Badgers are suspected of spreading TB to cows

But the MPs say the timetable has slipped from that projected by the original Krebs report, a delay they describe as "regrettable".

The report accepts the Independent Scientific Group's assurances that the trial is now on track but says that results are not likely to be available until 2004 - seven years after the publication of the Krebs report.

"This delay puts even greater pressure on those farmers whose support for the trial is vital to its success, but whose sense of desperation is growing as bovine TB in cattle continues to spread," the report says.

Concerns persist

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Maff) has reported co-operation from landowners and farmers in excess of 80%, but MPs are concerned about "illegal activity" outside trial areas because of the length of time the process is taking.

They are also concerned about the absence of a trial area in Wales, despite the high incidence of bovine TB in that country.

Badger facts

British population about 300,000 12,500 should be culled in trial 50,000 are thought to die in road accidents annually Cull will cost �7m this year alone There is no culling between 1 Feb and 30 Apr to protect cubs

The MPs' report adds: "We reiterate our support for the trial as the only feasible way of obtaining information essential to establishing the relationship between bovine TB in cattle and badgers and whether culling is a viable policy option.

"There are lessons to be learnt from the slow implementation of the trial but nothing to be gained, from abandoning it before it has had time to achieve robust results."

The government set up the five-year trials in 10 "hot spot" regions of the UK, where 12,500 badgers would be exterminated, to see if a relationship existed between badgers and bovine TB in cattle.

And if there is a link, the tests hope to show the best of two culling methods.

But the results may be too late for some farmers.

The way in which badgers live and move as social animals can show that culling them actually spreads the disease

Baroness Hayman

In 1998 Brian Hill, a farmer for more than 40 years, videoed a growing badger problem on his land and sent it to Maff.

A month later bovine TB was diagnosed in his cattle and his farm was effectively quarantined.

He said the findings were "completely inevitable," and says he wants government action now, not in four years.

"Just a bit of commonsense, that's all that's required," he said.

But agriculture minister Baroness Hayman told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the link between the two species remained controversial.

Furthermore, simply culling badgers may not prevent the spread of TB, she said.

"It's not a simple situation. The way in which badgers live and move as social animals can show that culling them actually spreads the disease rather than limits it."

However, she admitted it was time to start planning policy in the hope some results will be available next year.

Some animal rights activists say there has never been firm scientific evidence to prove such a link and have used direct action to destroy traps.

Cubs protected

They also assert that badgers are being killed during the mating season and cubs are being left underground, and that other animals are being caught in badger traps.

Maff says badgers are not culled in key periods to protect cubs and that the cull will not have any effect on the badger population, which is an estimated 300,000 in the UK.

It says 50,000 badgers are killed crossing roads each year.

Maff is spending �1.4m a year on developing a vaccine for bovine TB, and �4m a year on other research into the disease, excluding the trial.

The cost of the trial for this year is believed to be almost �7m.