THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY “Public Service” FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1950 TESTING FOR T.B.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 60, Issue 4348, 27 October 1950, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY “Public Service” FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1950 TESTING FOR T.B.

The proposed compulsory tuberculosis testing of cows in herds supplying milk for human consumption is a commonsense move in the mounting campaign against a disease that ranks with cancer and heart complaints as a leading enemy of public health. The testing might have been made compulsory long ago if it had not been for economic considerations, a fact that seems to> enter into so many of our calculations when we have to decide between health and wealth.

By introducing legislation that will make testing necessary the Government is aifning at the root of the trouble. It is obvious that one or two diseased' cows ‘in a herd could contaminate the whole supply; and the logical thing to do is to eliminate the affected cows before they have a chance to make their contribution towards the elimination of the human consumer. The initial obstacle in the introduction of such a scheme seems to have been the cost of the compensation and the consequences of such a deep inquiry into the health of a herd. Producers may have felt that because, as the Minister of Agriculture has pointed out, the number of cases of tuberculosiscaused by the bovine type of organism is small compared with those caused by the human type,, wholesale testing was not justified. But if prevention is to precede cure in dealing with tuberculosis nothing should be overlooked in making the-campaign complete—a disease-proof filter,, as it were, guarding public health. 1 The testing of herds, it will be found, will be well worth the care- and the expense involved.