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by the consumer from the approved list. (The approved list excludes
any retailer who has been convicted of an offence under the Sale
of Food and Drugs Act). The great majority of milksellers in
Bermondsey obtain their supplies from one of the milk ' combines.'
As far as those who draw their milk from these sources are concerned
it can be guaranteed that the milk has been ' cleaned ' (i.e., strained,
and the cow-dung removed from it) and that it has been pasteurised
before delivery to the retailer. With the exception of the Royal
Arsenal Co-operative Society, which employs thoroughly up-to-date
and approved plant and methods, there is no certainty that even
this procedure has been followed in the case of dairymen who obtain
their milk from other wholesalers. It is a notorious fact within the
personal knowledge of most Councillors that very often the milk
supplied in Bermondsey is dirty, not infrequently septic, and sometimes
tuberculous. The recent evidence secured by the Medical
Research Council shows that pasteurised milk is of less value than
pure, fresh, untreated and unheated milk, and this statement applies
particularly in the case of infants and pregnant women. It seems
clear, therefore, that the Council ought to insist that public money
paid for the supply of milk should ensure the provision of a really
pure and genuine product, with its normal qualities unspoilt by
mishandling or artificial preservative treatment. Such an article,
legally guaranteed, can be obtained in the form of Grade A
(Tuberculin Tested) Milk which, by the Statutory Regulations of
the Ministry of Health, is derived only from tuberculin tested cows,
is milked under special precautions into sterilised vessels, cooled,
and immediately put into sterilised churns, which are sent to the
milk retailer sealed. The latter machines the milk into sterilised
bottles, which are sealed and delivered in this condition to the consumer.
All these additional precautions naturally involve some
increase in the price of the milk at the present time —I believe, as
much as a penny per pint —but this enhanced price would be greatly
reduced if there was any effective demand for such milk on the
part of the public. There would be then large scale production
of really pure milk and the public health would enormously
benefit,