Letters to the Editor
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Of course raw milk is unsafe..
..From industrial Matrix cows. Cattle that wade around in their own waste, or are hooked up to machines all day to milk them, who have no natural immunity, and are fed an unnatural gruel of tallow, grain and chemicals.
But raw milk, the real deal, from clean cows (you know, the kind they show on those commercials).. that's fine.
The problem is, the government doesn't want anyone to farm or manage livestock in a rational, safe manner. ADM, ConAgra and General Mills write all the USDA legislation now, and they do not have our best interests at heart.
So I say revolt! Unplug! Get off of the Matrix! Burn down the feedlot (really, please do, someone). Do it in the name of "biosecurity!"
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does a body good....
As a daughter of a one time small family dairy farmer it is possible that I am biased. However, I grew up drinking raw milk and did so until I went away for college at the age of 18. Not once was a member of my family ever sickened by drinking our self produced beverage. In fact, when I started grade-school I had to drink juice at lunch because the pasturized 2% they served made me ill. Perhaps its effects are why while growing up I had no type of allergies, but now suffer from both animal and plant based irritations. And to be honest, while our herd was grass fed all summer and alfalfa fed all year round, they also spent time in barns and stalls--so the most important part is to insure a proper cleaning and sanitation before milk collection begins. As for the anti-raw milk side, my only "agreement" would be in that this product does not have a long shelf life and needs to be sold in small quantities or drank in a timely manner as well as kept chilled at all times. Of course, ingesting any contaminated or spoiled food can lead to bad results, but should that mean the product is not worth being produced. I think the fact that the government/industry can't profit from raw milk could be a main reason for their powerful push to make it as illegal as possible. As long as the majority of milk is produced at the mega industry level, they could never take the chance at the size of contamination/infection that could be caused by the poor hygeine practices of that type of operation. Small farmers know their herd and take care of them well, knowing and taking pride that they are producing a product for their family, neighbors, and people beyond their towns--pasturized or not.
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Arrgggh: Spinach Correction
Just so there isn't any more organic-bashing- the spinach from the outbreak was NOT organic.
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the trade-off
It's all about the trade-off. The small family run farms can produce the pristine raw milk that is good and safe to drink (well, most of the time). It's an art, not a science. In order to get any economies of scale, we have to trade off some of the art of agriculture and bring in the science. Plenty of very well meaning local and organic small time farmers understand this. The public expects safety and reliability (and low cost) in their food. The best way to do this for milk is through pasturization.
There are some people who put taste above saftey in their milk. They should be able to get their raw, and they should be aware of the risks.
I think that the only way to keep raw milk (relatively) safe is to keep it small and prevent its mass-production.
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big dairy
What an unfortunate subtitle the editors of Salon chose for this article. They must know that many, many people read only the headlines and tag lines, and the clear message here is that raw milk is not safe to drink. But then the article goes on to imply something quite different.... Hmm, is ConAgra a sponsor? ADM? At least put "official" in italics or quotations.... And explain the fact that the FDA's primary mandate now is to promote 'industry' (re: INDUSTRIAL) and public health is a distant second. Proclaimations handed down by the FDA now must always be carefully examined for conflict.
This growing push to outlaw raw milk (in response to the small but growing demand for it) is part of a larger and expanding governmental effort ('government' in this case serving as an enforcement/security arm of corporate control) to drive small/independant/localized producers our of the food system. The NAIS proposals are another element in this campaign. Big agribusiness, of which big dairy is a part, see problems ahead with soil-nutrient depletion and escalating costs of input in terms of fossil fuel derived mechanization and fertilizer and transport, as well as massive waste disposal problems, and rather than start exploring and implementing more sustainable alternatives they are pushing to legally eliminate consumer options and lock us all into their system. It seems that 'regulation' is bad for big business, but good and neccessary for consumers....
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It seems that cause and effect aren't well defined here
While I'm in favour of as little food processing in general, not all of the risks are being discussed here. Don't cows in the US get TB? Milk is a prime method of transmission to humans from affected herds, and it can take a long time for symptoms to show in an animal. Perhaps the routine dosing of cow herds in the US with antibiotics keeps it away.
Getting back to cause and effect, I love the crucial - and unacknowleged - implications of the fact it needs to be *grass-fed* cows. And I am quite certain *that* is the aspect that is responsible for these "miraculous" health effects.
If a cow is not being kept knee-deep in manure, is not being fed food unsuitable for its digestion (ie. corn), is not under stress from its environment, and can eat the food that suits it best, such as the grasses that provide a multitude of trace elements, and is possibly being farmed with organic principles (such as no hormones or antibiotics) -- *that* is probably the reason that the milk appears to be healthier from the consumer's perspective. An obvious aspect is removing possible trace quantities of allergens (such as corn, antibiotics, and the like) that these people might be reacting to.
While there might be some added benefit to not flash-pasturising well-sourced milk, I'd say it'd be miniscule in comparison to the above factors. And I for one think that the risks of drinking raw milk don't outweigh the benefits, with the other factors taken into consideration.