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37
The task of finding acceptable formulae was not an easy
one and the Technical Commitee and the Advisory Panel, upon both
of which I served during 1947, continued their labours in conjunction
with the various trade interests, and by the end of the
year, considerable progress had been made.
Amongst the conclusions reached, the following are
definitely important from the public health point of view:-
The various chemical tests which were suggested as
an index of cleanliness, e.g. free and albuminoid
ammonia, nitrates, phosphates chlorine, oxygen
absorbed, etc., etc., are of themselves unreliable
and unsatisfactory. Samples of fillings tested by
these methods in different laboratories seldom give
concordant and reproducible test figures.
Bacteriological standards would be difficult, if not
impossible, to apply in practice.
That the main consideration is whether the materials
are clean or dirty in the sense in which the housewife
regards them as clean or dirty. In other words
some sort of washing test, which, in practice gives
reliable figures as a measure of the dirt extracted,
is the best index of cleanliness.
As the result of the foregoing and other conclusions it
was agreed to prepare a specification of each type of filling,
which would incorporate not only a limit of impurity content as
determined by the standard washing test, but also requirements
for the necessary cleaning operations during the manufacturing
processes.
The work was not completed by the end of 1947, but it
was sufficiently advanced as to make it a reasonable presumption
that the Standards would be approved early in 1948, just about
ten years from the time when the matter was first discussed on
a wide basis, at the request of the National Bedding Federation.
Long before that time, however, public health officers had
realised the weakness of the Rag Flock Acts and had urged the
Ministry of Health to take appropriate action, but I recall that
it was not until 1938 that the Inter-Departmental Committee on
the Rag Flock Acts was set up under the chairmanship of The Rt.
Hon. Lord Merthyr and I had the privilege of submitting evidence
on the matter from the sanitary inspectors' point of view. The
outbreak of war in 1939 caused the suspension of activities
of the Committee and the Report was not presented until July 1946.
It has been stated, probably with a considerable degree
of accuracy, that there is no direct evidence of disease or illhealth
having been transmitted by dirty filling materials. But
it cannot be gainsaid that there is a very reasonable presumption
that disease may arise from the use of fillings made from some
of the materials I have known to be used in the manufacture of
fillings. In this connection the fact must not be lost sight of
that the public may spend as much as, or more than, one-third of
their time in contact with unclean fillings made up into upholstery,
bedding, (including pillows) cushions, etc., and this is
all the more important in the case of young infants who, apart
from those articles already mentioned, may be exposed to some
risk from the almost continuous contact with toys whose outward
attractive appearance may completely belie the foul and impure
"ature of the stuffing material.
That some kind of control Is, absolutely necessary must,
is submitted, be accepted, particularly as there is, in the
ordinary way of purchasing an article, no opportunity of
examining its contents and in any case, a visual examination
would not necessarily disclose the presence of potentially harmful
impurities.