BTW - the original Chicago ordinance was actually repealed in 1910 as a "restraint on trade." In 1912 a second law passed in Chicago.
Public health officials opposed pasteurization in many parts of the United States.
In 1907, philanthropist Nathan Straus tried to have NYC pass an ordinance mandating pasteurization - and the city's health department resisted, due to the alleged health benefits of "clean raw milk."
Perhaps the man who save the most children from milk borne diseases was a man from NYC, Nathan Straus, who was a co-owner of Macy's department store..
In the 1890s he was already building a reputation as a philanthropist. In the winter of 1892, he distributed 1.5 million buckets of coal to impoverished New Yorkers so they could heat their homes. The following year, he organized a series of shelters that provided beds and breakfasts to the city's homeless population. In 1893, he tackled the problem of unsafe milk.
Straus was apparently both a very intelligent and intellectually curious person. Straus had been reading Pasteur's work and the theoretical benefits of pasteurization. He was deeply troubled that 10% of all children born in New York City died by the age of five -and despite all the recent improvements in milk quality - he suspected that milk was to blame for many of the deaths. His reasoning was simple: Milk spoiled quicker in the heat of the summer, and the city's childhood mortality rate increased at the same time. He figured there had to be a connection between the two.
He decided to do something about it.
In June 1893, Straus set up a milk-processing station in a neighborhood on East Third Street. The station pasteurized milk on the spot, then sold it at affordable prices to local families. The station also offered free medical exams for children and free hygiene advice for their mothers. Mothers who couldn't afford 2¢ for a pint or 4¢ for a quart of milk (less than the price of unpasteurized milk) could get coupons for free milk from local doctors and charities. He proceeded to set up further stations around the city.
His final proof of the benefits of pasteurized milk came when he began providing milk to an orphanage that had seen death rates as high as 42% from tuberculosis and other milk-borne diseases. The orphanage was located on Randall's Island in the East River. All the milk it used was provided by a single herd of cows kept on the island, so it was easy to control the milk the orphans drank.
Straus began pasteurizing the orphanage's milk in 1898. Within a year, the mortality rate dropped to 28%, and continued downward in the years that followed (note that many sufferers lingered for years with milk borne illnesses.).
In 1907, his effort to have a pasteurization ordinance passed in NYC failed.
In 1912, New York passed a pasteurization ordinance, but milk distributors succeeded in delaying and then watering down the law.
Then the 1913 typhoid fever epidemic in New York claimed thousands of lives. By now it had been proved conclusively that typhoid fever was carried in milk and that it could be killed by pasteurization. New York City finally addressed the issue. By the end of 1914, 95% of the NYCs milk supply was pasteurized. By 1917, nearly all of the 50 largest cities in the nation required pasteurization; the rest of the country would follow over the next several years.
The impact of pasteurized milk on public health was nothing short of astounding. In 1885 the infant mortality rate in New York City was 273 per 1,000 live births -more than 27%. By 1915 the infant mortality rate was 94 per 1,000, a drop of two-thirds.
Public health officials opposed pasteurization in many parts of the United States.
In 1907, philanthropist Nathan Straus tried to have NYC pass an ordinance mandating pasteurization - and the city's health department resisted, due to the alleged health benefits of "clean raw milk."
Perhaps the man who save the most children from milk borne diseases was a man from NYC, Nathan Straus, who was a co-owner of Macy's department store..
In the 1890s he was already building a reputation as a philanthropist. In the winter of 1892, he distributed 1.5 million buckets of coal to impoverished New Yorkers so they could heat their homes. The following year, he organized a series of shelters that provided beds and breakfasts to the city's homeless population. In 1893, he tackled the problem of unsafe milk.
Straus was apparently both a very intelligent and intellectually curious person. Straus had been reading Pasteur's work and the theoretical benefits of pasteurization. He was deeply troubled that 10% of all children born in New York City died by the age of five -and despite all the recent improvements in milk quality - he suspected that milk was to blame for many of the deaths. His reasoning was simple: Milk spoiled quicker in the heat of the summer, and the city's childhood mortality rate increased at the same time. He figured there had to be a connection between the two.
He decided to do something about it.
In June 1893, Straus set up a milk-processing station in a neighborhood on East Third Street. The station pasteurized milk on the spot, then sold it at affordable prices to local families. The station also offered free medical exams for children and free hygiene advice for their mothers. Mothers who couldn't afford 2¢ for a pint or 4¢ for a quart of milk (less than the price of unpasteurized milk) could get coupons for free milk from local doctors and charities. He proceeded to set up further stations around the city.
His final proof of the benefits of pasteurized milk came when he began providing milk to an orphanage that had seen death rates as high as 42% from tuberculosis and other milk-borne diseases. The orphanage was located on Randall's Island in the East River. All the milk it used was provided by a single herd of cows kept on the island, so it was easy to control the milk the orphans drank.
Straus began pasteurizing the orphanage's milk in 1898. Within a year, the mortality rate dropped to 28%, and continued downward in the years that followed (note that many sufferers lingered for years with milk borne illnesses.).
In 1907, his effort to have a pasteurization ordinance passed in NYC failed.
In 1912, New York passed a pasteurization ordinance, but milk distributors succeeded in delaying and then watering down the law.
Then the 1913 typhoid fever epidemic in New York claimed thousands of lives. By now it had been proved conclusively that typhoid fever was carried in milk and that it could be killed by pasteurization. New York City finally addressed the issue. By the end of 1914, 95% of the NYCs milk supply was pasteurized. By 1917, nearly all of the 50 largest cities in the nation required pasteurization; the rest of the country would follow over the next several years.
The impact of pasteurized milk on public health was nothing short of astounding. In 1885 the infant mortality rate in New York City was 273 per 1,000 live births -more than 27%. By 1915 the infant mortality rate was 94 per 1,000, a drop of two-thirds.
