A FARMER today issued a warning about a rise in tuberculosis among cattle and said it could prove more devastating than the foot and mouth epidemic.

Lancashire chairman of the National Farmers' Union Thomas Binns, 39, of Heckling Farm, Downham, called on the government to pull out the stops to eradicate bovine tuberculosis.

Routine tests for the disease were suspended following the foot and mouth epidemic of 2001, because of lack of resources.

In 2002, there were only 1,447 reported cases of bovine TB in the UK, but there were 2,293 cases in January and February of this year.

Mr Binns, who lost 3,000 sheep and 56 cattle to foot and mouth, said: "Bovine tuberculosis is creating havoc in farming. It is a big threat to livestock, possibly even bigger than foot and mouth.

"This is a worldwide disease and it is spreading rapidly."

Records show that pockets of bovine TB are starting to emerge in Cumbria and Cheshire, although there has only been one case in Lancashire in recent years.

But more than 6,000 UK herds suspected of infection are still waiting to be tested.

Mr Binns continued: "It can take months to find out if an animal is infected and the government isn't following up suspect cases quickly enough.

"Meanwhile, farmers are placed under crippling restrictions that interfere with the sale and movement of cattle.

"The disease also affects badgers and deer, and is spreading quicker than we can keep up with it. We fell into this trap with foot and mouth."

The government has commissioned independent research into the best way to tackle bovine tuberculosis, but findings are not due until 2007.

Mr Binns said it could be too late by then and hundreds of farms across Lancashire could be affected.

"We can't wait four years for action. TB isn't like foot and mouth. We can't see if an animal has got it and we need the tests now.

"There needs to be rapid progress towards a vaccine that will protect herds."

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said: "We must learn from the lessons of foot and mouth. Agriculture can not stomach another disaster and urgent action must be taken by the Government to restrain and destroy tuberculosis."

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said the government was spending up to £40million a year on a wide-ranging research and control strategy for bovine TB.

"Bovine tuberculosis is one of the most difficult diseases that the government faces and we are working hard to produce a strategy to cope with it.

"Ministers recently announced a public consultation into the matter, which will take place in the summer. Meanwhile, we will continue to implement our current strategy.

"We have reduced the backlog of tests from 47,000 herds to 6,000 and are talking to a number of organisations with a view to developing a vaccine, which is our ultimate aim."

Bovine tuberculosis, which causes weakness, loss of appetite and respiratory distress, affects a wide range of mammals.

The bacterium that causes it is killed by cooking and milk pasteurisation, so the risk to humans is thought to be negligible.

The foot and mouth epidemic of 2001 affected 40 farms in the Skipton, Settle and Clitheroe "triangle," leading to the slaughter of hundreds of animals in East Lancashire.