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20
Tuberculosis and Milk.
It is with pleasure that I note the early action of the Public
Health Committee of the Council in this matter in ordering
samples of milk to be taken for bacteriological examination.
The samples have been taken and submitted to the Jenner
Institute of Preventive Medicine, and I eagerly await the
result of the examination in the hope that grounds may be
obtained to press home my conviction of the need of legislation
in respect of this important matter.
In connection with this question I should like to say that it
formed the subject of careful consideration by the late Vestry,
and, to aid them in their deliberations, I reported fully on the
matter. The report pointed out that there appeared to be no
power under the provisions of the Food and Drugs Acts to deal
with milk containing disease germs of any kind, and that the
extraordinary precautions necessary to be observed in the
collection of the samples for bacteriological examination would
tend to further complicate the procedure under the very
technical provisions of the Acts. Under the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891, section 71 gives power to Sanitary
Authorities to deal with " any dangerous infectious disease
attributable to milk," but the power, whilst being extensive,
could not apply to any form of tuberculosis. Section 47
provides that any article, solid or liquid, intended for food and
which is unsound may be seized by a Medical Officer of Health
or a Sanitary Inspector, and that, therefore, if it were known
that milk was contaminated by tubercle bacilli it might be
possible for the milk to be seized, but the practical difficulties
in obtaining a knowledge that the milk was so affected in time
to seize the bulk were so great, and also the fact that the
person to whom the milk belonged had a good defence in
saying, and probably truly, that he was not aware of the
presence of the disease germs, there would be little hope of
obtaining a conviction. The report also went on to say that
Section 15 of the Dairies, Cowsheds and Milkshops Order
provides that if at any time disease exists among the cattle in
a dairy, &c., the milk from a diseased cow therein (a) shall
not be mixed with other milk; (b) shall not be sold or used
for human food. Tuberculosis, however, is not included in the
Contagious Diseases Animals Act, under which this Order is
made, and that even if it was the London County Council
were the authority responsible for the execution of the Order.
In the concluding paragraphs of my report I referred to the
report of the Royal Commission on the subject, and also to the