CO129-562-12 Dysentry epidemic- recommendation to enforce compulsory pasteurization of milk 7-6-1937 - 17-8-1937 — Page 51

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217. We consider that these three diseases fall into a different category from tuberculosis, inasmuch as they cause severe direct pecuniary loss to the farmer and are of less importance to the consuming public. The farmer does not feel the wastage in his herds from tuberculosis so acutely, though the disease is of great The technical assistance referred to importance to public health. already, together with the advice and guidance of the veterinary officers during their routine examinations of the herds should be In the sufficient to enable the farmer to eradicate these diseases. case of tuberculosis, however, he can never, in our opinion, successfully undertake eradication without assistance from the state.

(e) Miscellaneous recommendations.

(i) The relation of the research conducted by the Milk Marketing Boards to that conducted by government.

218. The establishment of the Milk Marketing Boards, with powers to expend money upon research into questions affecting the production of milk, raises an important question regarding the organisation of agricultural research in Great Britain, and as diseases of animals are among the most important subjects of investigation, we feel that this is a matter that may properly be raised in our report. We hold that it is of the first importance that the co-ordination of Government-assisted research on this subject, which is effected by the Agricultural Research Council, should in no way be weakened. We therefore recommend that the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Department of Agriculture for Scotland should invite the attention of the Milk Marketing Boards to the fact that it is the policy of the Government that research should only be undertaken after consultation with, and with the concurrence of whichever is the appropriate council of the three research councils (the Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Medical Research Council and the Agricultural Research Council) now established under the Lord President of the Council; and should invite the Boards to adopt the principle that their funds should be expended on research in regard to dairying and animal diseases, only after consultation with the Agricultural Research Council and in a manner that will not conflict with the schemes of research already in progress.

(ii) The standardisation of tuberculin.

219. Tuberculin for the testing of cattle is at present prepared by a number of different private firms. Many of these products are of a good quality; but in the absence of a standard of prescribed potency and purity it is only natural that some less satisfactory products are on the market, with the result that the efficacy of the tuberculin test is called in question. There is, however, the further important

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argument in favour of standardisation that the interpretation of the test would be more accurate and the results obtained more readily comparable if all tuberculin were of standard strength and quality. We find ourselves in full agreement with this point of view, and we consequently recommend that the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries should approve a standard for tuberculin and should provide that it should be sold only to qualified veterinary surgeons. We understand that the Joint Tuberculosis Committee of the Medical Research Council and Agricultural Research Council has recommended to the Ministry of Health the use of a new synthetic tuberculin. If this new product is officially recognised as an improvement, it should be accepted as providing the required standard.

(iii) Proposed extension of powers of local authorities.

220. We have received a considerable amount of evidence that it is not uncommon for cattle which should have been reported under the tuberculosis order to be sold to dealers and knackers. It is suggested, and indeed a number of instances have been submitted to us in support of this suggestion, that dealers and knackers sometimes dispose of cattle or meat, which should properly be condemned, through irregular channels for human consumption. We are not in a position to say how widespread this practice is, but we are satisfied that it is sufficiently prevalent to call for an amend- ment of the law. We recommend that the police, and sanitary officers of local authorities and all veterinary officers in public employment should be given the right of access to dealers' and knackers' premises, and the right to require information upon the source from which cattle are received and the destination to which cattle and carcases are despatched. The adoption of this recommendation would we believe provide an important safeguard against this practice and would block an improper channel for the disposal of such cattle and meat.

IX. THE FINANCIAL EFFECT OF THE MEASURES RECOMMENDED.

221. The measures which we have recommended involve expenditure under the following headings :-

(i) expansion of the veterinary service and its necessary laboratory equipment to undertake the routine clinical examination of dairy herds, and the work in connection with the eradication of tuberculosis which

we have recommended;

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