Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
(asked on 29th June 2022) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact the badger cull on levels of bovine tuberculosis among cattle.
The badger cull has led to a significant reduction in bovine TB as demonstrated by the publication of independent academic research. TB levels are monitored in all cull areas annually, and more in depth epidemiological analysis conducted by Downs et al (2019)[1], has shown that the incidence of TB breakdowns in cattle herds in the first cull areas of Somerset and Gloucestershire has fallen substantially, by 37% and 66% respectively, relative to matched un-culled (comparison) areas.