One of the real positive things legislatures can do is gather together representatives of opposing sides of an issue to openly discuss it via hearings. This kind of discussion can help clarify the points of disagreement, and agreement, and help in education.
In Harrisburg, PA, there was such a discussion yesterday about raw milk involving the state’s secretary of agriculture, the head of a sustainable farming organization, a farmer who has challenged the state’s raw milk permitting system, public health officials, and a consumer—in hearings held by the Pennsylvania Senate Agriculture Committee.
It was in the testimony from the two public health officials (via transcripts I received from the committee) that I got an education…in how to distort and misrepresent the facts. Among the things I learned from Bhushan Jayarao, professor of veterinary public health and extension veterinarian at Pennsylvania State University.
- “The ‘baby boom generation’ should be thankful for being provided with pasteurized milk, as this has been one of the several factors that has contributed to the longevity and improved health of the post-World-War-II generation.”
- “ With the emergence of new diseases and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in raw milk, it is absolutely essential that milk sold to the public must be pasteurized, and milk products be made from pasteurized milk.”
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Though many dairy farmers consume raw milk, those who are aware of the danger of pathogens are less likely to do so. He pointed to a 2002 Penn State survey showing that 42.3 per cent of 248 dairy producers sampled consumed raw milk, but “dairy producers who were not aware of foodborne pathogens in raw milk were 2-fold more likely to consume raw milk compared with dairy producers who were aware of foodborne pathogens .”
I guess I had it all backwards about disease and longevity and immunity. I thought the probiotics in raw milk (and other related products) helped build immunity to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and that pasteurized milk provided no such benefits. And I didn’t know there were farmers unaware of the possible presence of pathogens in raw milk.
Then there was something I had known before (and which has been discussed at length on this blog): “Several surveys in the United States have detected food borne pathogens in raw bulk tank milk.” In describing two such studies, he neglected to state, of course, that “raw bulk tank milk” is produced with the intent it will be pasteurized to kill off pathogens—unlike raw milk produced with the intent of being sold directly to consumers.
But wait, there was more. From a representative of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Michael Huff, came this pearl: Raw milk “is an inherently unsafe product.”
He also discussed in some detail the health department’s side of the Stump Acres’ story I described yesterday. “Ultimately, we found 29 Pennsylvania residents ill with the same rare Salmonella strain…In most cases, the investigation led back to that same dairy in York County. It is noteworthy that during the investigation, on multiple occasions further testing found the identical strain of Salmonella bacteria in raw milk from the dairy.” As I pointed out, it’s hard to know exactly what happened at this dairy, except there probably were problems with pathogens, and someone like Huff will jump on the problems to maximize the official argument.
Interestingly, he added that in several investigations of possible raw milk contamination, “our conclusions were limited by a lack of cooperation by ill persons who would not tell our investigators the source of the raw milk in their households.”
I guess there’s another lesson there: consumers of raw milk understand the risks they are taking and value the freedom to choose raw milk over the “protection” offered from people like Mssrs. Jayarao and Huff.
In the meantime, as a Baby Boomer, I am savoring the good health pasteurized milk has provided me.
(I’ll have more on the Pennsylvania hearings upcoming. Also, I am told by a PA Senate committee rep that transcript material from the hearings will be posted shortly; I’ll provide the URL when the material is life.)
On another note, I just finished reading a great book, The Worst Hard Time. It’s about the dust storms of the 30s in the central US. One of the things that made a difference for many families in surviving the economic and farming devastation there was keeping a family cow, hog, chickens, etc.
Raw milk is threatening. It threatens the cooperatives that have monopolized milk production to the detriment of farmers. It threatens the doctors and health officials that have been taught that the way out of the deteriorating public health crisis can be achieved by sterilization, and shielding people from the health challenges of microbes. It threatens to loosen the hold that the multinationals have on a significant fraction of our food supply. It threatens the asthma drug makers and the corn oil processors. There is a lot at stake here, and those that are entrenched are powerful, and will not let go voluntarily. Fear is the only thing that they have, and they know they must use it well.
The PR battle will not be played on a level field. The Truth is becoming known.and its more believable coming from the other side of a kitchen table (or the hood of pick up), than it is coming off the evening news or local fish wrapper. We need to call these people on their lie.and hope that there are still enough level headed, reasonable people left in this country to make a difference.
What they dont understand is that rules, and laws, and press conferences, and contamination scares will do little to slow down this movement. The word IS getting out, and people are healthier today than they were yesterday. Let them try and spin that! (We are certain they won’t be able to stop it..).
I wasn’t at the hearing. I received transcripts from the committee. The committee will post the transcripts shortly and I’ll provide web site address here when I have it. In meantime, I will email to you and anyone else who wants if they email me at david@davidgumpert.com.
