My answer from my MP when asked to vote against the cull :-/ Dear Mrs Holmes Thank you for your email about the badger cull. I know this is an upsetting and tendentious issue, but I am afraid I support the Government’s stance on this, especially as every effort is being made to ensure the cull is conducted along humane lines, and a vaccination that guarantees protection against TB is simply not available as yet, making this cull completely necessary as a means to control this dreadful disease. Bovine TB is a serious disease and its incidence has been increasing steadily since the 1980s with the number of new cases doubling every nine years. In the last 10 years the disease has cost the taxpayer £500 million. The Government remains committed to using all available means to address this disease. Pilot badger culls are proceeding in Somerset and Gloucestershire and an area in Dorset is being prepared as a reserve. As I understand it, the monitoring of effectiveness in terms of badger removal, humaneness and safety in the pilot areas will be overseen and evaluated by an independent panel of experts who will report their findings to Ministers. A decision will then be taken on wider roll-out. As a consequence of this rigorous and independent evaluation process I believe it is right that the final decision will be reported to Parliament in 2014. The “good Practice Guidelines” for the badger cull pilots agreed with Natural England set out the features to be complied with as the best basis for badgers being killed humanely. Adherence to this good practice is being monitored by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratory Agency (AHVLA). A scientifically valid sample of 120 badger carcasses killed during direct observations will also be subject to post mortem examination by the AHVLA. A further 120 carcasses killed by the same marksmen on an unobserved occasion will also have post mortems to ensure standards are being met. I am assured that this information will then be reviewed by a group of independent scientific experts. There is now very clear evidence from Ireland that badger culling has worked, and that earlier huge investment in non-wildlife interventions in the late 80s and early 90s in Ireland led to no improvement in the disease situation. The cattle control measures implemented in the Republic of Ireland in the past 10 years are virtually the same as those that have been introduced in the high TB areas in England. However, in Ireland as a result of culling, the number of infected cattle has now fallen from more than 28,000 to a little over 18,000, and the trend is clearly downwards. In England restrictions on cattle movements have been further strengthened to reduce the chance of disease spreading, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) continues to look at ways to improve the testing of cattle for TB. The Government has also funded and developed an injectable badger vaccine but this has its limitations. Badgers need to be trapped before they can be vaccinated, and the process has to be repeated annually for many years. In addition, the vaccine is not 100 per cent effective in preventing TB. As a result, current vaccines will not be as effective as culling in reducing the spread of the disease. DEFRA is also planning to invest a further £11.7m in vaccine development over the next three years to develop an oral vaccine for badgers, which may be cheaper and more effective than an injectable vaccine, in addition to a vaccine for cattle. However, it will be many years before these methods are available and the vaccination of our national herd is prohibited by EU legislation. Our cattle industry cannot wait that long. It is therefore vital that the Government uses every tool at its disposal to check the progress of this devastating disease. Because I believe that the Government is taking every measure that is both humane and required, I will not be signing the EDM you cite. The Secretary of State knows of the strong feelings this matter is summoning, and I am sorry that I am sending on a reply which I know you will find disappointing. Thank you again for taking the time to contact me about this important issue. Yours sincerely James Arbuthnot ____________________________________ Office of the Rt Hon James Arbuthnot, MP House of Commons London SW1A 0AA Website: jamesarbuthnot Rt Hon James Arbuthnot North East Hampshire House of Commons _____________________________
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 10:29:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015