View report page

7
up the "atomic deterrent." The addition of these radiations
to those occurring naturally from certain heavy elements in
the earth's crust and from cosmic rays reaching us from outer
space may one day, and before long, induce a level of radioactivity
in our surroundings harmful to the maintenance of
health and, by causing undesirable genetic mutations, constitute
a threat to future generations. Indeed, one can forsee
the time when the Geiger counter will become as important
a piece of public health equipment as the sampling
bottle or deposit gauge is today.
During the year steady progress was made in regard to
the implementation of the Food Hygiene Regulations, 1955.
Much work and constant vigilance is necessary to ensure
that satisfactory standards of production and handling of
food are not only achieved but, also, maintained. Even when
cleanliness, repair of food premises, the supply of wash hand
basins, hot and cold water and facilities for washing food
and equipment are of a satisfactory standard, real cleanliness
depends, ultimately, on the acceptance by food handlers,
both management and staff, of a personal responsibility to
the public; and we cannot say that this is invariably the case.
During the year, 1965 inspections of food and food preparing
premises were carried out by the Public Health
Inspectors and improvements were carried out or defects
remedied under the Regulations at 33 premises. Six premises
were dealt with for infestation by rats and mice.
During the year the Housing Act, 1957 and the Rent
Act, 1957 came into operation. The former was largely a
consolidating Act, while the latter in that it aimed, among
other things, at the preservation of the structure of existing
houses, placed a good deal of extra work on the Chief Public
Health Inspector and his colleagues, particularly in connection
with certificates of disrepair.
Steady progress has been made during the year in the
clearance of unfit houses within the framework of the five
year plan submitted to the Ministry of Housing and Local
Government in 1955.
The work of the Bexley, Erith and Crayford Home
Safety Committee continued during the year, with steady
propaganda in the interests of the reduction of accidents in
the home, chiefly through falls and burns and scalds.
Officially this responsibility lies with the Local Health
Authority under Section 28 of the National Health Service
Act, 1948. In practice, the local voluntary committee, closely