Environment Correspondent Margaret Gilmore reports on the farmers' latest crisis

Figures to be released by the Ministry of Agriculture later this year are expected to show that tuberculosis (TB) is now as common in cattle as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - and it is on the increase.

The unpublished figures reveal that 2,500 cattle contracted TB last year, the same as had BSE. The disease is rising at an unprecedented rate - by 45% in the south-west alone.

Farmers are blaming wild badgers

"There is just no end to it. We just do not know when it's going to finish," said Peter Crozier, a farmer who has seen three of his herd struck down with TB and the rest held back from sale for testing.

Farmers are blaming badgers for the problem although wildlife groups disagree. Up to a quarter of wild badgers are infected with TB and to work out whether they are indeed passing it on to cattle, the government has begun an experimental cull in the worst-hit areas.

Dr Elaine King, of the National Federation of Badger Groups, expressed her disgust with government plans.

"In this country we have legislation protecting the badger. People can be and are prosecuted and put in prison for killing or injuring badgers. And yet we've got a government that is now planning to kill 20,000 badgers," she said.

Danger to humans

But scientists fear that if TB is not stopped in its tracks it will lead to a crisis as big as BSE with an increased risk of TB passing to humans. "It's only a potential danger to man but it's a danger that can't be ignored," said Professor of Veterinary Medicine John Bourne, who heads the government research programme.

TB is an infectious lung disease and comes in many forms, one of which originates in cattle. Earlier this century, before milk was pasteurised, 2,500 died after catching it from cattle. An epidemic now would not be passed through milk but could spread through farm workers.

But farmers do not underestimate the problem. "If it escalates at this present rate within a short time the whole industry faces almost meltdown because people will refuse to buy stock," said Brian Jenkins, of the National Farmers' Union.

"Once that happens [that affects] consumer confidence and the whole industry is in dire straits."

Keen to avoid another BSE, MPs will investigate TB in cattle next month and try to find alternatives to a badger cull.