National Farmers Union animal health and welfare adviser Catherine McLaughlin said livestock keepers throughout Great Britain would see the benefits of this decision.
“Science has a key role to play in food production, and any research that can help reduce the impact of debilitating parasitic disease among our farmed livestock must be welcomed,” she said. “Research such as this can help farmers and growers meet the increasingly challenging demands of producing more food while impacting less on the environment.
“There’s growing concern at the levels of resistance which these parasitic worms are acquiring to conventional wormers. This has serious implications for the health and welfare of our animals and therefore we look forward to the results of these studies as solutions to this growing threat.”
The money will come from the European Union’s ‘Framework 7’ and will go to Moredun to fund projects with help from 20 academic partners.
One of the consortium’s priorities will be to look at vaccines for parasitic diseases such as roundworm, tapeworm and fluke.
The consortium will include 11 groups from the EU, three from South America as well as Africa, two from Asia and one from Australia.
Source: National Farmers Union
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