Environment secretary Hilary Benn announced yesterday that £20m is to be invested over the next three years in developing cattle and badger vaccines to tackle bovine tuberculosis.

Environment secretary Hilary Benn announced yesterday that £20m is to be invested over the next three years in developing cattle and badger vaccines to tackle bovine tuberculosis.

Confirming the widely-leaked news that government policy was against the issuing of licences to allow badger culling, Benn said the decision was based on a wide range of evidence, including discussions with farming, veterinary, wildlife and conservation groups; the conclusions of the Independent Scientific Group on cattle TB (ISG); and the EFRA select committee report.

Bovine TB is a serious problem, particularly in the south-west and Midlands of England, although it is not yet such an issue in Scotland. Badgers are known to harbour the disease and spread it to cattle. It is estimated that around 40,000 infected cattle will have been culled by the end of this year. More financially significant to farmers is the considerable cost and disruption caused by the quarantine requirements for herds that become infected.

Defending his decision not to proceed with a badger cull, Benn said: "I have decided that while such a cull might work, it might also not work. It could end up making the disease worse if it was not sustained over time or delivered effectively, and public opposition, including the unwillingness of some landowners to take part, would render this more difficult." He said that instead, efforts should be put into strengthening the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' research programme to develop cattle and badger vaccines and maintain cattle controls.

Funding would also be provided to set up and run a project to build confidence in the long-term contribution badger vaccination could make to tackle bovine TB, and to provide valuable information that could help move towards the long-term goal of an oral badger vaccine.

Benn said: "We have invested £18m in the past 10 years in vaccine development, which has delivered good results, including: evidence that vaccinating young calves is effective; making progress towards developing a test to differentiate infected from vaccinated cattle; showing that injectable BCG (vaccine) can protect badgers; and developing oral badger vaccine baits.

"I now intend to increase significantly our spending on vaccines by putting £20m into this over the next three years to strengthen our chances of successfully developing them. I will also provide additional funding to set up and run a practical project to prepare for deploying vaccines in the future. It could be some time before an oral vaccine for badgers, or a cattle vaccine becomes available, so for now we must reduce the spread of the disease, and try to stop it becoming established in new areas."

Benn added: "This has been a very difficult decision to take, and I know that farmers affected will be disappointed and angry".