London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hillingdon 1971
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hillingdon]
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(4) The Toys (Safety) Regulations, 1967 prescribe standards for toys. Toy outlets in the
Borough are visited periodically and suspect toys are purchased and submitted to the
Public Analyst for examination to determine whether or not they comply with the
requirements of the regulations. Twelve toys were purchased during 1971 of which 3
were found to contain lead in excess of the 5,000 parts in 1 million parts of the dry paint
film permitted. Publicity was given to the unsatisfactory toys and as a result numerous
enquiries were received from the public regarding toys which had been purchased or
received as gifts. In some cases it was possible to give this information immediately,
but in other cases it was necessary to submit the toy for examination. The regulations
came into operation on 1st November, 1967 and the fact that toys continue to be sold
in contravention of these regulations is a matter for serious concern. The toys in question
are all of foreign manufacture and urgent steps are necessary to ensure that all toy
importations comply with the regulations.
Details of toys sampled are given in the following table:
| Satisfactory Toys | Unsatisfactory Toys | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article | Country of Origin | Article | Country of Origin | Reason |
| Toy aeroplane | Hong Kong | Building bricks | China | 34,800 parts per million Pb |
| Spinning bricks on wheels | Foreign | House blocks | China | 63,500 parts per million Pb |
| Skipping ropes(2) Wooden beads Metal sports car Piano book Xylophone Building bricks | England Czechoslovakia Japan Japan Hong Kong Foreign | Tomahawk | Taiwan | 55,930 parts per million Pb |
The Consumer Protection Act, 1971 which became operative on 30th April, 1971 provided
that where an offence was due to the act of default of some other person, that person might,
subject to certain defences, be charged with the offence. At the time of writing this report these
contraventions are still under investigations.
PEST CONTROL
Rats and Mice
The Council's obligations under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act, 1949 were, until the
1st January, 1971, carried out partly by direct labour and partly by the employment of specialist
contractors. From that date it became possible to recruit the full establishment of manual staff
and for the first time since the formation of the Borough rodent control was carried out entirely
by direct labour. Because of this it was possible to direct more time to the location of infestations
of rats and mice and to introduce systematic surveys and treatments of premises and sewers.
All routine inspections of premises include a check for the presence of rats and mice and as
a precaution against the spread of infestation all premises due for demolition are poison baited
before the work commences. The number of premises found to be infested with mice further
increased during the year and this is a matter for concern.
The problem of rodents was given publicity by the display on notice boards throughout the
Borough of posters printed by the Local Government Information Office emphasizing the need
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