Great Advances In Pediatrics

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30764, 31 May 1965, Page 6

Great Advances In Pediatrics

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, May 30, A distinguished American pediatrician and authority on virus diseases. Professor A. J. Steigman, has found “firstrate” diagnostic and treatment standards in Auckland pediatrics. He has been working at Auckland Hospital for a month, and will leave for India tomorrow. “In the United States, we are developing a much wider emphasis on pediatrics as a basis for general health,” he said. “The seeds of all health and disease start in childhood and the developments in pediatrics have grown so much there hasn’t been time for us to catch up.” Professor Steigman said he had been surprised to learn of the implied lack of confidence in the dental and medical profession over fluoridation. “Did you hold a referendum over pasteurisation, sewage disposal, mosquito control,” he asked. “The unborn baby needs the protection of fluoridation, as do the underprivileged who need a cheap builtin method of fluoridation. “The buds of permanent teeth are formed before birth and ydu deprive a child of

something to his benefit without fluoridation.” He said the new medical school planned for Auckland represented an “exciting” departure in medical education. “In America, we have come to realise it is not fair to have other countries educate our doctors, so we must increase our own medical schools,” he said. “It takes great expenditure and wisdom to understand that today’s research is tonight’s discovery. It is not fair to go on drawing from the pool of knowledge without adding something to it.”