MAF takes over TB scheme

Authors: Tyndel J
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 34, Issue 8, pp 138, Aug 1986
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Cattle, Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant
Subject Terms: Bacterial, Biosecurity, Disease control/eradication, Epidemiology, Mycobacterial, Disease/defect, Zoonosis, Infectious disease, Veterinary profession, Public health
Article class: Correspondence

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Abstract: I wish to draw the attention of the New Zealand veterinary profession to the announcement that in future TB testing of dairy cattle is no longer going to be carried out by the veterinarian who normally does the routine day to day care, health monitoring and disease control, but by an organ of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. (This organ presumably will be predominantly lay personnel.) The announcement change is allegedly motivated by the desire to save cost. It must be a moot point if and how much saving can be achieved, but there cannot be any doubt that efficacy of TB control will suffer. At this stage of TB control in New Zealand, when progress is not as good as many would wish, when problems that have never been anticipated do crop up, when TB control in deer and other potential carriers is being shelved if not totally buried, we surely dare not further undermine and jeopardize the aim of TB control. I personally have worked very hard to introduce a TB eradication scheme, and the veterinary practitioners in this country have accepted and carried out an often unrewarding, thankless and onerous task. The farming community has gone along and collaborated, based on their…

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