The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1912-06-27
PELLAGRA SHOWS
LARGE INCREASE
Georgia state Board Of Health Urges
Law to Keep Out Bad and
Improperly Cured
Corn.

4 why 5AONAA Jou Pay 6O~N AA~-~SS
for and consume bad corn, any more
, than you would buy and eat decayed
fish or fruit?" asks the Georgia State
Board of Health in discussion of
the disease, pellagra and its produc-
ing cause.
Georgia has had her share and more
of the increased number of cases of
pellagra, acute and chronic, In recent
years, and the State Board of Health
is giving every possible attention to
the study of the cause and prevention
/ of this disease which usually termi-
mates fatally.
The best scientific opinion Of the
, world today is agreed that the PROB
able cause OF pelagra is bad corn
corn which has been improperly cured,
which has been cut green and in
which fermentation sets up during
the process of drying out: or In
which fermentation may be produced
by dampness due to careless handling
after the grain has ripened. Some
poisonous substance is thus produced
in the grain, which the best medical
opinion throughout the world Is now
confident, is the producing cause OF
pellagra.
The State Board accepts this the
ory, in the light of all the evidence
and 1t is abundant-as the correct
one. but whether it be correct or not,
certainly there is no answer to the
argument presented in the Board S
query, why should anyone buy bad
CORN, 1t is known beyond question
that spoiled corn will kill horses. and
other animals, and that it's effect
upon the human system must there
fore be deleterious. So why should
anyone buy it at all, even at reduced
price, and take the dangerous
chances?
In fact, Why should not the state
itself take hand and forbid the i'm
portation and sale In Georgia of bad
or improperly cured corn3 Such leg
isIative action the State Board of
Health strongly urges and recon-
mends. The state now seeks to pro-
tect the people in the matter of the
purity of their food products; but
there is none in which the law should
more carefully scrutinize than corn
which IS so widely and generally used
as a food product both for man and
beast.
It is not necessary here to go into
the many theories which have been
adduced as to the cause of pelfagra.
With the single exception Of the now
generally accepted belief that pellagla
is caused by eating bad corn, every
one Of these theories has been dis
proven or rejected as wholly untena-
Bile because Of the fact that the condi-
lions involved, while they may ap.
pear in one section where pellagrA
is prevalent, are wholly lacking 9th
ers where the disease is just as bad
or worse.
AS early as 1900 the deleterious
, effect of corn or maize products on
the human system was noted. 1t was
found to be a common food product
with those affected with pellagra. The
disease has been found to prevail par
ticnlarly in those countries in which
the seasons are so short that the
grain does not properly ripen; and
also it has been shown to have made
its appearance wherever people were
in the habit of eating corn after it
has undergone Preventative changes.
1t is we'll known that corn, when bad,
will quickly kill horses, and numerous
experiments have shown that extracts
made from fermented corn possess
toxic or poisonous properties.
'It is noteworthy says the Board,
"that in the United States pellagra
did not make its appearance to any
extent until Western corn growers be-
gan the practice of cutting the entire
stalk in green state and piling them
up together in the fields, there to re-
/ main exposed to all of the Vicissitudes
of the weather until the winter was
far advanced, or even until the sue
ceeding spring, when the demand for
corn came on In the Southern states.
Here are some facts that are known
regarding pellagra:
"PeIIagra occurs in all countries
where corn products are habitually
used az food: it does not occur in
any country where such products are
not habitually used as food; it did not
exist in Europe prior to the introduce
ton Of maize, and did not attract at
tention until this cereal had become
a common article of diet; pellagra has
ceased to exist in certain districts
where other crops have replaced corn
and where it is no longer habitually
used as food: pellagra has probably
, always existed in North America as
1t has long been known in Mexico,
and the increase of it in this country
unduestionably followed the introduce
ton of the Western method of har-
yesting corn in the green state"
Concluding, the Board Of Health
says:
las there is every reason to be-
lieve that bad corn is the cause Of
peIlagra, and no evidence that 1t is
not, It is our duty to use every legiti-
mate method to prevent its importa-
ton into the state and it's sale in our
markets. Even granting that pella-
gra is not produced by fermented
maize, we are surely entitled to good
corn when we pay our money for
It; there can be no possible reason
for wishing to buy rotton corn.
'The thoroughly ripened and we'll
preserved corn of these ATTITUDES is,
. unquestionably, good, wholesome
, food, and can be eaten in the future
as it has been in the past without I'll
effect; but the State Board of Health
deems that it is but doing its duty
to the people of Georgia in solemnly
warning them against the evil eonse-
quences of eating the Western prod
uct 50 long as the pernicious practice
continues of cultiYating a weak and
Tftiated plant combined with meth
Cd of harvesting which is nothing less
than criminal.
"The State Board of Health strong
ly urges the people of Georgia to give