It is important to get the facts right

Dear Sir, -

I refer to your article by Matt Jackson on page five in last week's Chronicle about a badger culling protest.

While supporting the opponents of badger culling, it is important to get the facts right.

The fi rst paragraph states, "would support vaccinating animals with bovine tuberculosis".

This phrase is either misleading or wrong depending on how it is read.

As far as I am aware vaccination has never been offered as a treatment for bovine tuberculosis.

It is a prevention and in fact having the disease at least in humans is a contraindication to vaccination as it would be at best useless and might exacerbate it.

The phrase could also be interpreted as meaning vaccinating healthy animals with the vaccine that contains modifi ed tuberculosis bacterium that makes it harmless.

In that case, it would be better to write, "vaccinating healthy animals with the vaccine" as it is clear what the vaccine is.

It is also not clear which animal(s) is referred to though this does not alter the wording. - Yours faithfully,

DR PETER HIRST

Middlewich.