Comment
How is it proposed to test alpacas as I understand there are problems with the existing skin test and particularly for alpacas. Even with cattle there are many that ae being slaughtered with no evidence of any TB on post mortem or tissue culture? Is the skin test too sensitive and picking up treatable condiitions such as liver fluke? Much is made of the fact that it misses infection too but how reliable is this? No proper scientific evidence to back up the reliability of the existing test is given and it would seem that the statistics used are based on old, out of date research and very limited trials. The same test has been used in the UK for cattle forover 50 years and yet TB is supposedly getting worse year on year and culling increases. Despite this very few clinical signs of TB are ever seen so the test may be giving a totally false impression of the situation in some areas. There are a lot of issues that need addressing and maybe vaccination is a way forward.
Back to the badgers - if the Welsh Assembly government press ahead with a cull that is not backed up by sound scientific evidence then what will be the repercussions to other sectors of the Welsh economy? The badger is a much loved indigenous species. Will the public decide to boycott the area involved or even Welsh produce with possibly devastating effects on the tourism and food industries?
The message to milk buyers and retailers today is that the Great Milk Robbery is unfinished business.