Dr Ron Paul on Raw Milk Freedom

[steve74baywin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAQdjjXCN6A

Dr Paul interviewed on 5.25.11 on his Raw Milk Freedom Bill, HR 1830 -

[Randy in Maine]

It is a public food safety thing, not a constitutional crisis.

Nobody needs to die from unsafe foods.

[ruckman101]

Milk is nasty. Raw milk makes better cheeses.


neal

[BellePlaine]

It is a public food safety thing, not a constitutional crisis.

Nobody needs to die from unsafe foods.

My opinion is that cow's milk is better suited for an infant cow then it is for adult humans. That being said, offered by the farmer, at a farmer's market, raw milk is probably the healthier choice over homogeneous, pasteurized, and processed milk. As long as you have a fully functioning immune system and are not on chemo, fresh raw milk is perfectly safe.

[glasseye]

Every morning at eight, a big tanker truck rolls past my door, taking the day's milk production from a dairy two kilometers down the road. It takes the milk to Vernon, BC. It's a 300 mile trip west over three mountain passes and it takes it all day to get there. The truck returns here empty overnight. We never see the milk or any of its products.

Every morning at eight, another big truck rolls in to the valley from Edmonton, 400 miles to the east. Rolling all night, it brings processed milk and milk products from Alberta. Every day, the truck rolls back to Edmonton, loaded with beer from the brewery here.

The neighbour with the dairy farm is prohibited on pain of losing his producer's license from selling any of his milk to anyone local. That includes my wife, who would give anything to buy raw milk from the dairy, but has to purchase the processed, Alberta frankenmilk from the grocery store to make the cheeses we so love.

So, we have two two huge automated processing plants in big cities and two huge trucks travelling nearly a thousand miles a day to do what a farmer and a couple of local workers could do in a tiny facility with no travel at all.

So much for "free market capitalism".

[steve74baywin]

Every morning at eight, a big tanker truck rolls past my door, taking the day's milk production from a dairy two kilometers down the road. It takes the milk to Vernon, BC. It's a 300 mile trip west over three mountain passes and it takes it all day to get there. The truck returns here empty overnight. We never see the milk or any of its products.

Every morning at eight, another big truck rolls in to the valley from Edmonton, 400 miles to the east. Rolling all night, it brings processed milk and milk products from Alberta. Every day, the truck rolls back to Edmonton, loaded with beer from the brewery here.

The neighbour with the dairy farm is prohibited on pain of losing his producer's license from selling any of his milk to anyone local. That includes my wife, who would give anything to buy raw milk from the dairy, but has to purchase the processed, Alberta frankenmilk from the grocery store to make the cheeses we so love.

So, we have two two huge automated processing plants in big cities and two huge trucks travelling nearly a thousand miles a day to do what a farmer and a couple of local workers could do in a tiny facility with no travel at all.

So much for "free market capitalism".

Interesting....Sounds crazy.

Not sure what you meant with "So much for "free market capitalism"". But the above situation you mentioned clearly is not free market. Prohibited market maybe.
Is Canada suppose to be free markets?

[Randy in Maine]

You should buy your own cow and then you can drink all of the un-pasturized milk you so desire.

[glasseye]

Not sure what you meant with "So much for "free market capitalism"". But the above situation you mentioned clearly is not free market. Prohibited market maybe.
Is Canada suppose to be free markets?

That's why I put it in quotes. There's nothing free about it at all. In fact, it costs. Lots. Imagine the fuel bill for both those trucks, every single day.

This situation exists because of the protective cartels formed by the milk marketing boards. Nothing about it is free, otherwise, we'd be able to get our milk from our neighbours. The whole "raw" milk debate is fear mongering politicians wanting to look good. Protecting us from ourselves. Spare me.

[Ryno]

I love raw milk. We get it as a treat sometimes from a farmer friend. Best milkshakes.

[Lanval]

From the Cornell University Food Science Department:

"Examples of Recent Outbreaks Attributed to Raw Milk Consumption

From 2000 to 2006, state public health agencies reported 40 separate outbreaks attributed to raw milk consumption that resulted in nearly 600 illnesses (11, 12). Campylobacter was the causative agent in a majority of these outbreaks (33 reported), followed by E. coli O157:H7 (6 reported). Notable in this time period were two E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks that made national headlines as several children became severely ill. In December 2005, 18 out of 140 people who reported consuming milk from a cow-leasing program in Washington became ill with E. coli (13). Five children (aged 1-13 years old) were hospitalized and four of these patients developed Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS). In 2006, E. coli O157:H7 was again responsible for illness in six children in California (14), 3 of whom were hospitalized. Litigation on behalf of two of the children was filed against the retail raw milk bottler (15). In another 2006 case, E. coli O157:H7 was responsible for causing serious illness in two more children in Washington (16). The most notable Campylobacter outbreak reported during the 2000-2006 period occurred in 2001 in Wisconsin, with 75 cases associated with the consumption of raw milk purchased in a cow-leasing program (17). Salmonella was only involved in one reported outbreak, but in this event there were 62 culture confirmed cases spread over 4 states (18). As a result of the outbreak, the implicated dairy and restaurant, which was the last legal retail raw milk dealer in Ohio at the time, voluntarily relinquished its license to sell raw milk products.

