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Act, 1875 came into operation and remained in operation until 1936 being amended or added to
by other Public Health Acts. Under the provisions of these public health acts and certain
local government acts local authorities were formed and given the necessary power to act.
These authorities have remained substantially in the same form to the present day.
During the past century there has been a vast improvement in the health of the people
of the United Kingdom and much of this is due to the elimation of many hazards from our
physical environment. So great has been the advance in environmental health that there is
sometimes a tendancy to write off this sub ject as no longer of great importance. It is true
that there are greater opportunities for dramatic and exciting achievements when the standard
of environmental health is low than when a high standard has been attained. A high standard
has been reached in the United Kingdom, so that it is difficult to produce striking results from
all the work which is done in the field of environmental health.
Although environmental health work may now present fewer opportunities, for
sensational advances, it is constantly growing in scope and complexity. It is important to
realise the changes that are constantly taking place in our environment and the influence they
are exercising on the nature of the work and the way it is performed.
The stimulus for the creation of the public health service came from public concern
about disease which in due course was discovered to be of bacterial origin.As the causative
organisms of communicable disease were discovered it became possible to eliminate these
microbiological dangers from our environment and disease after disease was brought under
control. With these types of disease under control our attention must now be focussed on
microchemical hazards with which we are becoming increasingly surrounded.
It was found that the post war changes in our environment have one element in common,
that is, the vastly increased amounts of chemical substances, many of them new, that reach
the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breath and the soil we cultivate or build upon.
Synthetic insecticides are used throughout the world to protect man, animals and food,
rodenticides and herbicides are used on a large scale and these may result in pollution of the
land and water supplies. It has been estimated that some 400 chemicals are added to food in
the form of preservatives, anti-oxidents, emulsifiers, stabilisers, moisteners colouring agents,
thickeners and thinners. The waste products of the internal combustion engine and of an
increasing number of industrial processes pollute the air to an even greater degree and the
greater consumption of fuels adds to this pollution.
In the field of housing many changes are taking place, many unfit houses have been
cleared, although there are still a large number to deal with. Local Authorities now have
powers to require the modernisation of existing houses and may pay grants towards the cost.
Up to the present most of this work has been done by owners/occupiers, but local councils
are now concentrating on this work and it is anticipated that property owners will now carry
out more conversions.
Recent legislation has given power to local authorities to deal with Shops, Offices and
Railway Premises and most local authorities have implementated this legislation. Factory
premises are controlled under the Factories Acts and this type of premises is subject to
continual inspection.
It is a useful exercise from time to time to look back along the path we have travelled
and so remind ourselves of how far we have come and what we have achieved on our journey.
Looking back over the years from the middle of the last century, all associated with public
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