Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Raw Milk: A Question of Profit or Public Safety?


It is a sad day for democracy when people are being denied their basic rights when trying to access Raw Milk.

The case for Raw Milk in Canada has been a growing topic of interest with several high profile cases of Government offices trying to shut down operations on farms mainly in Ontario (Michael Schmidt) and in British Columbia (Home on the Range). With the landmark ruling in the Ontario provincial cou
rts, Raw Milk drinkers breathed a sigh of relief only to have the government appeal the decision on the opening day of the Olympics hoping the news would be buried. Since this battle for food freedom began (and I say food freedom because the final outcomes of this case will have repercussions on just about all foodstuffs we are able to access from thereon) so many years ago some puzzling developments have occurred in Canada's food supply. On one hand, we have the Government fighting to ban Raw Milk as it is a 'potential danger' to the people, yet on the other we have bagged salad and maple leaf meat products consistently finding their way back onto our supermarket shelves after major recalls and continued findings to prove they are not safe for consumers. Never mind the alcohol, cigarettes and carcinogenic ingredients that can be purchased quite easily that has PROVEN to cause illness and disease or fast food which makes our society obese which leads to health complications later in life.

So, why then is Raw Milk the bad, bad food that must be stopped at any cost? The answer is simple. Profit.

The Milk industry has been a staple in Canadian society for decades. It is rare not to hear commercials glorifying milk's healthy attributes on the news or radio or on billboards or even on government mandated food charts... we are taught from an early age that milk is good and that we should drink it to grow up and be big, strong and healthy adults. Yet... this is not the case - more adults are showing signs of osteoporosis - a disease characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue, more heart disease, more acne, cancers and numerous other health issues are beginning to afflict the population of developed countries. Why? New studies are beginning to partially point the finger at milk - not just any milk, Pasteurized Milk (especially homogenized). However, the Government ignores these reports and continues to advertise and stock store shelves with 'white gold' in bottles with friendly cows staring back at consumers. The Government (and Dairy Boards) has a lot to gain from 'white gold' - mainly - profit. Each farmer must pay a figure of over $30,000 per cow to have its milk pasteurized for its lifetime - a sum which rarely is earned back leading to subsidization of the dairy system - which means taxpayers will eventually pick up the tab.

Milk itself was once always served Raw (and continues to be offered in Raw form in almost every country in the world except Canada) until a French Man, Louis Pasteur developed a way to prevent wine and beer from souring by heating it and then bottling it (since its invention the French have discarded the technique for its wines) - eventually it was applied to Raw Milk as industrialization had degraded the quality of Raw Milk to where it was causing disease and death (this was caused by a mixture of cows being fed an unnatural diet of the waste of beer production as well as other industrial byproducts compounded with poor living conditions). Raw Milk was still offered by farmers who treated their cows properly for decades until an industrious man Nathan Straus realized the profit that could be made from pasteurization and began a smear campaign which is still continued to this day. Raw Milk today can be a safe and delicious product - aside from being produced locally by a farmer who knows your name Raw Milk producers also make sure their herd is healthy, pasture and hay fed and is treated properly and tests are done to determine if the cow is sick or carrying diseases before it is even milked. If done properly, Raw Milk can be a safe and enjoyable product which puts less stress on the environment and is Milk the way nature intended.

The Governments witch hunt has nothing to do with safety - at this rate, all of our food will be irradiated and pasteurized, destroying all of what is good in it (enzymes and vitamins which are destroyed in the pasteurization process) in the first place. Our food is not meant to be sitting on shelves for years such as in the case of juice and cereal - it is meant to be eaten fresh to promote wholesome health and a proper diet.

I personally do not need the government to regulate my food - this case is a step in a very dark and dangerous direction which will give the power of our food to companies and the government who have proven time and time again that their motives have nothing to do with the safety of the people and everything to do with the money lining their pockets.

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