Personal paper: The 1848 Public Health Act and its relevance to improving public health in England now

BMJ 1998;317:596-598 ( 29 August )

Education and debate

Personal paper

The 1848 Public Health Act and its relevance to improving public health in England now

Editorials by Alderslade, Palmer Recent advances p 584 Education and debate pp 587 , 592

Kenneth Calman, chief medical officer.

Department of Health, Richmond House, London SW1A 2NS

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

I keep copies of all major acts of parliament relevant to health and health care. I have consulted them from time to timeover the past seven years. However, it is the 1848 public healthact (An Act for Promoting Public Health) that I have looked atmost regularly. Why does this act fascinate me, and why did Iwish to see further reflection on its background and consequences?The answers lie in an understanding of the context of the actand its consequences. This is not because of the act's specificcontents $---$ though the regulations on slaughterhouses and the sellingof meat are fascinating $---$ but because of the general issues theact raises: