First report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into arsenical poisoning from the consumption of beer and other articles of food or drink. Pt 1, Report.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Arsenical Poisoning.
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: First report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into arsenical poisoning from the consumption of beer and other articles of food or drink. Pt 1, Report. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In the instance I have given, unless the excise officers undertake the supervision of malting premises, they cannot see or sample the fuel in use. there ; and if reliance is to be placed upon their inspection at the brewery of certificates relating to fuel already consumed at the maltsters, the official control ceases to be effective, for the certificate.cannot even be linked in any practical way with the fuel to which it relates. And further, it remains to be determined by the Commission whether: careful selection of fuel as regards its nature and origin, or subjection of it to some safeguarding process, would not afford to the maltster a surer basis. of precaution than reliance upon certificates of compliance with a standard chemical test, the value of which in practice must depend upon the proper choice of samples taken from a large bulk of fuel. No evidence upon this point has yet been received, and the Commission, as stated in paragraph 19, propose to institute further inquiries. In the circumstances, I cannot but regard this part of the recommendation in paragraph 34 as premature. (signed) B. A. WHITELEGGE. 10 July 1901.