CHILDREN AMD MILK.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 53, 4 March 1926, Page 12

CHILDREN AMD MILK.

GREATEST HEALTH FACTOR. I PUHITY ATSTi PHICE. SAFEGUARDS FOR CLEANLINESS. I It lias been asserted that Britain is breeding a C 3 race —in oilier words an inferior race —and that the whole cause of, tills physical deterioration is inferior and contaminated fond. Df these, milk is blamed for much "f the tuberculosis which exists, ami tho l::ck of it for all the rickets with which the children of tin , nation are aiTlictrd. An investigator, who recently toured Denmark, did not find a single case of rickets among the children, whereas in Great Britain it was difficult to <iv anywhere and not find rieketty children. The conclusion drawn from this was that this comparison existed because the amount of milk consumed daily ]ier individual in Denmark wet live times as much as was the ease ill (ireat Britain. Another fact in regard to the health of the people, and concerning the health of children in particular, was that, whereas it was admitted before a com mission of inquiry that eno-third of all English cows were tuberii'lar in Denmark the consumptive cow w;iß entirely banned. llr. Robertson Scott, one of the leading British authorities on milk, lias written: "There is substantial authority for the statement that 40 in every 100 of our great cow population of two and a-half millions, would respond unfavourably to the tuberculin test."' The British Government i- now, however, giving a subsidy for the slaughter and replacement of tuberculous cows, anil these dangerous beasts, should in time be entirely weeded out. with an enormously resultant benefit to ilie public health.

Haphazard Baby-building.

Milk, it it- urged by medical authorities, in the only food for the baby. Also it is one of the best foods for grown-ups ■ —but it is ono of the most dangerous of foods, for it is the most easily contaminated. The British baby, it is said, is one of the most tuberculous babies in the world; also it is said to bo the most ricketty baby in Europe—so much so that on the Continent rickets is called "English disease." The British baby's plight is attributed to the fact that it is "one of the worst fed babies in existence."

"Baby-building in England is haphazard," said a writer in an English

nmgazne, recently. "In countries like Denmark, Germany and America, which I have visited, it tends to become exact science." The British mother, on the j other hand cannot be sure that her, boy or girl is drinking milk minus j microbes, nor can she be sum that they ! are getting milk sufficiently rich in ; vitamines or fat, Xo wonder that, according to the reports of the specialists,, ■who examined young England during the ■war, the English people are becoming a "C 3 ", race. Supervising the Cow. In Denmark every cow is '"controlled."'i The inspector comes every three weeks j as sure as death or the income tax. No ! fanner can escape. Xo farmer wants to j escape, for it is the farmer himself who, through his Control Union, pays for the I controller's services. It is the expert controller who shows the farmer where ; his fodder can be improved, how to get j purer and better-tasting milk and but-1 ter, and how to experiment. The Dane is, said to always look three years ahead. [ All cow stalls in Denmark are arranged j with a perfect system of draining down j the middle, every drop of manure being; drawn off into the great pits from which i it is pumped to feed the land again, so j that the cow is made to support herself. | Every effort humanly possible is made j to keep down "microbe contents" and j to keep up '"fatty contents." Each milker has his or her hands disinfected be-1 fore being allowed to touch a cow, and en each home register is the following: "Cool your milk thoroughly and quickly. Use lime to cleanse utensils, and then ■cali.l with boiling water." Milk is re- i garded by the Danes as a potential poison, until it has passed its tests. It is then regarded as a magnificent food. "No mercy," we are told, "is j shown to the Danish farmer who does not keep , his fatty contents -well up, and his microbe contents well down. £To excuse is taken in a country of individualism. If one farmer gende in poor | or diseased milk, he lets down all his! fellows." Rickets in New Zealand. The nourishing qunl.'t'e* and freedom from tuberculosis of Auckland's milk supply is fairly satisfactory—but in a country which produces so' much milk far too little milk is drunk, and that 'which is consumed Ls far too dear for the working man to be enabled to give •his children sufficient of it. Save for a spoonful in their tea, children seldom get it at all, and a real good drink of this health-giving fluid is a rarity. Though the incidence of rickets in New Zealand does not approach that in some other countries, and particularly that of Great Britain, where 50 per cent of all the children in the big cities are affected, it is by no means uncommon, and this is due to the fact that the children of this country have too little milk. True, we do not see much rickets in its extreme form, but minor degrees of it are very frequent. The disease not only manifesto itself in infants, but the results of it are to be seen in a considerable percentage of "the youths who present themselves for examination under the defence regulations —largely in the way of malformed chests, which is a characteristic in persons who have suffered from rjekets in early life. If sufficient mi.k was consumed by our children, they would soon approach the physical standard of the children of Denmark and Sweden, and we would practically eliminate rickets in this country. Children must have food •which contains the essential vitaniiues. System of Supervision.

Generally speaking, the conditions under which cows are milked in thw country are good, sahl an authority to-day. Supervision over dairies U exercised both by the Department of Health and the City Council in Auckland. The milking sheds are controlled liy the Department of Agriculture. As far us tuberculosis goes, there is no evidence that there id danger from this source, ns the disease is not frequent anion;; cows in this part of the world, and if v tubercular cow is discovered, it is ordered to be destroyed. On tlje other hand, according to an authority on the matter, there is very serious and fjross contamination of a. great many milk F,up|ilius by luu-teriu. and the extent of the danger to children from this source muut be very gravely considered. It io understood that during the Iftat two years the Department of Public Health has heen carrying out investigations, which, have proved thin

danger to be very real, but the final | conclusions arrived at by these investigations have not been made known. As the public is so vitally interested in this matter, it is held to be high time that all the information gleaned by these inquiries, and the steps proposed to be taken for its protection, should be made available. Single Control Needed. There are several difficulties in con- j nection with this problem of preserving the purity of the milk supply, and the main difficulty is the control of small supplies. Adequate inspection of these small dairies would require the services of a trained 6taff greatly in excess of what the Public Health Department has at its command —and i greatly in excess of what the country I at present is willing to spend. But it seems that the matter is serious enough to 'call for special efforts in supervision. It is a fact that one dirty lilipply, however small, can contaminate many other clean supplies. The Department has cut out many bad sources of supply, but it is true that much dangerous milk still comes into the city. | The 'bottle supply is the ideal supply.! provided that the milk is pure when | bottled, but there is danger at three j ■points —in milking, handling, and dcliv- I ering. When milk is impure, much j harm may be accomplished before the j source of its contamination is located. It is urged that triple control, as at present exercised, is not satisfactory, and the suggestion is made that the i whole milk question shoxild be in the hands of one expert authority, with its own staff, to supervise milk from the cow to the consumer.