They stopped the slaughter because of the threat of judicial review.
All their lies would have been public
http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2013/08/27/comment-the-badger-cull-is-an-act-of-deceit-and-neglect
By Dominic Dyer
Science has been of critical importance throughout my career, from my time in the Ministry of Agriculture to working in the food manufacturing and crop protection industries and my role today in the wildlife protection field.
I recall chairing a debate at the Tory party conference in 2011, on the importance of science to the future of farming and food production, with agriculture minister Jim Paice, National Farmers' union (NFU) president Peter Kendall and director of the Soil Association Helen Browning.
We all agreed at the time on the importance of underpinning farm and environment policy with sound scientific research, which commands public confidence.
I have since found it very disappointing that each of these individuals have forgotten the importance of this issue and have thrown their support behind a badger cull policy which has no credible scientific justification, and is simply a political decision to appease farming interests despite huge opposition from most leading scientists, conservationists and the general public.
I have since found it very disappointing that each of these individuals have forgotten the importance of this issue and have thrown their support behind a badger cull policy which has no credible scientific justification, and is simply a political decision to appease farming interests despite huge opposition from most leading scientists, conservationists and the general public.
If I was chairing this debate again, I would point out that the badger cull policy is fatally flawed as it is built on three pillars of sand: negligence, incompetence and deceit.
Negligence because in 2001 during the foot and mouth outbreak, NFU president Ben Gill pressured prime minister Tony Blair to give up on his plans to vaccinate cattle to stop the spread of the disease in favour of a national cull policy.
Once this cull had been completed, NFU pushed for a speedy restocking of cattle from TB hot spot areas, with no TB testing systems in place. This resulted in a trebling of the spread of bovine TB within 18 months and remains a key factor in the high level of TB in cattle and badgers today.
Negligence because Defra and the NFU have failed to get on top of the spread of bovine TB by taking the necessary steps to improve farm bio-security, tighten cattle control movements and improve TB testing systems.
Most farmers are unwilling to spend money on putting in new fencing and securing cattle pens and food stores to prevent interaction between badgers and cattle, despite contact with badgers being cited regularly by the government and the NFU as a key driver for the spread of bovine TB.
To make matters worse, over 13 million cattle movements take place every year in the UK, a higher figure than any other country in Europe, which also inevitably leads to an increase in the spread of the disease.
Incompetence because the free shooting of badgers at night will undoubtedly result in huge animal suffering and large numbers of animals being wounded and moving between setts, increasing the risk of spreading bovine TB to wider areas, which is the exact opposite of the what the cull is seeking to achieve.
Deceit because although we are told bovine TB is a crisis for the farming industry, the public were not aware not until the recent Sunday Time front page story that over 30,000 cattle slaughtered for TB infection every year go directly into the food chain with no labelling or traceability, a trade which generates over £10 million per annum for Defra to offset against its TB cattle slaughter scheme.
Deceit because since January new tighter cattle control and TB testing systems forced on the UK government by the European Commission have resulted in a steady decline in the rate of bovine TB compared to 2012, yet Defra and the NFU make no mention of these reductions in their press statements and continue to paint a very bleak picture of the spread of the disease to justify the cull policy.
Deceit because the government has no plans to test any of the 5,500 badgers to be shot over the next few weeks for TB. This is despite the fact that the NFU and wildlife conservation groups are calling for tests to be undertaken, including the use of new DNA technology to provide a clearer picture of the various strains of TB in badgers and how this impacts on the transmission of TB to cattle.
Farmers have worked hard to earn the respect of the public as stewards and protectors of the countryside and its wildlife. Over the next few weeks this reputation will be torn apart in the public glare of a hugely unpopular policy, which will result in the needless slaughter of thousands of a protected species.
Despite David Cameron telling farmers he believes his support for the badger cull policy is a courageous move, he would have been wiser to have listened to the advice of leading scientists such as Lord Krebbs, Sir John Beddington and Sir Bob Watson, about the dangers of pursuing a policy for political rather than scientific reasons.
Dominic Dyer is policy advisor at Care for the Wild International
The opinions in Politics.co.uk's Comment and Analysis section are those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the website or its owners.
Helen Browning and the Soil Association have asked it to be made clear that they strongly support vaccination regarding Bovine TB. The official statement of the Soil Association can be found here.
