The Health Services
1944-05 1944 1940s 23 pages 2 (2) Nutrition, and Safety of Food and Drugs. Nutrition is a subject which deserves a pamphlet to itself. Its importance to Health is only just beginning to be fully recognised, and there is a vital lesson to be learned from war-time food policy. According to Sir John...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : C. W. Publishing Ltd.
May 1944
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/ED699138-98ED-45DB-BCDF-11FAD552797B http://hdl.handle.net/10796/6F5D96A1-99B4-4F98-B8B9-98628D8B9B28 |
| Summary: | 1944-05
1944
1940s
23 pages
2 (2) Nutrition, and Safety of Food and Drugs. Nutrition is a subject which deserves a pamphlet to itself. Its importance to Health is only just beginning to be fully recognised, and there is a vital lesson to be learned from war-time food policy. According to Sir John Orr, before the war one-third of the population were not enjoying a diet adequate for health. They might be eating enough in quantity, but they were not eating enough of the "protective foods," because these were the most expensive. To-day those basic foods are rationed so that everyone may get his share, and their prices are controlled within the range of every purse. Certain classes who need it, such as mothers, children and heavy workers, receive an extra allowance. We produce and import the food which we need for health. The result is that the third of the population who were undernourished before the war are now better fed. We must not again allow health to be at the mercy of the profit motive. All important legislation as regards the safety of food and drugs is incorporated in the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, and administered mainly by local and port health authorities. Although it represents an enormous advance as compared with the time when adulterated food, milk and drugs could be offered for sale with impunity, it still has many gaps. For many foodstuffs recognised standards of quality have not yet been laid down; and patent medicine advertisements may make the wildest claims unchecked, encourage self-medication to a dangerous extent, and in many instances fraudulent prices are charged. (3) Industrial Conditions. Many occupations have their characteristic diseases, mining tends to produce silicosis, and bus-driving gastric trouble. Modern industry also takes a heavy toll in accidents. There is a vast field for the development of industrial medicine. Legislation regulating the conditions under which people work dates back to the beginning of the past century. The Factory Act, 1833, introduced the principle of factory inspection and made a beginning in the control of dangerous trades. In 1844 the first certifying factory surgeons were appointed. In the Factory and Workshops Act, 1898, the office of medical inspector of factories was created. The Factory Act, 1937, incorporates most of this legislation. The Factories (Medical and Welfare Services) Order, 1940, empowering the Chief Inspector of Factories to compel managements to employ medical practitioners and nurses, has led to a considerable extension of the industrial medical services during the war, but they are still in their beginnings and their greatest drawback is their isolation from the other medical services of the country. In addition to the Factory Acts there are Acts dealing with conditions in shops, coal mines, on railways and in merchant ships, and there is special legislation against child labour and for the protection of women and young persons in industry.
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |