| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
10 Mar 2005 : Column 1917W—continued
Bovine Artificial Insemination
David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether test samples from bulls for artificial insemination purposes may be sent to approved laboratories in other member states of the EU. [219504]
Mr. Bradshaw: Tests to support the official approval of a bull for use in artificial insemination may only be carried out in the member state where the bull resides. Where additional private testing is carried out by the industry to help it monitor the health status of animals, such testing may be carried out in another member state, but the results would not carry official recognition.
David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost of testing a bull for the purpose of artificial insemination is (a) in Great Britain and (b) in Northern Ireland. [219505]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is as follows:
(a) The cost of testing a bull for artificial insemination in Great Britain is governed by the Artificial Insemination (Cattle and Pigs) (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 1992.
(b) The cost of testing a bull for artificial insemination in Northern Ireland is charged under the powers laid down in the Artificial Reproduction of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1975 (as amended). Domestic centres/on-farm collections are not permitted. Bulls are sampled by private veterinary practitioners with financial arrangements agreed between the bull owner and the veterinary practice concerned.
| Category | £ |
|---|---|
| Approval of a bull in accordance with the tests specified in Directive 88/407/EEC for semen collection at an EU centre | |
| Fee for certificate of approval | 41 |
| Charge for laboratory tests | 28.82 |
10 Mar 2005 : Column 1918W
All fees are currently under review as part of the exercise to update controls on the production of bovine semen.
Bovine TB
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of whether biosecurity measures applied by farmers to their cattle herds to prevent contact between cattle and badgers reduce significantly the incidence of endemic infection in badgers. [214166]
Mr. Bradshaw: No such assessment has been made.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the implications of (a) the length of theperiod in cattle affected by bovine tuberculosis before overt lung lesions develop and (b) annual or six-monthly tuberculosis testing and removal of infected animals for the threat of cattle-to-cattle transmission from infected animals. [214705]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is as follows:
(a) The development of disease in individual cattle is variable with no consistent timeframe for those that may go on to develop lung lesions. The period before lung lesions develop depends on factors such as the number of bacilli infecting the lung and the strength of the immune response of the animal.
(b) The sooner infected animals are detected the less likely they are to transmit disease to direct contacts or other herds. Local prevalence of bovine TB is reviewed annually, and this is used to determine parish TB testing frequencies. Areas where disease is more established are tested more regularly and yearly testing is carried out in herds at higher risk of infection. In addition, divisional veterinary managers can increase the level of testing in their areas to reflect changes in the local TB situation.
Testing every six months would detect some infections sooner but there would be resource restraints on such a policy. In order to target resources most effectively, only cattle herds which have recently suffered a TB breakdown are tested after a six-monthly interval.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her most recent estimate of the badger population in England and Wales is; and what estimates have been made of the population during the last 30 years. [214707]
Mr. Bradshaw: Surveys of badger populations in Great Britain were undertaken in the mid-1980's and mid-1990's. In the mid-1980's the badger population was estimated to be 250,000 badgers 1 and in the mid-1990's in the region of 300,000 to 400,000 badgers 2 .
We are not aware of other national surveys and do not have figures for England and Wales or estimates of the population before the mid-1980s.
10 Mar 2005 : Column 1919W
The history, distribution, status and habitat requirements of the badger in Britain. Nature Conservancy Council, Peterborough.
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her most recent estimate is of the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in the West Midlands region. [217128]
Mr. Bradshaw: The estimated incidence of bovine tuberculosis in the West Midlands and surrounding counties for the period 1 January-31 December 2004 is detailed in the following table:
(1) Confirmed new herd incidents as a percentage of tests on unrestricted herds (used as a way of estimating the herd incidence of confirmed TB).
Note:
Provisional data downloaded from the State Veterinary Service database on 15 February 2005. Subject to change as more data become available.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects to announce the outcome of the gamma interferon test to identify cases of bovine TB in cattle. [218766]
Mr. Bradshaw: The gamma-interferon policy pilot is designed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of this test as an ancillary diagnostic tool to identify additional cases of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in cattle herds affected by confirmed TB breakdowns with multiple reactors.
The outcome of the pilot will be announced once the required sample size of herds (approximately 600) has been achieved, or statistically significant differences between the trial and control groups are observed.
As of the end of January 2005, 141 herds had been recruited into the pilot. Herd owners' participation in this study is voluntary. The Veterinary Laboratories Agency will be conducting an interim analysis of the pilot's preliminary results once 150 herds have been recruited and sufficient time has elapsed for a preliminary estimate of the effects of treatments to be calculated.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects a vaccine against bovine TB in (a) badgers and (b) cattle to become available. [219782]
Mr. Bradshaw: The research programme for producing an effective vaccine against tuberculosis in (a) badgers and (b) cattle remains broadly in line with the timetable outlined in the Krebs report (1997). This estimated:
The first stage started in 1999 and is on-going. My department is now planning how to take forward the second stage, taking advice from independent experts on this complex issue.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the conclusions of the Irish four counties bovine TB study regarding the relative methods of badger removal and vaccination as strategies for the elimination of bovine TB. [219784]
Mr. Bradshaw: Advice from the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISO) and Professor Charles Godfray and his group on the report of the Irish Four Area Culling Trial, together with a statement from Defra's Chief Scientific Adviser, was published on Defra's website: (http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb/index.htm) on 1 March.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the merits of reintroduction of reactive culling of badgers to eradicate bovine TB. [220271]
Mr. Bradshaw
[holding answer 7 March 2005]: There is no evidence to suggest that the resumption of reactive culling would reduce the incidence of bovine TB in cattle. The Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG) has continued to collect data from the reactive areas of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial and recent analyses are consistent with results presented in late 2003, with the confidence limits providing no evidence for a beneficial effect of the reactive strategy over the time scale under study. Further detailed investigations based on the distribution of TB breakdowns in space and time are underway to investigate whether the observed increased incidence was linked to proximity to reactive culling. In addition, as further TB incidence data are obtained, the ISG will continue to analyse data from reactive areas. If the TB incidence rates in reactive and survey areas become more similar over time, this finding would indicate that the observed increase in TB breakdowns in reactive areas, compared with survey-only areas, was associated with reactive culling.
10 Mar 2005 : Column 1921W
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |