Farmers 'can't wait for bovine TB vaccine'
The ongoing spread of the disease, which caused the destruction of 40,000 cattle last year, would have to be tackled by dealing with diseased badgers, he insisted.
Mr Paice was speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference and told the WMN that an oral vaccine for badgers would not be available until 2014 – and that was far too long to wait, given the havoc wrought by the disease in beef and dairy farms in hot spots such as the South West.
"We have waited far too long for a conclusion to this dreadful problem and wasted far too much taxpayers' money and got nowhere," he said.
He said the newly appointed TB eradication group had its hands tied by the Government, because its members had been told their remit did not involve the cull of sick badgers.
Mr Paice said: "The fact is that unless you address the disease in its wildlife reservoir, you will get nowhere at all. Every country where a successful programme of eradication has been carried out has included dealing with wildlife that is carrying TB."
The Welsh Assembly has ordered an experimental cull of diseased badgers, but this has been challenged by The Badger Trust and the programme has been suspended until the outcome of a judicial review. Mr Paice said Conservative policy on bovine TB did not rest on the outcome of the judicial review.
"We are certainly watching what is happening in Wales, but it's not stopping us from producing our own proposals," he stressed.
Mr Paice was responding to comments from Hilary Benn, the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, who said the stand-off between farmers who wanted a badger cull and the pro-badger lobby had been completely pointless. It had done no-one any favours, he said.
Mr Benn said recent figures on the number of cattle destroyed having failed TB tests were interesting, as he thought they showed a drop, though they still remained far too high.
The National Farmers' Union has placed tackling bovine TB at the top of its list of priorities for 2010 – and the Government "countryside tsar" Stuart Burgess, Commission for Rural Communities chairman, has said the refusal to allow a badger cull "will have to be revisited."
Having heard Mr Benn yesterday, Peter Kendall, the National Farmers' Union President, told the WMN: "This whole sad situation is the elephant in the room – the problem that Benn talks all around, but steadfastly refuses to change his mind about.
"We are looking to the Westcountry to ensure that our building block is in place so we can start implementing the policies when a cull is allowed. The Tories will allow one – Hilary Benn won't."
