Let me make some further progress. DEFRA cites the EU prohibition on the vaccination of cattle against TB as the reason why studies to date
“cannot provide a definite figure for vaccine efficacy when administered to cattle under field conditions in the UK”.
Vaccinated cows can test positive for TB when using the current tuberculin skin test and the gamma interferon blood test, making it impossible to differentiate between an animal that has been vaccinated and one that has the disease. However, a complementary test called the DIVA—differentiate between infected and vaccinated animals—test has been developed, which confirms whether a skin test positive result is caused by vaccination or by TB infection. That is what should be validated and certified by the end of the year, according to the DEFRA website. It has the potential to open the door to a change in EU regulation. This Government should go to Europe now—they should have done so years ago—and prepare the policy framework to allow us to use the DIVA test; yet there are precious few signs that DEFRA or, indeed, the Government are pressing aggressively for the legal framework in which a cattle vaccine could be widely deployed. I echo the sentiments of those many Members
who earlier this week urged DEFRA to stop hiding behind the excuse of EU law and to step up its efforts to change it.
A 2008 DEFRA paper on options for vaccinating cattle against bovine TB was endorsed by the NFU and concludes that
“BCG based vaccines will need to be used in conjunction with a DIVA test and that such a programme of vaccination could be cost-effective.”
It identifies the most significant barriers to use as legal and resultant trade implications. That was three years ago and we really should have made more progress than we have to date.
As the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Martin Horwood) has said, biosecurity is a very important issue. Vaccination needs to go hand in hand with excellent biosecurity. According to Professor John Bourne, former chairman of the ISG:
“Despite some improvements, the government is still going nowhere near far enough with biosecurity”.
He went on to say:
“It is not badgers that spread the disease throughout the country; it is cattle”.
The most recent European Commission inspection of England’s biosecurity in September 2011 uncovered a catalogue of failures, including missed targets in the rapid removal of cattle infected with TB and
“weaknesses in disinfection at farm, vehicle, market and slaughterhouse levels”.
A belated crackdown has resulted in a slight improvement, but we need to go much further.
The hon. Gentleman also mentioned Steve Jones, a farmer who is deeply concerned about biosecurity. He says:
“Water troughs are a reservoir for TB because they are rarely cleaned out. It’s not uncommon for trough water to be left stagnating through the winter, collecting dead birds, rodents and various bacteria, only to be drunk by cattle in the spring. Badgers also use these troughs but it’s unfair to isolate badgers when the culprit is the bacteria soup itself. Making troughs badger-proof is not rocket science, but more fundamental is the adoption of better hygiene standards by the agricultural industry.”
Recent DEFRA data indicate that improving biosecurity would cost famers an average of £4,000, compared with £27,000 to deal with the TB herd breakdown. That is why the motion has a very strong focus, alongside its other measures, on comprehensive national biosecurity policy.