1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910372740003321

Autore

Cassidy Angela

Titolo

Vermin, victims and disease : British debates over bovine tuberculosis and badgers / / Angela Cassidy

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham, : Springer Nature, 2019

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2019

ISBN

3-030-19186-9

Edizione

[1st edition 2019.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (XXIV, 366 p. 20 illus., 9 illus. in color.)

Disciplina

941

636.208945420941

Soggetti

Badgers - Control - Great Britain

Tuberculosis in cattle - Great Britain

Tuberculosis in cattle - Great Britain - Prevention

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Part One: CONTEXTS -- 1 Of Badgers, Bovines and Bacteria -- 2 How the Badger Became Tuberculous -- Part Two: REFRAMING BOVINE TB (c.1960-1995) -- 3 Changing Veterinary Knowledge -- 4 Pest Control and Ecology -- 5 Protecting the Badger? -- Part Three: CONTESTING ANIMAL HEALTH (1996-PRESENT) -- 6 Cutting the Cake of Science and Policy -- 7 Building a Public Controversy -- 8 Conclusion – The Badgers Have Moved the Goalposts!.

Sommario/riassunto

“Dr Cassidy draws pertinent general conclusions about generating policy and mediating the role of the expert in today’s science-sceptic and increasingly polarised society... It is both a useful and original contribution, specifically to the history of zoonotic disease policy, and policy history more generally.” —Helen Bynum, Author of Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis (2012) This open access book provides the first critical history of the controversy over whether to cull wild badgers to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in British cattle. This question has plagued several professional generations of politicians, policymakers, experts and campaigners since the early 1970s. Questions of what is known, who knows, who



cares, who to trust and what to do about this complex problem have been the source of scientific, policy, and increasingly vociferous public debate ever since. This book integrates contemporary history, science and technology studies, human-animal relations, and policy research to conduct a cross-cutting analysis. It explores the worldviews of those involved with animal health, disease ecology and badger protection between the 1970s and 1990s, before reintegrating them to investigate the recent public polarisation of the controversy. Finally it asks how we might move beyond the current impasse.