Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
(asked on 21st 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, if his Department will make an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies of the research by Thomas E.S. Langton et al. entitled Analysis of the impact of badger culling on bovine tuberculosis in cattle in the high-risk area of England 2009–2020, published on 18 March 2022.
The research published by Langton et al[1] in the Veterinary Record contained significant methodological flaws. Analysis was carried out in an unusual manner that masks the effect of culling by incorrectly grouping data, which makes it impossible to assess the impact of culling on cattle TB breakdowns.
A more appropriate inspection of publicly available data would have shown clear declining trends in disease following the start of culling which is not seen in areas without culls. These findings are consistent with the results of the Downs et al[2] study, published in 2019, which demonstrated that culling resulted in significant reductions in TB incidents among cattle herds.
The Chief Veterinary Officer, Christine Middlemiss, and Chief Scientific Adviser, Gideon Henderson, published a letter in the same Veterinary Record edition which outlined these concerns.
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[1] Langton TES, Jones MW, McGill I. Analysis of the impact of badger culling on bovine tuberculosis in cattle in the high-risk area of England, 2009–2020. Vet Rec 2022; doi:10.1002/vetr.1384