Health Ruling

The federal appeals court ruling (Feb. 6) that the U.S. Labor Department must issue guidelines requiring farmers to provide toilets and drinking water and other sanitation facilities for field workers is a significant step in the prevention and control of the transmission of infectious diseases and in promoting the aesthetic aspects of public health.

Improvements in water supplies and adequate provisions for human waste disposal needs no further justification because there already is ample evidence of the relationship between specific biological contaminants in food and water and intestinal infections and other disease and dysfunctions.

While water- and waste-borne diseases are no longer a major cause of disease and death in this country, the time-honored methods of controlling these diseases must be continued to prevent resurgence of epidemics.

As public health workers, we, too, are in hearty accord with attempts to eliminate useless procedures such as almost barbaric quarantine requirements and to reduce the regulatory burden on business and industry. However, we cannot disregard potential sources of infectious disease epidemics nor the aesthetic aspects of environmental sanitation and public health. To do so is illogical and even detrimental to public health, and social and economic progress.

BAILUS WALKER JR.

President-Elect

American Public Health Assn.

Boston, Mass.