Milk: What About TB and Brucellosis?
Whenever I have a chance to talk to someone about advancing their health through nutrition, I inevitably get questions that reflect on the level of programming many of us have received over the years as a result of big business pushing self interested agenda’s.
As an example, unpasteurized, unadulterated dairy products both cultured and uncultured have sustained mankind for thousands of years and yet when I mention how incredibly healthy and nourishing a good high quality ‘raw’ milk is, they eventually have to ask, “that makes sense doctor but what about TB and brucellosis?” In the past, my answer has been what about it, it is a classic case of guilt by association and money minded entrepreneurs have done a bang up job to keep the association intact for many decades in spite of the evidence.
Recently however, I have come to appreciate that this does little to ease the minds of those who are eager to restore and maintain good health, not only for themselves but for their families. So in an effort to provide some facts concerning this question I came across a well written answer that I think would be helpful. At Organic Pastures under the Q & A section you will find:
“In the 1800s, many US dairies began commercially producing low quality raw milk in the inner cities of Boston and New York and others. These Brewery dairies would feed their cows very poor quality “brewer’s mash.” The resulting milk was very weak and nearly blue from lack of protein, mineral, and fat content. This occurred during the Jamaican rum embargo. During this same time period, the dairy industry did not use or have access to refrigeration, stainless steel, milking machines, rubber hoses, hot water, or chlorine as a sanitizer. TB and Brucellosis were rampant (not to mention horse manure on the streets, flies, and lack of public sanitation and sewage) and the cows were milked by hand without mechanical machines. The cows stood in manure and there was no access to pasture (sounds like some factory dairy farms of 2005). The resulting unhealthy milk from these sources literally killed millions. The heating of milk to high temperatures reduced this horrible blight. During this same time period, milk from the countryside taken from pasture grazed healthy and clean cows was the best medicine of the day. In fact, the Mayo Clinic used this high quality country raw milk as a basis for many disease curing therapies. This was the untold story of raw milk. Because of pasteurization successes, commercial interests prevailed and all dairies (the good, bad, and the ugly) then began to pool their milk so that “nobody would die,” even if milk quality was very poor. This was great news for milk mass marketing, and creameries created high profits. These pasteurization practices continue today with the chief benefit being extended shelf life. These modern dead milk products now cause allergies and lactose intolerance to huge sectors of the population.”
I will often make an attempt to answer the questions posed in my office by doing the work myself however I found in this case that someone else has provided a well written answer that does a far better job than I could ever hope to. Look at the facts, ask hard questions and consider the money trail. It could mean the difference between a healthy life and joining the millions who find their end in cancer heart disease and or a bottle of properly prescribed medication.