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9
open spaces, woodlands, back-lanes and hedgerows of Harrow in their
natural state rather than the glorified "middens" so often found today,
which apart from being unsightly and a disgrace to the neighbourhood
are potential breeding grounds for rats and flies.
In the case of infectious diseases the year was marred by the usual
biennial rise in the incidence of measles with 1,868 notifications. Usually
a mild illness in the normally fit child, measles can however produce a
"chesty" child and be a worrying problem in a sickly child. This, plus
the great disruption an epidemic of this type can cause in schools, seems to
offer a good case for the new vaccine at present undergoing research
trials. There was also an increase in the number of cases of whooping
cough, pneumonia and dysentery and a fall in the number of cases of food
poisoning and scarlet fever. There was one case of typhoid fever in the
district. This was contracted in the outbreak in Zermatt in Switzerland.
Letters were sent to all food handling establishments in the district giving
advice regarding staff" who may have holidayed in Zermatt during the period
of the outbreak.
Ministry of Health Circular 28/62 stated that the Minister of Health
was ready to approve under Section 28 of the National Health Service
Act proposals from local health authorities to make arrangements with
water undertakers for the addition of fluoride to water supplies which
were deficient in it naturally. In view of this, a comprehensive report on
fluoridation was considered by the Public Health Committee in February
1963. The Committee in view of the importance of and the publicity
given to the subject during the previous months, arranged for a copy of
the report to be sent to each member of the Council. They also recommended
that the Borough Council fully support the Middlesex County
Council as local health authority in their decision to make arrangements
with water undertakers in the County for the addition ot
fluoride to public water supplies deficient in it naturally. The Council
ratified this recommendation in March 1963. In April 1963 the Middlesex
County Council submitted its proposals for fluoridation to the Ministry
of Health for approval. In June 1963 in Circular 12/63 the Minister
of Health issued a general approval to all local health authorities to make
arrangements for the addition of fluorides to public water supplies to the
level of one part per million and expressed the hope that these arrangements
would be made as soon as possible. The London County Council
approached its neighbouring counties asking for their support in making
representations to the Metropolitan Water Board to fluoridate its water
supply. Middlesex, Buckinghamshire and Essex agreed to the proposals
and up to date that is where the matter rests! However, like certain other
Public health measures in the past such as chlorination of water supplies
and pasteurization of milk, the proposal to have fluoridation has caused
a minor storm of protests which appears to be confined to a comparatively
small section of the population. The objections have ranged from the
question of (a) cost, (b) causation of illness, (c) lack of knowledge regarding
oxicity to the question of ethics and compulsory medication. To my mind