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Title: Lawmakers Drink Raw Milk To Celebrate Its Legality, Become Immediately Sick
Source:
modernfarmer.com
URL Source: http://modernfarmer.com/2016/03/wes ... ginia-lawmakers-raw-milk-sick/
Published: Jun 3, 2016
Author: Dan Nosowitz
Post Date: 2016-06-03 09:41:21 by Gatlin
Keywords: None
Views: 7736
Comments: 27
Raw milk is a controversial topic; the Food & Drug Administration contends that drinking unpasteurized milk is unnecessarily dangerous, and as a result it's banned in much of the country. Proponents claim that raw milk is healthier and sometimes just use it as a way to assert their right to eat or drink whatever they want. WSAZ, a local news affiliate in West Virginia, got a tip that might make legalizing raw milk just a little bit harder. Last week, West Virginia governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed into law a bill that makes it legal to drink (but not sell) raw milk throughout the state, despite pressures from the dairy industry and from the FDA, which actually testified that raw milk is unsafe. However, the law doesn’t go into effect for 30 days. Raw milk is a controversial topic; the Food & Drug Administration contends that drinking unpasteurized milk is unnecessarily dangerous, and as a result it's banned in much of the country. Proponents claim that raw milk is healthier and sometimes just use it as a way to assert their right to eat or drink whatever they want. WSAZ, a local news affiliate in West Virginia, got a tip that might make legalizing raw milk just a little bit harder. Last week, West Virginia governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed into law a bill that makes it legal to drink (but not sell) raw milk throughout the state, despite pressures from the dairy industry and from the FDA, which actually testified that raw milk is unsafe. However, the law doesn’t go into effect for 30 days. According to the tipster, who remains anonymous, state representative Scott Cadle (Republican of West Virginia’s 13th district) brought in some raw milk to celebrate the legalization. Cadle, says the tipster, handed out samples to various other representatives. And now, verifies WSAZ, several West Virginia lawmakers are severely sick to their stomachs. Pat McGeehan (Republican of West Virginia’s first district), one of the afflicted, says that while he did drink the raw milk, that a stomach bug is going around and that he does not believe his illness to be related to the milk. Although there isn’t proof—and we all know that correlation doesn’t equal causation—there’s certainly the possibility that the raw milk consumption and the illnesses are related. Raw milk is not pasteurized, or heated up to a temperature of 140 degrees F for 20 minutes, a process that kills off bacteria that can cause foodborne illness, including Salmonella, listeria, and E. coli. The Center for Disease Control says that thousands of illnesses, and two deaths, can be linked conclusively to consumption of raw dairy products in the period between 1998 and 2011. The Cornell University food science department, one of the premier such institutions in the world, puts it simply: “We recommend pasteurization of milk intended for consumption by humans.” There are substantial efforts to allow the sale and consumption of raw milk, partly from entities who claim that the pasteurization process is unnecessary thanks to modern sanitary requirements, that the process kills beneficial bacteria and vitamins, and that raw milk can have effects ranging from healthier gut flora to decreased risk of cancer. The West Virginia lawmakers involved here are a slightly different breed; they mostly push for legal raw milk out of a libertarian instinct that citizens should be able to decide what they eat and drink. “There definitely shouldn’t be a law against allowing people to do what they want within the framework of the rule of law,” McGeehan told WSAZ. “Just be careful.” It’s unclear how careful McGeehan was when he drank a cup of raw milk handed to him by a co-worker. 
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 26.
#9. To: Gatlin (#0)
Raw milk won't make anyone sick. If anyone gets sick it would be from bacteria in the milk. If you drink pasturized milk which has bacteria, you can get sick as well, and pasturized milk will accumulate bacteria if it ages too much. Many people do drink raw milk regularly without any issues. As with any food, reasonable care much be taken to ensure it has not spoiled. Are you about to show us that drinking raw milk makes people become violent and threaten others?
True. True. True. No, but I can show you where it is reported that unpasteurized milk is 150 times more likely to cause foodborne illness and results in 13 times more hospitalizations than illnesses involving pasteurized dairy products. Why is that?
Maybe because it might actually be true. Who knows? But 150 times more likely than near zero is still near zero. What percentage of people who consume pasteurized dairy get sick from it? Would you like to see reports of people who actually experience health benefits from drinking raw milk far more than people who drink pasteurized milk? Or perhaps more importantly, how about a report that people who are allowed to drink the milk of their choosing are 150 times more free than people who are told by the government what they are allowed to drink?
