Chapter III: The Argument From Physiology (5)

But the figures prove far more. They illustrate the terrible indifference to public interests which governed the inspection of meat, especially before the legislation of June, 1906. Note the vast difference which obtains between the number of animals found “partly” diseased in 1907, and the number of preceding years. For instance, the total number of beef carcasses inspected in 1907 showed an increase of precisely 10 per cent. above the figures of 1906. Yet the number of cattle, of which the carcasses were “in part” condemned increased—not 10 per cent.—but _over_ 800 _per cent._ above the figures of the year before. Almost as many hogs were condemned in one year (1907) as “in part affected” by this disease, as during the entire seven years that preceded it! Was there any noteworthy sudden increase in the prevalence of this disease among animals intended for human food? There is no hint of it in the official report. The only conclusion we can reach is that, following the agitation and legislation of 1906, thousands of hogs and cattle were at least partly condemned, which in preceding years, without even the condemnation of a part, _passed into the food supply of the world_.

During eight years, 1900-1907, there were slaughtered, under Government Inspection, over 203,000,000 hogs. Since there can be no doubt that the trichina was as common among all the animals as among those whose carcasses were examined, it follows that, during this period of eight years, over 5,000,000 carcasses of hogs, or about 1,000,000,000 _pounds of pork_, infested by trichinæ—at least half of which at the time of slaughter were potent for mischief—were turned into the meat supply of an unsuspecting world!

The following “Government Regulations,” in this connection, are certainly remarkable and well worth quoting. It is hardly likely that the general public suspects what is given to them in the form of meat; and the following quotations will probably help to open their eyes:

_“Malignant Epizootic Catarrh._—The carcasses of animals affected with this disease, and showing general inflammation of the mucous membranes with inflammation, shall be condemned. If the lesions are restricted to a single tract, or if the disease shows purely local lesions, the carcass _may be passed_.”

_Skin Diseases._ Section 16.—“Carcasses of animals affected with mange or scab, in advanced stages, or extension of the inflammation of the flesh, shall be condemned. When the disease is slight, the carcass _may be passed_.”