When enough people understand this ,fear will be working on our side.
The key here is truth. Getting the reality past the keepers of information, the media and governmental regulatory agencies is the real task. Raw milk is making a difference, and if those that are benefiting have the opportunity to share their experiences, itll be like tinder to dry brush. The message will be stronger from neighbors rather than talking heads. If were patient, and counter their misinformation with truth, the wave will continue to build. The substance is that powerful.
We must emphasize the difference of raw milk produced by small, grass fed herds, from the commercial, bulk tank, corn based commodity. There is a distinct variation that many officials are careless with. Education is critical here. All raw milk is not the same.
They choose to create an environment, through aggressive statements and acts, which is fraught with fear. Scare and intimidate to keep people from offering the stuff. We must counter with love. Establishing an atmosphere conducive to the creation of more small farms that are building soil, growing grass, and making good quality milk, is paramount. The love and appreciation that is often shared between a raw milk consumer and farmer can be quite fulfilling. The creation of happiness from soil is unparalleled. We must not be bashful about stating the truth, and showing others the miracle that is possible.
Supported by Truth and Love, the wonder that is raw milk can only flourish.
Long ago (in a galaxy far far away), in my Miss Spent Youth, I drank raw milk and especially the cream to quell morning sickness, so I was rather excited to think I could get raw milk again. Soon after we moved here to NW Vermont I approached our conventional dairy farmer neighbors and asked for some raw milk. The wife wasn’t aware that she could even sell milk from the bulk tank, but I told her the rule and she said ok. So she poured some into a half gallon jar and I took it home.
Now, being a baby-boomer myself and having been a cash strapped single mother for years, sometimes just having something is more important that actually using it. I didn’t drink the milk but looked at it lovingly every time I opened the fridge. I had raw milk! That was the most important thing at that time. Several days went by and I noticed something odd. On the top of the milk a layer of blue green mold had developed. I never saw such a thing before and haven’t seen that since because now I buy raw milk from grass farmers.
David, you got it right about the "raw milk bulk tank" and its being a place to store milk that is going to be pasteurized.
Well, thats happening now. This first paragraph of a washingtonpost.com article, from April, 2007 is a case in point:
As the first wave of baby boomers edges toward retirement, a growing body of evidence suggests that they may be the first generation to enter their golden years in worse health than their parents. While not definitive, the data sketch a startlingly different picture than the popular image of health-obsessed workout fanatics who know their antioxidants from their trans fats and look 10 years younger than their age.
Real improvement in public health is contingent upon widespread public understanding that our medical establishment, agribusinesses, and their government enablers, are not acting in our best interest. That particular truth, as all truths, will spring up from the grass rootsfrom individuals, not from systems, especially the systems which tend to profit from the status quo.
By the way, see the whole article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/19/AR2007041902458.html?referrer=emailarticle
I saw a recent Charlie Rose roundtable on TV in which eminent cardiologists were discussing heart/circulatory disease. It was all about technology and drugs (the show was sponsored by Pfizer), and the mysterious factor of "lifestyle." They all acknowledged that heart disease was virtually unknown in 1900, but that "lifestyle" has changed in the last 100 years. More immediately, traditional Japanese are healthier than those who make it to Hawaii, who are healthier than those who make it to the mainland. Again, the mysterious "lifestyle" factor, which these highly educated people all acknowledge, and do not look into. Only one of the panelists, a woman from Columbia, mentioned trans-fats (the ban in NYC) and the beneficial effects of fruit. She was struggling to say anything in the group of type-a male panelists who were all experts in dealing with the disease once it becomes a disease (drugs, machines, technology, lowering body temperature, etc. etc.). I got the distinct impression she might have said the word "nutrition" given half a chance, but I’m sure she picks her venues carefully, lest she be excluded from the boys’ club on the next show.
One of my in-laws was born and raised in Mexico and now lives here. In the ten years I’ve known him he has gained serious weight and now is nearly diabetic. He freely admits he eats differently than he did as a kid, which then was mostly farm-based traditional food. He also reports that the traditional diets in his home-town are vanishing since (thanks to NAFTA) everyone eats fast food or buys processed food. Guess what? People are getting fat and heart disease, diabetes and cancer are becoming epidemic. This is happening within the SAME generation of people who have changed, and who are probably at greater risk for the effect of these changes than any of us. Weston A. Price (Nutrition and Physical Degeneration) was right. Wonder who is studying this real-world laboratory this time around?
WAP stands for "Weston A. Price", and you’ll also see WAPF for the "Weston A. Price Foundation." It would take too long to provide a full explanation, and my best suggestion is to take a look at the Foundation’s website at http://www.westonaprice.org.