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27 February 2003
Independent Scientific Group (ISG)
on Cattle TB
From 1998 to the present
(Filed 27th Feb 2003)
© www.land-care.org.uk
The ISG was established in 1998 following a recommendation
made by the Independent Scientific Review Group (1).
DEFRA claims the following (2):
"The Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG) is
a group of independent scientists who advise the Secretary of
State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on how best to tackle
the problem of cattle TB.
"The Chairman and members are appointed by the Secretary
of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. They are selected
for their personal expertise. They serve as individuals and not
as representatives of any organisation.
"Members of the ISG Secretariat are employed by DEFRA as
part of its Animal Disease Control Division. In addition to the
DEFRA Policy and Veterinary Assessors to the Group, other officials
from DEFRA attend meetings, at the invitation of the Chairman,
to provide policy, veterinary and technical advice. The ISG's
annual budget for meetings and members' expenses is provided by
DEFRA and the scale of activity has to be carried out within the
funding available".
It is, however, difficult to justify DEFRA’s
claim that the ISG is in fact independent, when the appointments
to the Group and payments to the members of the Group are controlled
by DEFRA itself.
Information available from the relevant websites
does not indicate who advised DEFRA on the appointment of members
of the ISG. Such appointments are of importance as the programme
of the Group will involve substantial research funds. Were these
research projects peer reviewed? Or were they essentially decided
by peers within what seems to be a less than independent group?
Viewing the Krebs committee that set up the ISG
(1) and the membership of the ISG itself (see below),
one cannot help but notice that a core membership seems to run through
not only these influential bodies, but also in relation to the much
criticised body advising the Government on the UK FMD crisis as
well (2001 - 2002). Are we really so short of relevant and competent
scientists in the UK that we have to keep using the same ones, and
the same university departments, so often?
Membership of the ISG
- Professor John Bourne
MRCVS CBE (Chairman)
Former Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University
of Bristol (1980 - 1988), former Director of the Institute for
Animal Health and Professor of Animal Health at the University
of Reading (1988 - 1997), and Professor of Animal Health at Bristol
since 1988.
- Professor Christl
Donnelly (Deputy Chairman)
Reader in Epidemiological Statistics, Department of Infectious
Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College Faculty of Medicine.
- Sir David Cox FBA,
FRS
Honorary Fellow of Nuffield College, University of Oxford since
1994.
- Professor George
Gettinby FRSE
Professor in the Department of Statistics and Modelling Science
at the University of Strathclyde.
- Professor John McInerney
OBE, FRSA, FRASE
Lately the Glanely Professor of Agricultural Policy and Director
of the Agricultural Economics Unit at the University of Exeter.
- Professor Ivan Morrison
FRSE
Professor of Immunology, Centre for Veterinary Tropical Medicine,
University of Edingburgh.
- Dr Rosie Woodroffe
Assistant Professor and Conservation Biologist, Department of
Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, University of California,
Davis.
ISG Publications
The ISG has published the following reports:
An Epidemiological Investigation into Bovine Tuberculosis.
Towards a Sustainable Policy to Control TB in Cattle. Third Reprot
of the of the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB
(Download PDF)
Second Report of the Independent Scientific Group
on Cattle TB - March 2000
(Click
here to view).
Towards a sustainable policy to control TB in
cattle: First Report to the Rt Hon Dr Jack Cunningham MP from the
Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB - July 1998
(Click
here to view).
The group has also published the following
articles in scientific journals:
Morrison, I., Bourne, F. J., Cox, D. R., Donnelly,
C. A., Gettinby, G., McInerney, J. P. and Woodroffe, R. (2000).
Pathogenesis and diagnosis of infections with Mycobacterium bovis
in cattle.
Veterinary Record, 146: 236-242. (Download
PDF).
Bourne, J. Donnelly, C. A., Cox, D. R., Gettinby,
G., McInerney, J. P., Morrison, I. and Woodroffe, R. (2000).
Bovine Tuberculosis: towards a future control strategy.
Veterinary Record, 146: 207-210. (Download
PDF).
Krebs, J. R., Anderson, R. M., Clutton-Brock,
T., Donnelly, C. A., Frost, S., Morrison, W. I., Woodroffe, R. and
Young, D. (1998).
Badgers and Bovine TB: Conflicts Between Conservation and Health.
Science, 279: 817-819.
© www.land-care.org.uk
References
1. The Krebs Report (1997) and
the Independent Scientific Review Group.
(Filed 27 February 2003, www.land-care.org.uk,
click here to view).
2. DEFRA. The Independent Scientific
Group on Cattle TB - Working Procedures
www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb/isg/working.shtml
Further Reading Recommended by Land-Care
Badgers and TB in Cattle: the view of a dairy farmer.
(Filed 27 February 2003, www.land-care.org.uk,
click
here to view).
Incidents of TB in Cattle in Scotland, 1995-2002.
(Filed 26 February 2003, www.land-care.org.uk,
click
here to view).
Irvine, W. J. (2003). Just how bad is the TB problem in UK Cattle?
(Filed 25 February 2003, www.land-care.org.uk,
click here
to view).
Cultybraggan Farm Diary (2002). Routine testing of Cultybraggan
cattle for Tuberculosis and Brucellosis, November 2002: All results
negative.
(Filed 26 November 2002, www.land-care.org.uk,
click
here to view).
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