London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of London 1971
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London, City of ]
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| City Residents | Non-Residents | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 1971 | 1970 | 1971 | 1970 | 1971 | |
| Dysentery — Shigella sonne | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| Food Poisoning | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 4 |
| Infective Hepatitis | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Measles | 5 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 6 |
| Meningitis | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Malaria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Tuberculosis, Pulmonary | 5 | 9 | 8 | 14 | 13 | 23 |
| Tuberculosis - other | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 5 |
| Whooping Cough | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Salmonella Typhimurium | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Shigella Flexnar | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | 18 | 20 | 34 | 26 | 52 | 46 |
NEW LEGISLATION DURING THE YEAR
The following enactments, which affect the work of the Department, were made during the yean-
Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act, 1970
City of London (Various Powers) Act, 1971
Clean Air (Emission of Grit and Dust from Furnaces) Regulations, 1971
Clean Air (Measurement of Grit and Dust from Furnaces) Regulations, 1971
Diseases of Animals (Approved Disinfectants) (Amendment) (No.2) Order, 1971
Greater London Council (General Powers) Act, 1971
Meat Inspection (Amendment) Regulations, 1971
Poisons List Order, 1971
Poisons Rules, 1971
Poisons Rules (Amendment), 1971
Preservatives in Food (Amendment) Regulations, 1971
Rag Flock and other Filling Materials Regulations, 1971
Smoke Control Areas (Authorised Fuels) (No.2) and (No.3) Regulations, 1971
Smoke Control Areas (Exempted Fireplaces) Order, 1971
Temples Order, 1971
Welfare Food Order, 1971
Welfare Food (Extension of Definition) Order, 1971
PUBLICATIONS
(1) Handbook of Poultry Inspection
(2) Clean Food Handling.
FOOD STANDARDS
The following article by Dr. H. Amphlett Williams, Ph.D., M.Chem.A., F.C.G.I., F.R.I.C.,
F.R.S.H., F.I.F.S.T., was published in the Journal of the Royal Institute of Public Health and
Hygiene and is reproduced by permission of the Editor.
The adulteration of food has been practised ever since the development of commerce made it
profitable; and measures for its prevention by fining the offender are mentioned as early as the
third century B.C. in the ancient Sanskrit text of the Arthasastra. According to Pliny2 and other
historians,3 bakers and vintners appear to have been among the worst culprits in ancient times,
bread being mixed with chalk, sand and a soft white earth, and wine with water, sulphuric acid,
sugar, gums and artificial colouring.
To the student of history, food adulteration may seem only a minor form of crime, when
compared with some of the habits of our forefathers, whose favourite amusement in the time of the
twelfth century is said to have been to sally forth by night in bands to attack the homes of their
neighbours, killing every man who came their way with the utmost brutality. But our health
depends upon a supply of wholesome food, and it was in that period when "no buyer of food
could trust the word of a seller",4 that the first attempt in this country to control food by statute
was made.
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