This is our submission – delivered this afternoon, to the Government’s current enquiry into the future of the management of bovine TB in cattle. The enquiry is headed up by Sir Charles Godfray.
Our submission is also a declaration of the conclusions we have come to after 12 years of research centred on Gatcombe Farm in Devon. Our findings are viewed as explosive by many – because they implicitly call for an admission that the last 12 years of cattle testing and killing, plus the killing of a quarter of a million badgers, have been a complete failure. This admission puts huge amounts of egg on the face of past Government ministers, scientists, civil servants in DEFRA, past NFU officials, and, specifically, the British Cattle Vets Association, who are still fiercely advocating a policy which has led to a tragedy of colossal proportions for farmers, who have been dealt misery, and the british badgers, who have been dealt, for no justifiable reason, death. Of course members of the BCVA make millions from administering TB skin tests, and an admission that the policy has failed would cut off a major source of income for them. This perhaps makes it hard for them to be impartial ? I feel the big crunch is coming. It’s long overdue.
Bri
