As many of you know, there is a war against the sale and consumption of raw milk. The government, along with big business, has taken away your basic constitutional right to choose what you want to consume, by claiming it’s in the interest of public safety. However, is raw milk a danger to the public?

According to research conducted by Ted Beals, MD, and published in the 2011 issue of Wise Traditions, you’re more likely to get injured driving to the farm to pick up your raw milk than becoming ill drinking it.

From the perspective of a national public health professional looking at an estimated total of 48 million foodborne illnesses each year [from all foods]… there is no rational justification to focus national attention on raw milk, which may be associated with an average of 42 illnesses maximum among the more than nine million people (about 0.0005 percent) who have chosen to drink milk in its fresh unprocessed form.

On May 16th, Representative Ron Paul asked,

“If we are not even free anymore to decide something as basic as what we wish to eat or drink, how much freedom do we really have left?”

Presidential candidate Ron Paul was talking about the FDA ban on the sale of raw milk (non-pasteurized) for human consumption across state lines. The ban began in 1987, but the FDA didn’t really begin enforcing it seriously until 2006 — when the government began sting operations and armed raids of dairy farmers and their willing customers.

The New American reports:

“Even if the FDA were correct in its assertions about the dangers of raw milk, its prohibition on interstate raw milk sales would still be, as Paul termed it, ‘an unconstitutional misapplication of the commerce clause for legislative ends’ …

Saying he is outraged by the FDA’s raids on peaceful dairy farmers and their customers, Paul has introduced legislation to allow the shipment and distribution of unpasteurized milk and milk products for human consumption across state lines, in effect reversing the FDA’s unconstitutional ban on such sales.

A Daily Finance article cited by Dr. Joe Mercola addresses the issue of safety:

On occasion, people do get sick from raw milk. But the number of people sickened by raw milk compared to other foods does not seem to warrant the FDA’s focused, expensive campaign….

No government regulations of interstate commerce in peanuts, kale, or cantaloupes have been suggested, despite the much greater number of people sickened by consuming these foods.

Children raised on farms have fewer allergies than children raised in cities. 1 in 3 children are currently affected by eczema, hay fever, or asthma, as opposed to 1 in 6 twenty years ago. The number of people needing emergency hospital treatment for severe allergic reactions has tripled over the last 10 years. A new study suggests the boom in allergies is largely due to pasteurized and homogenized milk. The study shows that children raised on farms who drink just 2 glasses of raw milk per week reduce their chances of eczema by 40% and hay fever by 10%. Blood samples revealed the consumption of raw milk decreased the levels of immunoglobulin E by half, which causes allergy symptoms.
Mercola.com

Raw milk has been gaining popularity for years now. The conventional dairy industry, realizing this, has stepped up their efforts to ensure that raw milk does not become mainstream. If the health and economic benefits of raw milk were to ever catch on with the general public, it would threaten the livelihoods of the conventional dairy industry.

If raw dairy did catch on, you would think that the dairy industry would simply follow suit and begin producing raw products to meet the demand. However, this would be virtually impossible. Their business depends on pasteurization in order to be able to mass-produce and ship a product that by nature is meant to be grown and consumed locally. this is why their powerful lobbyists will stop at nothing to persuade government agencies to keep raw milk bans in full force.

There’s a vast difference between the quality and safety of milk from organically raised, grass-fed cows, and conventionally raised, grain-fed livestock. Conventional dairy farms are not set up to produce healthy milk. The very idea of producing mass quantities of milk from huge numbers of cows confined to one area is contrary to the very nature of healthy milk.

Cows that are fed grain and raised under substandard conditions will likely produce milk that is unhealthy to drink raw because grains, antibiotics, growth hormones, and filthy living conditions change the pH balance and the natural bacteria present in a cow’s gut, which in turn affects the natural bacteria and pathogens present in their milk.

In order for conventional dairy farms to safely produce raw milk, they’d be forced to clean up their production practices, raise healthier cows (and likely fewer cows), and give them access to pasture. This would cost them money ? lots of money.

Mercola.com

Unfortunately for consumers, money has been, and is the number one reason why our food supply is so devoid of nutrients. To learn more about the health and economical benefits of local farming and products like raw milk visit The Weston A. Price Foundation or The Campaign for Real Milk or read The Raw Milk Revolution

Does being overweight increase your risk of certain types of cancers? Does a wider grip work your lats better than a narrow grip? Get the answers to these and other questions more in my Did you know… column.

…there is evidence that raw milk prevents the development of allergic disorders? A study published in ?The Lancet? (Riedler et al, 2001), indicates that children who drank raw milk, independent of other types of exposure to farming environments, had: a 52 percent lower risk of asthma, a 57 percent lower risk of having a least one wheeze attack in a year, a 76 percent lower risk of hay fever, and a 58 percent lower risk of allergies to cows, dust mites, cat dander and pollen. Wise Traditions, 8(4):71-72,2007

…the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin, Germany, is warning parents and pediatricians that babies should not be give soy formula without strict medical supervision? Germany joins the Israeli Ministry of Health, the French Food Agency and United Kingdom health officials in warning against the dangers of infant soy formula.

Salmon Professor Dr. Andreas Hensel stated that the main concern for infants is the high levels of estrogenic isoflavones in the formula, which act like hormones in the body. Milk allergies are not an acceptable reason for pediatricians to recommend soy formula.

The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment also issued a second warning, this one to adult consumers, stating that isoflavones offer no proven health benefits and pose a health risk. Wise Traditions, 8(4):64,2007