268 



Parliamentary Publications. 



Dangerous Trades [Anthrax) Committee. Report of the 

 Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the 

 conditions of work in wool-sorting and other kindred trades. 

 [C.— 8506.] Price is. 



This is the report of a Committee appointed by the Home 

 Office to inquire into the conditions of work, as they affect the 

 health of the operatives, in industries in which anthrax is 

 alleged to occur. 



The Committee describe briefly the nature of anthrax, and 

 make various suggestions with a view to minimising the risk 

 of contracting the disease which is incurred by operatives 

 manipulating wool, hides, hair, and similar animal products. 

 The Committee hold that there are three principal directions 

 from which the question of prevention may be approached — 

 viz., the exclusion of infected materials from use, disinfec- 

 tion, and the employment of insusceptible persons. They 

 point out that so far as British materials are concerned 

 there does not appear to be much risk of anthrax, as the 

 disease is not widely prevalent here, and since 1886 it has 

 been scheduled under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) 

 Act. They consider it desirable that some action should be 

 taken to check the importation of dangerous hides, which 

 they think would be the most effectual means of diminishing 

 the risk of the disease. The suggestion of disinfection, 

 promising as it ma)' appear at first sight, does not, in the 

 opinion of the Committee, bear examination, owing to the 

 difficulty of applying disinfection in a satisfactory manner 

 to the materials with which their inquiry is concerned. 



In conclusion, the Committee state that the evidence 

 which they have collected from different quarters has led 

 them to attach the greatest importance to the subject of 

 anthrax, which they venture to suggest, on public grounds, 

 could more advantageously be investigated by a Royal 

 Commission, or at least by a Committee, on which the 

 Foreign Office, the Local Government Board, the Board of 

 Trade, and the Board of Agriculture might usefully be 

 represented, as well as the Home Office. They add that there 

 is reason to believe that by such a court of inquiry means 

 might be discovered of actually stamping out the disease in 

 the country, or at least of materially reducing the frequency 

 of its outbreaks. 



