The Washington times., 1919-11-26
PRAISES POLICY
OF DR.. FOWLER
Emile BerIiner Holds Lax Laws
Accountable for Un-
healthy Milk.

Emile Berliner, president of the AS
sociation for Prevention of Tubercu-
losis today denied any intention OF
rejecting on the ability of DR.. Fow-
ler. District Health Officer, and said
that 1t Is no fault Of DR.. Fowlers
that there is not back Of him some
statute which would enable him to
stop unhealthy milk from reaching
the unsespecting consumer.
''The Offices of the tuberculosis As
sociation are disturbed by statements
which were printed in The Washing
ton Times within the past day or two
and which to the uninitiated may
have the appearance as f some one
had reflected on the efficiency Of our
Health Department and of the milk
inspectors" Mr.. Berliner said. "Just
the reverse can be showns and has
often been pointed out whenever the
subject of milk was under discussion
among US. The Washington Health
ONCE has for q number Of years
faithfully published its monthly list
of ratings under which the milk sold
by any dealer could be found classified
regarding its healthfulness.
No Fault sf Dr.. Fowler.
IF under the list Of ratings there
Is milk as low as 43 tout Of possible
1907, and there Is no law which can
prevent such milk from being freely
sold in the District of Columbia no
fault can possibly be found with the
Health Officer. He has simply not
back Of him some statute which
would enable him to stop such milk
from reaching an unsuspecting con.
sumner.
"If milk can be sold as pasteurised
which is worse after pasteurixation
than before, the Health Officer IL
again powerless to interfere He is
not permitted to regulate the milk
traffic to the extent OF interfering
with such practice.
IF at the Children's Hospital and
other hospitals. or homes. raw milk
and that not Of the best-is given to
the sick children to drink. . fact
which has often been pointed out BY
officers and directors Of the Tuber-
culosis Association. and may be done
at the present moment. again can the
Health Officer not interfere?
'The bulk Of the milk sold raw IN
Washington is Of high grade, at least
so far as any raw milk can be classi-
fed as safe milk to give to children,
invalids and all those whose resistance
is impaired. And we know that DR..
fOWlST Is most eAIuSSt III uiS OpiuiOu
that all milk should be pasteurized
under official supervision. Knowing
this how could anybody wish to re-
fleet on the Health officer?
Milk ClassineatSsnA.
1As for other large cities I enclose
a list Of fifteen Of them showing that
these all have milk classifications and
milk standards under which such
labelling Is deceptive. Moreover these
classifications prove that the law In
those cities intends to guard the peo-
Pile against unsafe milk. also that the
bacterial counts Of raw milk must not
go above a fairly safe limit and that
pasteurization be done under strict
supervision
1t Is not DR.. Fowler's fault that We
have no such regulations here even
though IL is historic that milk stand
ards as now in force In many large
cities are all based on the so-called
Melvin Standards which the Washing
ton Milk Conference Of 1907 formu-
lated and passed. DR.. Fowler Is en-
deavoring. as, the Commissioners have
tried repeatedly, to get proper laws
enacted by Congress.
"Dr. Fowler is highly valued
member Of our board of directors and
/ earnestly protest against the as
sumption that his ability and good
will as a Health Officer has at any
time been questioned"