Thoughts on Raw Milk?

[EditorBob]

Interesting article here:
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/loc...6aaecccda.html

Health officials point to the CDC’s report of 39 raw milk-related bacterial outbreaks in the United States between 1998 and 2005 that sickened 831 people, hospitalized 66 and killed one, as proof of the dangers. According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, since 2000 there have been five bacterial outbreaks linked to unpasteurized milk in the state that sickened 189 and hospitalized three.

To put that into perspective, about 115 people die every day in vehicle crashes in the US—one death every 13 minutes.

Most of the evidence in support of raw milk is anecdotal, but I fail to see the point of all the hand-wringing and panic over selling it, as the science against it doesn't seem to hold much water in these days of modern production techniques.

Is this an issue of consumer choice? If raw milk were widely available, would we see huge outbreaks of illness? Is there some huge conspiracy to maintain the current dairy processor framework and keep dairy farmers tied to a sharecropper style pay scale?

Certainly makes one wonder...

[Tina Wright]

When I wrote an article on a Pennsylvania dairy farm that sells raw milk and cheeses (Farming Nov. 09), I was struck by PA's acceptance and state regulation of raw milk. A farmer must sell raw milk from farm or bottle milk there. A few years ago I spoke to a farmer in central PA who bottles milk from 50 Brown Swiss cows and sells in health food stores all over. (He has a little bottling plant but no tractors, just horses.)

Other dairy states like Wisconsin and New York permit no raw milk sales even with cow-share agreements,etc. I support raw milk sales with exacting food inspection standards that do not make it impossible for the tiny six-cow herd feeding the neighbors. Not all dairy farms make good enough milk for raw sales, honestly. Some raw milk illnesses I have seen in the media are from bad decisions... like giving milk from the bulk tank to school children on a farm tour, just because the farm family drinks the milk. Tina Wright

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