MPs have backed calls for a limited cull of badgers to help prevent the spread of TB in cattle, writes Pallab Ghosh, BBC News science correspondent.
A report by the environment select committee says the action should be focused on TB hotspots and form part of a package of control measures.
About 4,000 herds were affected by the disease last year, predominantly in the south west of England.
That is up nearly 18% on 2006 and left unchecked the disease is likely to spread across all of the UK by 2012.
If that were to happen, it would probably cost the taxpayer £1bn to tackle and to compensate farmers.
The RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), on the other hand, described the MPs' suggestion as "muddled and flying in the face of sound scientific judgement".
The society's director of animal welfare promotion, John Rolls, said: "The evidence shows a policy of badger culling is unsustainable, uneconomic and could even worsen the spread of bovine TB."
From the source:
EFRA Select Committee report - "Badgers and TB: the final report of the Independent Scientific Group" (PDF)
EFRA Select Committee press release
RSPCA press release
Other media:
Daily Telegraph
Guardian
Independent
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