Vol. 576 No. 2
119 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food his views on the announcement by the British Animal Health and Welfare Minister, Mr. Ben Bradshaw, who has suspended reactive culling of badgers in the so-called Krebs experiment due to the fact it increased the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle rather than reducing it and concluded that culling badgers had increased the incidence of bovine tuberculosis disease by 27%. [29386/03]
I am aware of the recent announcement from DEFRA in the UK on suspending the culling of badgers in reactive areas at a very early and incomplete stage in its original experimental design. However, I cannot comment further on this decision until such time as the data leading to the decision are published by the UK authorities and have been reviewed from an epidemiological perspective.
A similar study was undertaken in this country over a five year period from 1997 to 2002. The results of this trial will be published in the new year and my Department and other experts will be able to evaluate the data and the findings.
