Post by YoungFogey on Apr 21, 2006 12:21:34 GMT -5
I have kept writing columns, and wanted to share the latest one, which I just sent in today (it'll appear next Tuesday in the Carroll County Times):
Hope this'll be of interest!
Tom
The sight of contented cows grazing in a lush green meadow is one of the classic signs of spring. But nowadays it's a sight rarely seen. In part, of course, that's due to development short-sightedly gobbling up so much prime and irreplaceable farmland. But even when one does see cattle in the fields, they're likely beef steers rather than dairy cows. What has happened to small, local dairy farms, and small, local dairies?
The answer has to do with the subject of an article appearing recently in the Times, "Battle brewing over raw milk." Most people over "a certain age," particularly those growing up in rural areas, grew up drinking raw milk. Except for city dwellers, then a much smaller segment of the population than now, pasteurized milk was the exception rather than the rule until after World War Two. In many parts of the world, including Europe, it is still widely and safely consumed.
Yet here in the United States, even people who gladly consume raw seafood at sushi bars, and many more who happily consume raw vegetables from salad bars, draw the line at raw milk. In fact, at least one commentator has suggested that fear of raw milk has all the earmarks of a classic taboo: according to the ask.com online dictionary, "a ban or an inhibition resulting from social custom or emotional aversion." That seems like a pretty good description of the opposition to raw milk and other dairy products.
If it's from healthy, unstressed cows grazing high-quality pastures, fed natural foods like hay and certain other leafy and root crops, and handled properly during the milking process, raw milk is actually one of the healthiest, and safest, products out there. It is replete with natural vitamins, enzymes which aid in easy digestion, and other factors like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), reputed to fight cancer, and heart-healthy EPA and omega-3 fatty acids.
Bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis are diseases often cited as reasons to fear raw milk, but both have been basically eradicated in domestic cattle. No cow can pass into its milk something it doesn't have. It's true that unsafe and unsanitary conditions can allow for fecal contamination, the true source for e. coli, salmonella, and other such diseases. The cure for this is careful milk handling, not banning sales of raw milk.
Even such disease organisms as may make their way into raw milk from healthy cows have a rough time of it. Mark McAfee, proprietor of Organic Pastures -- a raw dairy in California, which allows the sale of raw milk -- had tests done showing that disease organisms intentionally released into raw milk failed to thrive or even died out entirely, out-competed and defeated by beneficial lactobacillii and anti-pathogenic enzymes such as lactoferrin. Pasteurized milk is biologically dead, and has no such defenses if it is contaminated, post-pasteurization.
Nonetheless it is true that raw milk can contain some pathogens. So can the aforementioned sushi or salad bars, not to mention raw clams or oysters, sunny side up eggs, or rare meats. Yet not one of those is banned by law, nor is there the same unreasoning aversion that some people have toward raw milk. I think it's probably fair to say that that comes less from authentic, unbiased science than it does from industry propaganda.
The reason for this is that mass-produced milk from confinement-raised cows, milk which is then trucked dozens or hundreds of miles, combined with milk from many other sources, and then piped through miles of difficult-to-clean tubing, unquestionably needs pasteurization to make it safe. And that is most of the milk produced in this country, thanks to ever-increasing monopolization of milk production by a handful of big agro-industrial corporations.
These powerful entities have wrested control of milk production away from small, local farmers, to the great detriment of both rural communities, and the health and freedom of choice which should be enjoyed by consumers. The ability to produce safe, healthy raw milk on small dairy farms, and to sell that milk -- along with value-added products like butter, cream, cheese, and yogurt -- right at the farm gate, or at local retail stores, would help keep small farms afloat, and enhance, not imperil, the health of both consumers and communities.
So why is this not being allowed to happen? As I've written before: just follow the money.
Tom Harbold writes from Westminster. His column appears on Tuesdays. E-mail him at: tharbold@qis.net.
Hope this'll be of interest!
Tom