Duties of the State in relation to the nation's food supply : research on nutritional problems / by Edward Mellanby.

  • Mellanby, Edward, Sir, 1884-1955.
Date:
[1927?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Duties of the State in relation to the nation's food supply : research on nutritional problems / by Edward Mellanby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Reprinted from the BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, October 8th, 1927. DUTIES OF THE STATE IN DELATION TO TIIE NATION’S FOOD SUPPLY. RESEARCH ON NUTRITIONAL PROBLEMS.* BY EDWARD MELLANBY, M.D.Cantab., F.R.S., Professor of Pharmacology, University of Sheffield; Honorary Physician, Sheffield Royal Infirmary. Some of those interested in this discussion must have wondered what exactly the officers of this Section of Preventive Medicine had in their minds when they used the words “ What duties has the State? ” Did they mean by “ duties ” obligations imposed at the present time by Act of Parliament? If so, the discussion resolves itself more or less into a recital of those official activities which bear on the subject of nutrition and feeding. It must be assumed that this is not wanted, but rather the considera¬ tion of the problem as to what an ideal State should do in regard to carrying out research in nutritional matters, in the instruction of parents, in maintaining food supplies, and providing cooking facilities. In the first place it may be worth while to consider whether feeding problems are a profitable field for Govern¬ ment activity. Nobody would deny that State and local government interference in matters of health, especially as it is affected by sanitation and drainage, water supply, and limitation of spread of infectious disease, has been of untold benefit to the community. Is it likely that a similar interest in feeding will be followed by beneficial results of a commensurate order? Some may think not, but for myself, and speaking probably for all those in touch with modern work on nutrition, I should say that the outcome of a sane and forceful effort on the part of imperial and local governing bodies in this field would lead to as revolu¬ tionary a change in the general health of the community as has followed their work on matters of public hygiene. In a sense the problem of correct feeding is even of a more fundamental nature than that of general hygiene, for * A paper read in the Section of Preventive Medicine at the Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association at Edinburgh in introducing a discussion entitled “ What duties has the State in relation to the nation’s food supply regarding research, instruction of parents, main¬ tenance of supplies, and cooking facilities? ” [303/27]