Pasteurised Milk

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26855, 7 October 1952, Page 6

Pasteurised Milk

, The average fair-minded reader of ’ the report of Thursday night’s milk l meeting in the Jellicoe Hall might ! be excused for wondering what all the fuss was about. The meeting was convened to “ organise ” those of the public who “insist” on the right to have raw milk supplied to them. But the right has already been conceded by the controlling authorities; and when Mr W. P, Warner, a member of the Metropolitan Milk Board and chairman of directors of the Christchurch Milk Company, brought this fact to the notice of the meeting he was howled down. The explanation, of course, is that the enthusiasts for raw milk, a not very large minority among consumers, are not content to be allowed to please themselves. They want to win converts to their point of view; and, with a pertinacity worthy of a better cause, they are determined to show that they, not the majority, are in the right. To this end some very foolish and mischievous arguments were used by speakers at the meeting. Dr. Fere is entitled to her own opinions; but when she invites the public to believe that pasteurised milk exposes them to an increased danger of tuberculosis, that it is injurious to the bones of infants fed upon it, and that it adds to the risk of heart disease, she might reasonably be expected to offer evidence to support her claims—and evidence to discredit the very different opinions held by the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Phy’ sicians and the British Pediatric Society. These and many other authorities support pasteurisation unreservedly; and their opinions are founded on the evidence produced • by patient study and exhaustive research and experiment. The evidence ' is being added to continually. To coincide with the recent Common- ' wealth Health and Tuberculosis ’ Conference in London, the British National Association for the Preven- ‘ tion of Tuberculosis printed three ‘ important books, one of which dealt with non-pulmonary tuberculosis of ' bovine origin. In this book three ex- ' perts give an up-to-date account of ' the seriousness of milk-borne tiiber- ! culosis disease in humans. We quote ' here from a review of the book by ‘ the medical correspondent of “ The “Times”: ' In 1944 in England alone about 1300 . persons died from this cause, excluding possible lung disease also caused 1 in this way. In Scotland during the 1 same period between 3000 and 4000 . of the notified cases of tuberculosis * of the bones, joints and glands were 1 caused by tuberculosis germs from , cattle. There is every reason to believe that if all milk for human con- 3 sumption were adequately heat-. 1 treated, tuberculosis of bovine origin ( —an “unnecessary and readily preventable disease”—would be virtually < abolished. j Dr. Fere also repeated the allega- I tion that pasteurisation is being < used in this country for financial I treasons—to relieve the authorities i of the necessity to test the herds and i to eliminate diseased cattle. Dr. i Fere knowi, or should know, that i

tuberculin-testing of town-supply herds, with compensation for condemned animals, is now being carried out systematically. She should know, also, that every responsible advocate of pasteurisation is also an advocate of herd improvement, of the highest possible standard of dairy hygiene, and of the most efficient methods of collecting, treating, and distributing milk. But when everything has been done that can be done to keep the milk pure and safe, from the cow to the breakfast table, pasteurisation will remain ail essential safeguard against those dangers of contamination which it is not humanly possible to eliminate. If the advocates of raw milk were to “insist” on their right of choice after, instead of before, all these necessary improvements have been made, there would be a little more reason in their case. But they want to drink raw milk now—before tuberculosis has been stamped out of the herds and before the industry is in all other respects beyond reproach—and they will spare no effort to persuade others to join them in their folly, This, after all, is a very human attitude. A risk, whether it is to life, health or merely the pocket-book, never seems as great when it is. shared by others.