Wednesday, June 30, 2004

TB or not TB?

Six, five, four and even three months ago Defra were predicting a 20 percent year on year increase in bovine TB. But last week, that figure was amended to a drop of 14 percent during the first 4 months of 2004.

Down by a third on predictions? Are Defra really in control of the situation - or just the statistics?

After FMD in 2001 and little testing of cattle, then a big backlog of catching up in 2002/2003, the last data which Defra do NOT warn against using for comparisons is 2000. And using Defra's own website figures, compared with that year, cattle slaughterings for Tb increased by a staggering 149 percent - or 25 percent per year.

No comments: