24 ANNUAL BEPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



cian, be consuming an indefinite quantity of the same drug in his 

 food. * * * * They were of the opinion that there are certain 

 conditions of human economy in which the administration of drugs, 

 such as boric acid and salicylic acid, are held to be contra-indicated. 

 Among such conditions specific reference was made to inflamatory 

 states of the kidneys, certain states of the digestive tract, and of the 

 reproductive organs. 



"It was pointed out by several witnesses that, inasmuch as certain 

 of these conditions are likely, in the aggregate, to be of considerable 

 prevalence, it is a matter of importance that persons suffering from 

 such conditions should be protected from the danger to which the 

 unregulated use of drugs might conceivedly expose them.'' 



The evidence of the Physiologists and Pharmacologists is also 

 stated by the Committee in the following language: "It may be said at 

 once, that all of these witnesses strongly deprecated the unregulated 

 use of preservatives, at least those at present known. * * * The 

 a-priori objections of physiologists, to certain preservatives and col- 

 ouring matters, also rested upon the fact, that they are foreign to the 

 animal body, and that the continued ingestion of these, could not be 

 treated with indifference." 



Notwithstanding these strong declarations by these several classes 

 of expert witnesses against the use of chemical preservatives, the 

 Committee have, nevertheless, allowed the restricted use of salicylic 

 acid and borax. 



The fact that the Committee prohibits all use of preservatives in 

 milk, and in food for invalids and infants, is an admission 

 that they recognize their possible harmful character. There is no 

 definition, as to what constitutes an invalid, in the sense of liability 

 to injury, from the use of these drugs. Any one is an invalid, so far 

 as necessity for care in diet is concerned, whose digestive organs are 

 weak, or whose idiosyncrasy is such as to render him easily suscepti- 

 ble to the influence of certain drugs; and since the great majority of 

 people are affected in one or both of these ways, the only logical and 

 safe course, so far as protection of the public health is concerned, 

 would manifestly have been to have prohibited the use of these pre- 

 servatives in all foods. 



But the Committee, evidently, felt that they were limited in the 

 application of this safe rule, by the peculiar commercial conditions 

 that exist in England, and they hint at this in the following state- 

 ment, taken from their report : 



"It should be borne in mind that under the conditions in which the 

 population of Great Britain lives, and more particularly that portion 

 of it inhabiting the large towns, some preserving agent, not necessa- 

 rily chemical, appears to be needed in the case of no inconsiderable 

 portion of its perishable food supply. It is common knowledge that 



