Letter: Keep options open in battle with bTB

As an industry we are not anti-vaccination, as a sheep and beef farmer I am not anti-badger, but to rid the countryside of this terrible disease we need to use all the options available to have healthy badgers and healthy stock.

Of course there should be a proper cattle vaccine, but put simply anything effective and fit for purpose is not there; despite Mr Ashley's protestations.

The BCG vaccine is not effective, it wasn't decades ago and nothing has changed since.

The problem is you can't distinguish between a BCG-vaccinated and TB-infected cow and it is illegal under EU law to vaccinate cattle with the BCG jab.

For any vaccine to eradicate a disease it is necessary to ensure that 80 per cent of the target population are immunised and this simply and scientifically would not be the case with BCG.

I was also shocked to hear the news that over the county border, in Cheshire, one in four badgers had tested positive for TB.

Since February badgers, mainly found on Cheshire's roads, have been tested by Malcolm Bennett, Professor of Veterinary Pathology at Liverpool University.

Shropshire has a significantly worse bTB problem than our northern neighbours and I dread to think what the count here would be. It would certainly make grim reading and be worrying for all of us who care about wildlife.

Rob Alderson, Craven Arms