PURE MILK SUPPLY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 236, 4 September 1945, Page 4

PURE MILK SUPPLY.

(To the Editor.;

Sir, —The ‘‘rUanawatu Standard” published last 1' riday a report irom Sydney that milk irom dairy herds anected by tuberculosis had caused the deatlis ot a number of children, inis • bungs forcibly beiore us the urgent need of ridding our cows . oi tnis sco urge.,-Mil it in tins city is now deuv-' jered in bottles, a forward move. Also, 1 understand that in the near future ; all limit sold to • the public will be 1 pasteurised, this is another good move !as long as T.JLJ. exists in our herds; I but it is to be regretted that testing is not made compulsory. We are a long way behind both Britain and America ill our efforts to clear our herds of this disease. Pasteurisation, while killing the germs, does not remove the toxic effects resulting from their presence in the system. Scientists tell us that if blood taken from a healthy animal is crystallised the crystals fail into a certain special design. If the animal is diseased the design. will bo changed. This shows something radically wrong, and milk from such animals should not be used for food and, especially, not given to infants, in my opinion, every mother with young children should rise up from one end of the Dominion to the other and demand milk from only healthy cows. The eradication of tuberculosis from our herds can be done and ought to 1 be done. The cost would not be felt, as a long-range plan of eradication has been worked out by leading veterinar- j ians' in this Dominion, providing, among other things, an adequate supply of heifers over the years. Mo one wishes to add to the burdens of the toiling dairyman. There is no one worthy of more esteem than the dean dairy-farmer with a healthy and well fed herd. He is a most valuable man to the community. To mothers and little children he is worth his weight in gold. The general public should bear the greater part of the cost and tuberculosis should be swept from our herds. Let no man think that he has discharged his full duty to his fellow men by mere pasteurisation.—Yours, etc., ELLESS DEE.