Why is that? Maybe because it might actually be true. Who knows? I know that 150 times zero is zero, I don’t understand “150 times more likely than near zero is still near zero” or how that fits in. I find no study that gives that percentage. I also find no study that gives a percentage for raw milk. I have seen those and I have seen reports of people who benefit from drinking pasteurized milk. Or perhaps more importantly, how about a report that the government has abolished the FDA and the public is “free” to determine the safety, efficacy and security of their own food supply, human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. Of course, that’s not gonna happen. I could drink raw milk if I owned a milk cow and did the milking like I did 69 years ago. The milk cow was my 4-year project for vocational and agricultural classes in high school. (Cue the FFA Song). I enrolled at Auburn University three months after my 17th birthday to major in vo-ag and teach vo-ag in a high school. But after four weeks at Auburn, strains from “off we go into the wild blue yonder” kept flowing through my mind, so I decided to leave Auburn and join the Air Force. But I digress, forgive me … I will return to our discussion. I guess I could say that I am drinking organic whole milk presently since I buy the Straus Family Creamery Organic Whole Milk at the local Whole Foods Market. Well, it’s not actually whole milk, although it is marketed as that. The milk is pasteurized at 171°F for 18 seconds. Unlike most milk, which is ultra-pasteurized at or above 280°F for at least two seconds. The milk is Non-GMO Project Verified, certified kosher and gluten free. I love it when I open the thick glass bottle and smell the fresh milk with cream standing on top. I am sure that if I look, I will find some report to tell me why low temperature pasteurized milk is not as good for me as raw milk … ya think?
Or perhaps more importantly, how about a report that the government has abolished the FDA and the public is “free” to determine the safety, efficacy and security of their own food supply, human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. Of course, that’s not gonna happen. Having the FDA approve everything has a downside, and that's the effect it has in dumbing down the US population. People stop being concerned about whether something is good or bad for them to consume. They are conditioned to think that if the FDA has approved it, it's harmless & safe to take. The FDA becomes a crutch. People consume all manner of things without considering the potential harm. Energy drinks, caffeine, Soda pop, highly processed foods, GMO's, corn syrup, and so on. If the FDA was doing a good job, why do Americans consume among the most unhealthy diets in the world? This concept actually extends to about every area of life where laws are imposed to take care of us. People stop being responsible for themselves. It's why car accidents & fatalities can actually increase with the addition of more regulatory road signs, and speed limits imposed on highways that are built for high speeds (stats in Montana have shown that). People don't wear seatbelts, or perhaps traveling at slower speeds on a high speed highway is more boring and people fall asleep at the wheel. Or the longer time it takes to travel means they could nod off just because of that. It's why ladders come with many pages of do's and do-not's, and people sue ladder makers because they do stupid stuff with them. Yes, it the USA, being stupid is now a legislative right, and it's made that way by all the laws passed to "take care of us".
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#15. To: Pinguinite (#9)
Raw milk won't make anyone sick. If anyone gets sick it would be from bacteria in the milk.
If you drink pasturized milk which has bacteria, you can get sick as well, and pasturized milk will accumulate bacteria if it ages too much.
Many people do drink raw milk regularly without any issues. As with any food, reasonable care much be taken to ensure it has not spoiled.
Are you about to show us that drinking raw milk makes people become violent and threaten others?
#18. To: Gatlin (#15)
No, but I can show you where it is reported that unpasteurized milk is 150 times more likely to cause foodborne illness and results in 13 times more hospitalizations than illnesses involving pasteurized dairy products.
Why is that?
#19. To: Pinguinite (#18)
No, but I can show you where it is reported that unpasteurized milk is 150 times more likely to cause foodborne illness and results in 13 times more hospitalizations than illnesses involving pasteurized dairy products.
Those who conducted the report felt they know. But 150 times more likely than near zero is still near zero.
What percentage of people who consume pasteurized dairy get sick from it?
Would you like to see reports of people who actually experience health benefits from drinking raw milk far more than people who drink pasteurized milk?
Or perhaps more importantly, how about a report that people who are allowed to drink the milk of their choosing are 150 times more free than people who are told by the government what they are allowed to drink?
#26. To: Gatlin (#19)
Replies to Comment # 26.
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