Evidence for Badger Cull in England

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Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

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Dear Mr Raven

Please see attached an acknowledgement to your Freedom of Information
request, which was received by Defra on 8^th June 2010.

<<RFI 3383 Acknowledgement to Matt Raven.doc>>

Regards

Benjamin Rees

Bovine TB Programme

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

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CCU Ref: DWOE189502

July 2010

Dear Mr Raven,

BOVINE TB AND BADGER CULLING

Thank you for your email of 8 June about badger culling as a measure to
control the spread of bovine TB.

The Coalition has committed that, as part of a package of measures, we
will introduce a carefully-managed and science-led policy of badger
control in areas with high and persistent levels of bovine TB.???

Since the end of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT), regular (6
monthly) monitoring has continued in the proactively culled and
survey-only areas. Two scientific papers reporting the results of these
post-trial analyses have been published:

1) Jenkins, HE., Woodroffe, R., Donnelly, CA, 2008. The effects of
annual widespread badger culls on cattle tuberculosis following the
cessation of culling. International Journal of Infectious Disease 12:
457-465.
2) Jenkins, HE., Woodroffe, R., Donnelly, CA, 2010. The duration of
the effects of repeated widespread badger culls on cattle tuberculosis
following the cessation of culling. PLoS ONE. 5(2):e9090,
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0009090

The Government will need to consider all the issues carefully, including
the scientific evidence, to work out the detail of the package to ensure
it is right. Vaccine and culling options will be looked at as part of that
package.

I hope that this email is helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Brendon Lancaster
Defra - Customer Contact Unit

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

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If you have received it in error you have no authority to use, disclose,
store or copy any of its contents and you should destroy it and inform the
sender.
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Communications on Defra's computer systems may be monitored and/or
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CCU Ref: DWOE191268

July 2010

Dear Mr Raven,

BOVINE TB AND BADGER CULLING

Thank you for your email of 7 July about bovine TB and badger culling. I
have been asked to reply.

As stated in our previous email, the Coalition has committed, as part of a
package of measures, to develop affordable options for a
carefully-managed and science-led policy of badger control in areas with
high and persistent levels of bovine TB.********* We need to consider all
the issues carefully, including the scientific evidence, to work out the
detail of the package to ensure we get it right. A large part of this
evidence is from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT), and the
continued analysis of the data from this trial.

The latest published analysis of the data was by Jenkins et al. (2010),
which you quote in your email. Jenkins et al looked at TB incidence over a
5 year culling period, plus 2.5 years after culling stopped. Over this
period, they found a 28.7% (95% Confidence Interval: 20.7 to 35.8% lower)
reduction in TB incidence in the proactively culled areas of the RBCT, and
no significant difference in incidence in the 2km ring of land surrounding
these areas. The Jenkins et al. paper states that these reductions in
incidence, "were not sustained in the long term after culling ended." This
finding is being taken into consideration in the development of a badger
control policy as part of a package of measures aiming to achieve a
sustained reduction in TB in cattle.

The Jenkins et al paper also states that the reductions in TB incidence
"did not offset the financial costs of culling". This economic analysis is
based on the particular way the RBCT was carried out and funded. We are
currently looking at various approaches to funding a policy of badger
control in order to ensure that a policy is financially viable as well as
effective in tackling the disease.

There was some concern that the conclusions of the Jenkins et al paper
went further than the data allowed. Therefore, Defra's Chief Scientific
Adviser asked a group of independent experts (the Bovine TB Science
Advisory Body) to review the paper. The group concluded that the main
conclusion of the paper that, "badger culling is unlikely to contribute
effectively to the control of cattle TB in Britain," was too wide-ranging.
The group also said that the economic analysis in the paper had not
considered the effect of culling for a longer period, or the longer term
economic benefits of reducing TB incidence in a large area. The report of
this group can be downloaded at:
[1]http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmani...

Defra is continuing to fund the collection of TB incidence data in the
RBCT areas. Figures are collated on a six-monthly basis and analysed to
see whether the badger culling carried out during the RBCT continues to
have an effect on cattle herd breakdowns. Updated figures published in May
2010 indicated that the beneficial effect of culling on cattle herd
breakdowns may persist for longer than previously thought. However, to be
fully confident that this is the case, it will be necessary to look at
figures from the next six-monthly time period, which are expected to be
published shortly.

I hope that this email is helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Frank Munro
Defra - Customer Contact Unit

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