§ Sir C. Edwardsasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that the chairman of the Glamorgan County Council Diseases of Animals Committee has stated that unless there was an improvement in the condition of the milk, public authorities should stop the distribution to children as a means of stopping the spread of tuberculosis; whether the increase in this disease coincided with the introduction of the milk scheme; whether in the years prior to 1938 the incidence of tuberculosis declined in Wales; whether since 1939 the incidence of tuberculosis in children under 11 years of age has increased and by what percentage; and what steps he proposes to take to deal with this state of affairs?
§ Miss HorsbrughI have seen a Press report of the statement mentioned. In the great majority of cases tuberculosis due to bovine infection is non-pulmonary but, at all ages, it constitutes about 30 per cent. only of the cases of non-pulmonary tuberculosis. The incidence of non-pulmonary tuberculosis in children under 11 in Wales gradually declined up to 1937, but began to rise in 1938. The increase was rather more marked in 1940, the year in which the national milk scheme was introduced. The numbers of cases notified in the years 1940 and 1941 were 388 and 389 respectively, an increase of 16 per cent. compared with 1939, and of about 12½ per cent. compared with the average for the years 1933 to 1939. My right hon. Friend has from time to time informed the House of the steps he is taking to cope with the increased incidence of tuberculosis and in particular my right hon. and Noble Friend the Minister of Food, with whom he is in close touch on the matter, has under active consideration the practical steps1760W that can be taken to secure the elimination of active tubercle organisms from liquid milk.