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The Committee made this further recommendation :—
'That powers shall be given to local authorities to take samples and make
analyses, from time to time, of the milk produced or sold in their
districts, and that milk vendors shall be required to supply sufficient
information as to the sources from which their milk is derived."
The Committee stated that —
"The most important powers Conferred by the Section of the Glasgow
Police Act referred to are the right to examine cows, the
milk of which is sold within the City, wherever those cows may be,
and the right to prohibit the sale of milk from any cow which is suffering
from tuberculosis or any disease which might render the use of such
milk dangerous or injurious to health."
There can be no doubt that in the causation of human
tuberculosis (or "consumption" in its various forms) milk is
a much more important factor than meat, and it is to be hoped
that the Council will decide to take such steps as may be
necessary to guard the milk supply, having regard to the
practically unanimous opinion of experts that ingestion of the
milk of tuberculous cows is a cause of tuberculosis in the
human species, a subject that was dealt with by Sir Richard
Thorne, K.C.B., F.R.S., the Medical Officer of the Local
Government Board, in his "Harben" lectures (1898). The
need for legislation, moreover, has been emphasized by the
Royal Commission on Tuberculosis, and there is good ground
for hope that, ere long, the subject will receive from the
Legislature consideration adequate to its importance. Meanwhile
it may be said that the public have in their own powe
the means of guarding themselves against the ever-present
danger involved in the use of milk of tuberculous cows; for
danger from this cause may be obviated by the boiling of milk.
This practice, which is general beyond the limits of the United
Kingdom, or, perhaps, it should be said, in other than English
speaking countries, finds little favour amongst us; and time
and constant repetition of scientific teaching will be needed to
overcome the prejudice against cooked milk, which is as little