Research Prohibited

The ordinary process when a vicious disease is discovered is to isolate and experiment with methods of control and cure. But there is one disease in which this method will not be used. The U. S.-Government forbids it, for what It regards as good and sufficient reasons. Not least of these is that the disease is too vicious for study.

This disease is the hoof and mouth disease. As a matter of fact, the disease is very old. It has been ravaging Europe for a great many years, and has there been studied.

Secretary of Agriculture Wallace last week denied a petition of the Los Angeles County Medical Association for an investigation of the disease. His reasons were five:

1) Only cursory study of the disease could be made in infected areas; because the U. S. has long since adopted a policy of immediately slaughtering all infected animals;

2) Because of the long time that Europe has been experimenting there is little hope of finding a successful cure;

3) The disease is so infectious that it would be almost impossible to keep it from spreading while research was going on;

4) Undoubtedly if it became known that research was going on, many States would place embargoes on all shipments of goods from the State in which the work was being done;

5) If the research was to be successful it would probably have to be carried on for months if not years, with the danger of the infection's spreading throughout the entire period.

Experiments in other countries have been uniformly unsuccessful.

In Germany the disease escaped during experiments, and the Government had to pay heavy damages. England experimented aboard an old war ship, but failed because it was impossible to prevent the healthy control animals from contracting the disease. In France the effort was also given up. Although special buildings were built and every known precaution was taken, the disease repeatedly "jumped" out of control.

It seems, definitely, that the hoof and mouth disease is the one thing in the world that is too dangerous to monkey with.

The question has been asked: What will happen if in the course of bacterial evolution an equally vicious and infectious human disease should develop. Our humanitarian ideas would not permit us to use the exterminative method employed against the hoof and mouth disease. Fortunately such a condition is not imminent.