In 2007, illnesses attributed to raw milk consumption included a Salmonella outbreak that sickened 29 in Pennsylvania (19), a Campylobacter outbreak that affected 25 in Kansas (20) and another Campylobacter outbreak that affected 26 in Utah (21). In 2008 Campylobacter was again responsible for 16 becoming ill in California after consuming milk from a cow-leasing program, 2 of whom were hospitalized, one with a form of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (22); and an outbreak in Pennsylvania with 25 culture confirmed cases where a licensed dealer was implicated (23). Illnesses due to E. coli O157:H7 were also reported in 2008. An outbreak of 7 cases, 6 with HUS, was associated with a Connecticut retail raw milk source (24). A single case of E. coli O157:H7 HUS in Missouri involved a one year old child who was given raw goats milk after the mother was encouraged to do so at a local market (25).

Consumption of cheese made from raw milk has also been associated with a number of illness outbreaks since 2000. In 2007, a Campylobacter outbreak affected 67, most of whom consumed cheese made at a social event in Kansas (26). Salmonella was to blame for an outbreak in Illinois in 2006-7 with 85 ill where illegally produced Latin-style cheese was implicated (27) and an outbreak of 26 illnesses in Connecticut associated with fresh cheese made from heated milk that was not legally pasteurized (28). Since 2000, Listeria monocytogenes has been the causative agent in 4 cheese related outbreaks. In 2007 raw milk cheese was implicated in listeriosis infections among four pregnant women in North Carolina, which resulted in three miscarriages and a premature delivery (29). A larger cluster of listeriosis, also in North Carolina, occurred in 2001; 11 women were infected resulting in 5 stillbirths, 3 premature deliveries, 2 infected newborns and 1 case of meningitis; a 70 year old immuno-compromised man also developed a listerial brain abscess. (30) Two other listeriosis outbreaks were reported in Texas (11, 12). Although tuberculosis associated with dairy has become rare in the US, 35 cases caused by Mycobacterium bovis were reported in the NY City area, where consumption of fresh cheese illegally imported from Mexico was implicated as the possible cause in a large percentage of the cases (31). Imported cheese has been suspect in similar cases in California and Texas."

This is why they pasteurize milk. Not because it doesn't make you sick most of the time, but because it makes you sick some of the time.

Personally, I think they should go ahead and sell raw milk. They do in Europe (though you should note, raw milk fans, that Europeans get socialized health care, so when they get sick from the milk, it doesn't cost 'em much) and it's not the end of the world. If people want to take that chance, more power to 'em, I say.

Mike

Oh, and by the way; MD or not, Ron Paul doesn't know what he's talking about... did he specialize in microbiology? No, he was a regular MD seeing patients day-to-day, not doing research, not working in laboratories, not doing anything that would make him any more proficient on this subject than the highly educated MDs who DO specialize in this type of science, and who DISAGREE with Ron Paul... he's a politician, and though I like many of his ideas, he's not an expert on this by stretch of the imagination.

M

[glasseye]

Thanks, Mike. Definitely a waker-upper.

Although, didn't ten people die last week in Germany from eating cucumbers?

[static]

I believe that laws prohibiting adults from putting whatever (food or drug) they want into their own bodies to be a very bad thing.

I believe that pasteurization is a very good thing.

I believe that Ron Paul is a big 'ol wacko.

[hambone]

All this centralized production and vast distribution can only be possible (and only benefits) the huge billionaire controlled corporations. But alas, "Socialist" has become the new "Communist". Baaaa-aaah.

[Randy in Maine]

Not true.

Smaller and cheaper pasteurization setups are now availble for very small farmers (<200 milkiing cows) and has become quite common for those farmers in that very lucrative "niche market" . Everyone does it as it saves them gobs from potential lawsuits from someone getting sick.

Around here, they do it for apple cider also.

[ruckman101]

I think it's the big production approach that sets the stage for the necessity of pasteurization, a production process that lacks attention to detail. Odwalla juices started out unpasteurized, but after a bout of e-coli or other bit of nastiness made consumers ill, their products are now pasteurized. I also think that living in an anti-septic environment weakens a person's immune system, rendering them more vulnerable to those random bits of nastiness that can make us ill.

Thank goodness the beer here is still raw.

As for Ron Paul, raw milk isn't really the issue for him, it's what he considers an overreach of government authority affecting trade locally and from state to state. He's an opportunist.


neal