Chris Curran · Top Commenter · University of Exeter
Excellent article on the badger cull well worth reading and understanding the details of the government's deceit.
Patsi Waite
Like Peter Reynolds, I too adore animals and that is why I do not eat them. I respect them instead. I also respect the opinions of people such as Sir David Attenborough, who is complete opposed to this mindless slaughter of badgers. The whole thing stinks of politics and nothing more.
Garry White · Follow · Burnage Grammar School
Peter, I'm afraid your unreasoned rant at all these ignorant townies looks unbelievably pathetic alongside all of their sensible well informed arguments against this unbelievable and pointless cull of badgers. You appear to have bought the governments and NFU's propaganda wholesale without actually taking the slightest notice of the preponderance of scientific data available demonstrating the policy as not merely dodgy but massively and fatally flawed. It is merely a sop by a right wing government to the huge farming lobby made up of their mates.
Fortunately not all Farmers are as blinkered and unthinking as yourself. There are many totally against this cull, not because they enjoy having their herds infected but because they have thought long and deeply about it and are convinced that the badger isn't the problem... it is bT...See More
Chris Gallagher · Oxford, Oxfordshire
Really Peter? Perhaps you can answer a few questions for me that I'm struggling with, since I clearly live in the fantasy world to which you refer.
Extricating myself from the world of Peter Rabbit for a moment, please do educate me:
1. "All other countries with lower incidences of TB in cattle have implemented culls of infected species".
Presumably by "infected species", you mean "badgers"? Are badgers the only "infected species" with TB then? When last I looked, I believe humans still catch TB.
And what of "all other countries". Perhaps you'd like to be more specific about which countries, when they culled the badgers and outline the causal relationship between any cull and the decrease in TB. Only the scientists haven't been able to do so just yet so this is breaking news for all of us....
2. The Government specialist...See More
Peter Reynolds · Follow · Top Commenter · President / Leader at Cannabis Law Reform - Clear· 1,883 subscribers
Cristina Parker · Top Commenter
That is yet another lie from Defra, continually repeated, that no country has erradicated bTB without dealing with the source in wildlife. What Defra's own document actually says is that MANY countries have erradicated bTB by dealing with the vectors. See the last line in bold type in the heading and then ask yourself why they continually lie.
Freedom of Information is a wonderful thing
http://archive.defra.gov.uk/ foodfarm/farmanimal/ diseases/atoz/tb/control/ tuberculin.htm
Kaz Sumatran Tiger Cobb · Follow · Top Commenter · Works at Spots & Stripes Conservation · 135 subscribers
Considering since 1992 there has been a law, law which we are told to follow which is "The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 makes it an offence for anyone to kill or injure a badger, or cause damage a badger’s sett" how come the Gov. and DEFRA and all of a sudden decide to forget this point of law. They are using Countries and role models, Countries that don't even have Badgers as they scientific basis. Sorry but this whole saga is a farce and full of lies and deception.
Alan Petrie · Peterborough, United Kingdom
Well said Dominic Dyer. Some common sense after the bizarre ravings of Owen Paterson yesterday. Remember that not one herd breakdown has ever been proved to have been caused by badgers. I call on the people of this country to boycott all NFU farms and products until this mindless slaughteris stopped for good.
Rob Willsher
I have been following the news on the Badger cull and find the reasons for the cull both disgusting and Ill informed. As a biology student at university some years ago one of my case studies was on Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although not the Bovine strain the latter is a member of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and obviously has similar characteristics to the Bovine equivalent. Now Mycobacterium tuberculosis complexes can lay dormant for years and is often triggered by ill health, lack of nutrition, overcrowding and stress.
So is Mr Badger the scapegoat? I would suggest yes and an easy one at that, for Mr Farmer and his cattle farming friends can't take the blame or can they. Lets look at how intensive farming works, in brief as much produce for as cheap as possible. So we have situations where cattle are kept in large cramped conditions which in turn leads to stress thus a lowering of their immune systems that will obvious make them more vulnerable to diseases including the one that the Badger is blamed for. Has there been any studies done on cases of non intensive farming and rates of TB compared to intensive farming and cases of TB? If there have I wonder what they will show? Just a thought maybe its farming practice that needs to be changed.
Phil W @Pwookey 22m
ReplyDelete@slugsrool @adam_j666 @DefraGovUK They stopped the slaughter because of the threat of judicial review.All their lies would have been public
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