Report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the use of preservatives and colouring matters in the preservation and colouring of food : together with minutes of evidence, appendices and index.
- Great Britain. Committee on Food Preservatives.
- Date:
- 1901
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the use of preservatives and colouring matters in the preservation and colouring of food : together with minutes of evidence, appendices and index. Source: Wellcome Collection.
89/548 page 47
![sgot well. At that time, as I say, I had no idea of the cause of the disease. Four or five months later, how- ever, the disease recurred—the original disease from which the patient suffered, that is—and he again com- menced to take the boric acid. After three weeks, the symptoms again came out the same as_ before, ‘but this time they were much more pronounced. He took the same doses, but he took them for a longer period of time. He took the drug for several months. I saw him in October, 1896. He was then covered over with a similar eruption to that which I have “already described to you. ‘The hair on the head was salmost entirely lost ; the hands and the feet were covered over with thick scales ; his general health had gone down ‘very much ; he had lost flesh and got thin; he had lost ‘his appetite; and I regarded him as being in a very serious condition. I at that time had been reading the paper by Professor Féré, of Paris, on the effects of boric acid which he had given ‘for the treatment of certain diseases, and that he ‘had noticed that a certain number of the patients taking it presented sysmptoms such as I have described to you. ¥rom the correspondence of those symptoms with the ‘ymptoms of my own patient, and from the fact that a similar disease had occurred twice coincidentally with taking the boric acid, I came to the conclusion that this was in all probability a case of boric acid poisoning. 1425. Do I understand) you that he was getting at the a@ate of 50 grains a day ?—Yes. 1426. Do you consider that his system was equal to getting rid of that within twenty-four hours ?—I do not. 1427. Then the effect of the doses were cumulative ?— ‘They were probably cumulative in that case. The reason why I consider that his system was probably not able to get rid of it was that the kidneys were diseased in that particular case. Dr. Féré has noticed that his most severe cases at Salpétriére came on in patients whose kidneys avere affected. I stopped the bori¢ acid in this case, and under very simple treatment the patient absolutely re- covered. He gained flesh, his hair came on again, and the skin became normal. Six months afierwards the -original disease again became very troublesome ; the boric acid had always given him so much relief that he again took the boric acid in spite of the symptoms which I had already told him had been produced by it. The same symptoms again came on, but to a very much less degree, because the patient being warned stopped taking the drug as soon as he commenced to feel any bad effects, such as the skin beginning to get red, painful, scaly, or anything of that kind. 1428. Have your observations led you to form any opinion as to the safety of boracic acid as a preservative in food ?—I have formed an opinion upon the matter. 1429. Would you state it?—My opinion is this: From the result of my personal observations small quantities of boric acid might be added to milk without danger to healthy persons. I take milk because that is really the chief thing which has interested me, owing to the giving of milk to patients as an invalid dietary. I should say that by smal] ‘quantities I certainly mean not more than one in a thousand, which is sufficient, I believe, to preserve milk from any apparent change for, say, from between twenty- four to forty-eight hours. The effect of boric acid upon milk is proportional to the quantity, and in order to preserve decomposable materials for twenty-four ‘hours a much less quantity is required than is needed to preserve them for forty-eight hours, or for three -days, or for four days. A small quantity may be added sufficient to preserve, say, milk—simply to take it as a type—for twenty-four hours or forty-eight hours, but would not be sufficient to preserve it for a longer period. ‘I believe, from experiments I have made myself, and from observations of friends, who have used it, that a quantity of about sixty to seventy grains per gallon, ~which is one in a thousand, will preserve milk sufficiently for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, excepting, perhaps, in the very hottest weather. I do not think from the result of the observations I have made, that any healthy person would be likely to be harmed by this quantity of boric acid. The quantity they -would get per day would be practically less than 10 grains, judging, say, about a pint of milk to be taken. But in -cases where people were on an entirely milk diet—for in- stance, babies brought up by hand, or patients suffering ‘from disease of the kidneys, where an exclusive milk diet is not at all unusual—those people might, I think, be in jured by even this small quantity of boric acid. 1430. What quantity of milk would you say, roughly, a ‘3017, 47 child of three months old would consume ?—One to two pints, probably, at three months old. 1431. A quart?—Yes, up to about a quart, I should say ; and an adult patient on a milk diet would take about two quarts, roughly speaking, of course, for the conditions vary very much indeed. 1432. But that would be an ordinary person ?—A child up to twelve months old might take up to a quart diluted, and a child soon after birth would take perhaps half a pint to a pint. 1433. Then supposing there were one part in a thousand of boracic acid, that child would be consuming how much ?—About nine grains in the pint. 1434. Highteen grains in a quart?—Yes, and in pro- portion to the ordinary dose of medicines that one would give to a baby that would really be a very large dose. 1435. And possibly more than its kidneys would be able to deal with ?—Possibly, but the kidneys in children are very active organs, and I think that the danger in very young children would probably, if it was continued for any length of time, be more that of loss of appetite and general loss of nutrition rather than kidney disease. 1456. Then that points in the interests of the public to some indication being given of the presence of the pre- servative /—I think it is very important. I assure you it is very difficult sometimes in treating cases to make sure in the case of an infant whom one finds suffering from a skin eruption, that that child shall be fed upon milk which you know contains no boric acid. One has to get a sample of the milk that is being consumed, and prac- tically test ib for one’s self. 1437. I suppose in Manchester, as in other large towns, there are milk vendors prepared to meet every requisite on the part of the public, and of the medical profession especially /—Yes, there are. 1438. That is to say, they will supply pasteurised milk ?—Yes. We have one or two firms who will do that, and they will guarantee it free from any preservative. 1439. That is an increasing practice, is it not ?—L think, perhaps, it is. One company has not been started in Manchester very long, but I doubt if they will reach the poorest people, or the class of patients whom we get in the hospital. 1440. Is certified milk sold at a higher price than ordinary milk ?—There is a little difference in the price ; at least there igs with one of our firms in Manchester ; but whether that is a permanency, or simply a temporary arrangement, I cannot say. One feels from a medical point of view in this way, that the value of milk to poor children, in large towns especially, as a food, is go great that any regulation which would increase the cost of milk so as to make the ordinary children in large towns get less milk would be a serious matter. One would prefer them to have milk with a little boric acid, rather than no milk atall. That is the way I look at it. 1441. The price will be increased by the prohibition of the use of preservatives ?—I feel in this way—that in the large towns milk has to be collected from many districts, and brought into the town, which necessitates a number of hours elapsing between the milk being produced and reaching the consumer. In sufnmer especially a very large amount of milk would necessarily be soured unless it was preserved in some way during the transit, and that milk, even preserved in this way, is, I believe, preferable to no milk at all as diet for children, and is certainly pre- ferable to sour milk, which is responsible, I have no doubt, for a considerable number of the digestive dis- orders which occur in so many children in hot weather. 1442. Have you made many analyses of milk samples? —I have not made very many. I have been interested more in the medicinal use of the acid rather than in the dietetic use. I have found traces of it in milk. 1443. What is the highest proportion?—Personally I have not found more than one in a thousand in the samples that I have examined. [I cannot say that I have examined many samples, and the milk that I did examine, with even one in a thousand in, was certainly what I should call a good milk. 1444. Then, on the whole, I understand that you would advocate the moderate use, say, not exceeding one in a thousand parts of boracic acid rather than prohibit the use of preservatives altogether ?—So long as some in- dication was given that the article of food containing boracic acid did contain it, I think that is a very im- portant point. 1445. In the matter of milk, how could you give that Dr. RB: B. Wild. 20 Nov. 1899.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b3217228x_0089.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
