Evening star., 1933-06-06
SUNSHINE IN MILK
FORCH|[DRENSEEN
NEED BY DOCTORS
Impossible at Present to De.
termine Standard Dosage
for Dairy Product.
HOSPITAL COMPETITION
DEPLORED BY PARLEY
General Practitioner Held Up as
Keystone of Profession-Infant
Mortality Drops.

American children would benefit by
more sunshine in their milk, according
to a report presented today to the Con-
ference OF State and Provincial Health
Authorities, meeting here, by its Com
mittee on Milk.
The committee has been conducting
an investigation of the sale of so-caIled
vitiminized milk which has grown I'D
in many communities. This milk con-
tains Vitamin D, the substance which
prevents the development of rickets,
and which the child ordinarily gets in
such preparations as cod liver oil. 1t
also comes from sunshine.
the committee found that dairymen
In different communities are using
three methods of putting the vitamin
into the milk-direct irradiation of the
milk, feeding the cows irradiated yeast,
and mixing with the milk certain
patented preparations of concentrated
vitamin D obtained from cod liver
oil or ergosterol. Regret was expressed
that the holders of the patents will
license only one dairy in a community
In detriment to the best interests of
the public
Can't Fix Standard Dosage.
The report was prepared after consul
tation with two of the foremost Amer
ican dietary specialists, DR.. E. ". Nc
Collum OF Johns Hopkins University
and DR.. H. E. Sherman of Columbia
University, In an effort to determine
standard dosage for milk which could
not be detrimental. Both authorities
declared it impossible to prescribe such
standard dosage at this time, but said
that there would be no danger to chill
drcn except In amounts several hun
dreds of times what Is ordinarily placed
in milk.
The vitamin dosage is calculated in
terms OF rat units" This is believed
to vary according to the method used
In vitaminizing the milk and the au-
thorities refused to give preference to
any OF the three ways now employed.
The attitude Of the committee, it was
decided, should be that of encourage
mcnt but not prescription.
The committee feels" states the re-
port. that while State and local health
authorities should adopt a pernissive
attitude toward the sale of vitanin %
milk, but that a public statement to
milk consumers should explain that
while the Health Department wished to
encourage the sale it was not prepared
70 lnoorSe any given number of rat
units as amply protective against ricketts,
In all cases, and preferred to leave this
question to the judgment and expert
ence OF the medical profession.
General Practitioner Praised.
The general practitioner was held up
as the Keystone of the medical profess
sion and his relationship to public
health work discussed today by DR.. e.
II. Cary and DR.. Dean Lewis. president
and preSident-elect Of the American
Medical Association. Both men urged a
closer understanding between the prac-
ticing physician and the public health
officer.
Competition in hospitals was espe-
cial!y deplored by DR.. Lewis, who spoke
OF different religious sects overlooking
q community with hospitals SO that
none could claim monopoly of chari-
ty, without much regard to the actual
need. As q result, he said. they "be-
come more concerned about balancing
the budget than caring for the sick,
and each Is praying that the other will
go into the hands of the receiver. so
that it will prosper
The day of economic individualism in
the medical profession and elsewhere is
gone, and there must be organized COM
munity effort, declared Dr. Louis Dub
lin, statistician of the Metropolitan Life
Insurance Co.
Nearly IS per cent of the persons who
are dying in Mississippi during the
present depression do not have the sery-
ices Of q physician Of any kind. said
pr. F. j. Underwood, health officer of
that State, deploring the attitude of a
few private practitioners in opposition
to the State health authorities.
Need for Better Nourishment.
DR.. Underwood presented the report
OF the Committee on Child Welfare of
the conference, gathered from the re-
plies to a QUESTIONABLE seeking to es-
tablish whether the depression had
left clear evidence of underfeeding.
Twenty States and Canadian provinces
reported no change since 1929, but %
out OF IS State health officers said that
better nourishment for children was
the outstanding health need of the
present year.
The survey also showed that there
had been decrease in appropriations
for child welfare work in 18 States
while there had been an increase in
9. Nine others are receiving the same
amount as before the depression.
Infant mortality in American States
that register these figures was shown
to have dropped between 1910 and 1880
from 124 per 100000 to "a.