94 THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



mentioned Dr. William H. Park, chief bacteriologist of the New York 

 department of health, is quoted on the effect ot the law enacted on 

 December 8, 1909, regulating, among other things, the pasteurization 

 of milk for consumption in New York City. It is represented that 

 the law which was to have gone into effect on March 1, 1910, is still 

 practically inoperative, owing to the failure of the dealers to provide 

 the pasteurizing apparatus required, an extension having been 

 granted, delaying actual compliance on their part with the provisions 

 of the law. 



The consensus of opinion among the authorities consulted by the 

 committee in the course of its investigations is largely in favor of 

 the practicability of commercial pasteurization. 



COMPULSORY PASTEURIZATION. 



The sentiment among the health officers consulted by the committee 

 appears to be opposed to compulsory pasteurization. In most in- 

 stances, however, where objection is registered no reasons are as- 

 signed. Dr. Woodward, health officer of the District, sees no reason 

 why compulsory pasteurization should not be practicable, the health 

 department having, he states, for some time had under consideration 

 the feasibility of recommending the compulsory pasteurization of all 

 milk coming from cows not tuberculin tested. Surg. Gen. Stokes 

 advocates compulsory pasteurization. 



Dr. Woodward directly affirms that in the present state of the pro- 

 duction and sale of milk commercially pasteurization seems to be the 

 only way of safeguarding the public health against milk-borne dis- 

 eases. The sale of raw milk answering to the classification of certi- 

 fied milk should not, however, in his judgment, be forbidden. 



Dr. Park suggests the following precautions, additional to the 

 tuberculin test, in the absence of compulsory pasteurization : General 

 hygienic rules, examination of feces before the return of typhoid 

 convalescents to their employment, inspection of wells, and a report 

 of all suspected communicable diseases. 



ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PASTEURIZATION. 



Many considerations have been advanced in favor of and in oppo- 

 sition to pasteurization, both compulsory and voluntary. 



In a paper entitled " The Bacteriology of Commercially Pasteurized 

 and Raw Market Milk,'" by S. Henry Ayers and William T. Johnson. 

 jr., issued November 14, 1910 * (only a few weeks ago), the advan- 

 tages and disadvantages of pasteurization are set forth, based upon 

 the latest considerations advanced for and against this treatment of 

 milk. The objections to pasteurization, generally accepted as well 

 founded, are summarized by these writers as follows : 



1. It is believed that the lactic-acid bacteria in raw milk, which eventually 

 sour the milk, exert a restraining influence on the peptonizing bacteria, which 

 would otherwise cause the putrefaction of the milk. In other words, when milk 

 is pasteurized and subsequently kept free from lactic-acid bacteria, which are 

 easily killed by heat, it will not sour, but will putrefy, due to the development 

 of peptonizing bacteria, the spores of which are not destroyed during pasteuriza- 

 tion. The peptonizing bacteria, when freed from the restraining influence of 



1 Bulletin No. 126, Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



