmers' Union and to investigate, the old Ministry of Agriculture ten years ago set up an enquiry of impendent scientists to recommend further action. That committee reported yesterday and disappointed farmers by saying a badger cull - which would have to be repeated every four years - was not the answer and could even make matters worse by causing diseased badgers to migrate to other areas.

What is needed, decided the Independent Scientific Group was a science-based approach - presumably some sort of immunisation programme - but admitted that this would be very expensive for farmers and Defra.

This news depressed affected farmers even more because Defra's funding had already been slashed by the Treasury and extra millions to tackle bovine TB are unlikely in the near future.