Bovine Tuberculosis

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31096, 27 June 1966, Page 12

Bovine Tuberculosis

Sir, —In his letter printed on June 6, Graham G. Thomson, claiming bovine tuberculosis to be a serious disease in man, stated that two relatives had died from it and that raw milk was “implicated” in both cases. Since Mr Thomson’s claim (if it had any substance) necessitated his having knowledge of certain facts, I asked several pertinent questions. Now, however, by stating “there would be little purpose in getting answers,” Mr Thomson reveals that he does not even know if the deaths were certified as due to non-respira-tory tuberculosis, if tubercle bacilli were found, if they were of bovine strain if present at all, or whether there was any tuberculosis infection of his relatives’ milk supply. Mr Thomson has unwittingly performed a service by providing a perfect example of how many people who should know better (“world authorities” included) have advanced mere assumptions or hearsay wrongly attributing tuberculosis in man to raw milk. —Yours, etc., PAUL MALING.

June 16, 1966. [Mr G. G. Thomson replies: “It would be interesting to hear the evidence which now proves all the world authorities to be wrong and Mr Maling to be right.”]