Defra has announced that it will be holding three more Twitter Q&A sessions on bovine TB and the upcoming badger cull. Government scientists will be responding to questions over the next three weeks via the @DefraGovUK Twitter account.

The three one hour sessions will take place as follows:

-          Tuesday 9 April 12.30-1.30pm Nigel Gibbens, UK Chief Veterinary Officer

-          Thursday 18 April 12.30-1.30pm Glyn Hewinson, AHVLA Chief Scientist

-          Wednesday 24 April 13.00-14.00pm Professor Ian Boyd, Defra Chief Scientist

Nigel Gibbens will be discussing the history and impact of bovine TB, Glyn Hewinson will deal with vaccines and research into methods of reducing TB, and Ian Boyd will defend the government's decision to pursue culling, including the pilot badger culls which are set to begin later this year in South-West England.  

Deeply controversial pilot culls were postponed in October last year after it was revealed that the farmer companies conducting culling had drastically underestimated the numbers of badgers in cull zones. Also in October last year, a Parliamentary debate on Defra's badger culling policy saw cull supporters in the government defeated by 147 votes to 28.

Royal Society president Lord Bob May, himself a former chief scientist, has accused Defra of 'cherry picking' evidence in order to form its policy. He said last year, "It is very clear to me that the government's policy does not make sense. They are transmuting evidence-based policy into policy-based evidence."

There were an estimated 3,941 new bTB outbreaks in Britain during 2012, or a four per cent rise over five years, though 19.8 per cent more herd tests were conducted.  

More information on the Q&A is available from Defra Here