DAIRY, SEED IMPROVEMENT, STOCK BREEDERS^ MEETINGS. IQS 



MILK AND ITS RELATION TO HUMAN HEALTH 



AND DISEASE. 



By Eugene R. KellEy, M. D., Director, Division of Communi- 

 cable Diseases, Massachusetts State Department of Health. 



My talk today will be simply a bird's-eye view of the subject 

 of milk and its relation to the public health. 



This is a side of the question in which the producer needs 

 all the enlightenment he can get. It is, however, equally true 

 that the consumer, the laboratory investigators, and health and 

 food officials need enlightenment in regard to the financial 

 burden of the producers' problems fully as much. 



Let us discuss the question of milk and its relation to the 

 public health under two broad divisions — Why is milk a pub- 

 lic health problem? and, How is milk a public health prob- 

 lem? 



Milk is a public health problem to an extent not approached 

 by any other food product for several fundamental reasons. 

 The first reason why milk is a pubhc health problem is be- 

 cause milk and its derivatives, cream, cheese, ice cream, etc., 

 is almost the only animal product that is habitually consumed 

 in large quantities in a raw and uncooked state. 



In the second place, milk is a fundamental public health 

 problem because milk is consumed to the greatest extent as a 

 food or beverage by that portion of humanity that is most easily 

 susceptible to the ill effects of impure or dangerous food. I 

 refer, of course, to infants and children. This is the reason 

 beyond all others that makes the milk question a vital public 

 health problem. 



Milk in some form or other is a vital necessity to mankind 

 for the first year of life, and almost equally as necessary for 

 the second year, although it is true that some races, as the 

 Japanese, do not use cow's milk or other animal's milk at all. 

 Yet the Caucasian race seems to be firmly wedded to cow's 



