§ Mr. CHARLES BATHURSTasked the President of the Local Government Board if he will say upon what day he proposes to introduce the Milk and Dairies Bill; and whether any of the provisions of such Bill have been modified in consequence of the recently issued Final Report of the Royal Commission on Human and Animal Tuberculosis?
§ Mr. BURNSDue notice will be given of the introduction of the Bill. I am considering what modifications in the Bill 1656 may be necessary by reason of the Report of the Royal Commission.
§ Mr. C. BATHURSTMay I ask whether in view of the uncertainty and alarm both amongst the farming community and the consuming public the right hon. Gentleman will take steps to accelerate the introduction of his Bill?
§ Mr. BURNSI do not agree as to the proportion of alarm mentioned. It is mainly to consider the matters mentioned in the next question of the hon. Gentleman that induced me not to introduce the Bill up to this moment.
§ Mr. C. BATHURSTasked the President of the Local Government Board whether he is conversant with the experiments which have been recently conducted on human beings in Germany in order to test the extent of the risk resulting from the human consumption of milk obtained from cows infected with tuberculosis of the udder, and with the report published last year by the Imperial Health Office of Germany based upon such experiments; whether, in the light of that report, he is advised by the medical experts of his Department that the drinking of, as distinct from the inoculation with, cows' milk containing tubercle bacilli is calculated seriously to endanger human health even in the case of children; and whether, in view of the absence of deleterious effects resulting from most of the feeding experiments conducted by the Royal Commission on Human and Animal Tuberculosis, he will, in order to allay undue alarm upon the subject, cause further scientific investigations to be made before taking drastic measures in respect of the national milk supply on a possibly false hypothesis?
§ Mr. BURNSThe experiments referred to were merely observations on the medical history of 360 persons (151 children) who were stated to have consumed tuberculous milk. My advisers agree with the finding of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis, to the effect that "measures for securing the prevention of ingestion of living bovine tubercle bacilli with milk would greatly reduce the number of cases of abdominal and cervical gland tuberculosis in children," and there is nothing in the facts contained in the German report referred to in the question which is incompatible with this conclusion. It would be superfluous, in view of the many years' work of the Royal Commission, to cause further scientific investigation to be made on the points which they have definitely settled.
§ Mr. C. BATHURSTIs it not universally admitted among the medical profession that this disease is due more to a predisposition caused through insufficiency of milk than to the presence of ovine germs in the milk itself?
§ Mr. BURNSI am aware that that view is held by some members of the profession who are entitled to respect, but there are others equally entitled to respect who hold the very opposite view.