British Milk Tainted with TB Germ

British authorities are raising their eyebrows over a revelation by U.K. government scientists that the nation's pasteurized milk supply is tainted with a form of tuberculosis bacteria.

British newspaper The Times reported earlier this week that preliminary results from a study in which 1,000 pasteurized milk samples were analyzed show that four out of 129 contain the germ, mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (Map). Scientists also have tested the samples for nine additional disease-causing bacteria, but the results haven't been revealed.

The milk, provided by dairies with protection of anonymity, would otherwise have been headed to supermarkets and homes.

The results are prompting concern over pasteurization's effectiveness and the dangers possibly posed by milk. The Public Health Laboratory Service's more recent statistics indicate that since 1992 more than 420 individuals have suffered pasteurized milk-related food poisoning. Children often have been the victims, with one child having died and others treated for kidney damage.

But the scientific community has known problems exist with Britain's milk supply before this week's announcement.

In January, a British physician called the presence of Map in unpasteurized milk a "public health disaster" and said government leaders should stop the sale of unpasteurized milk and boost current pasteurization procedures.

"The problems caused by Map in the milk supply constitute a public health disaster of tragic proportions, for which a range of remedial measures are urgently needed and for which the government must take responsibility," John Hermon-Taylor, head, surgical department at St. George's Hospital, London, was quoted by Reuters.

Authorities say Map might be responsible for the United Kingdom's 80,000 cases of Crohn's disease, a bowel inflammation disorder.

Edited by Gerry Clark