What should raw milk consumers do when they suspect one or more farmers of producing possibly dangerous raw milk?
Its a dilemma that faces at least some raw dairy consumers at one time or another. The big tipoff of potential danger is that the milk sours in just a few days, usually less than a week. Another clue is that cows are spending much time in muddy spring-time environs, where the mud tends to mix with manure–a potentially dangerous concoction when it comes to milk.
Where am I going with this little monolog? I’m feeling my way along–I feel the same dilemma in writing this post as other raw milk consumers have felt at one time or another when they obtain raw milk they know is of questionable quality.
In the last few days, Ive heard enough from trusted sources that I feel its necessary to post a warning to raw milk consumers, and producers, about a potentially dangerous situation that appears to have developed at several dairies. I am intentionally avoiding getting too specific because I dont want to provide enough information that I risk incurring the wrath of prejudiced public health regulators on innocent farmers, who are, in fact, providing a safe wholesome product.
So heres what I feel comfortable saying: Customers of a handful of dairies in the Northwest have expressed concern that the raw milk they have been obtaining in recent weeks isnt as clean as it should be. It is souring quickly. The cows providing the milk are spending time in very muddy conditions. And some private testing has turned up disturbing results.
So far, there havent been any illnesses that I am aware of. But everyone who has expressed concern most of all wants to avoid the possibility of another Foundation Farm tragedy. That is the Oregon raw milk dairy that saw a serious outbreak of illnesses from E.coli O157:H7 last April–19 illnesses and the hospitalization of four young children, one of whom still suffers serious effects from her illness. The individuals expressing concern say the conditions at the problem farms arent unlike what preceded Foundation Farm–muddy conditions for the cows, along with rapidly souring milk.
The big dilemma facing everyone involved is what to do. Raw milk proponents are loathe to try to involve the public health community, because the regulators nearly universally detest raw milk in any form, along with the people who produce it or consume it. The regulators see these people as evil or crazy, or both.
Yet these proponents feel the need for raw milk production standards that producers must adhere to. Layered on top of everything else, there are raw milk advocates who don’t like to discuss the safety aspects of raw milk at all, and I’m sure will have problems with what I’ve written here.
The bigger problem of deciding what to authorities is a little like the situation blacks and Hispanics have long faced in trying to decide whether to alert police to possible criminal activity in their neighborhoods. Community activists are often aware of criminal activity, but often hesitate to involve police. The activists dont know whether the police will confine their focus to the criminal activity, or whether the cops will use information to feed their warped views of the minorities and crack down on an entire neighborhood, harassing law abiders as well as troublemakers.
Given the inherent dilemma in this raw milk situation, the best immediate approach is probably for consumers to exercise their own regulatory authority. Heres some guidance on things to look for and questions to ask producers:
*If your raw milk is souring in six days or less, let the farmer who produced it know about the situation. Take note of the response. Does the farmer seem to welcome your feedback, or does he make excuses (its a seasonal thing, or nothing to worry about–a natural process.)?
*In this situation of rapidly souring milk, feel free to ask to take a look around the dairy. Once again, note the response. Ideally, you are welcomed to tour the facilities. Worst case: you are put off, and not given access to the facilities.
*If the poor quality milk matches up with dirty animals and questionable facilities, express your concern to the farmer, and ask him or her to suspend sales, and warn others against drinking the milk.
*Encourage any farmer with questionable milk to learn more about steps to improve sanitation. One easily accessible source is Tim Wightmans video and booklet produced under the auspices of the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation. Another source is the Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI). These sources provide guidance on immediate steps to improve facilities sanitation, properly clean milking equipment, and properly chill milk using an ice water bath.
*Inquire about what private testing the farmer is doing of the milk. Test results should show 25 or fewer coliforms and 15,000 or lower standard plate count.
Any farmer who resists your inquiries should be reminded that regulators are just waiting to pounce on any illnesses as an excuse to put as many farmers as possible out of business. In other words, illnesses from bad raw milk will likely mean much more serious repercussions from regulators than anything you as a diligent consumer could come up with. Much as we want regulators to change their attitudes, right now, in many places, its most important that consumers change their attitudes, and not accept lame excuses from farmers who are courting danger.
**
Last stop on my brief China tour was a moving one, in Shanghai. Though Shanghai is an amazingly modern and sophisticated city of more than 20 million–hanging around in the downtown area, you could just as easily be in New York or Paris–it has a remarkable history, which includes having served as a sanctuary for Jews seeking to escape the Holocaust during the 1930s and 1940s. Yesterday I visited a small museum that commemorates the experience of some 30,000 Jews who were welcomed to Shanghai, at a time when nearly the entire world, including the United States, closed its doors to refugees.
The museum is staffed by Chinese history students who offer tours of the ornate building, which includes a reconstructed synagogue, and recollections of Holocaust survivors who lived in Shanghai during the Holocaust period. One of the most prominent is former U.S. Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal. My wife, Jean, found her great uncle listed in a database of about 15,000 former Shanghai residents.
What if the dairy is a cow-share? Then it’s partly your cow and what responsibilities do you-the partial owner have? I would give a heads up to the farmer AND the other co-owners, as I would hope for them to do the same for me.
http://www.usdairy.com/DairyResearchInstitute/ResearchPriorities/ProductResearch/Pages/Milk-Ingredients-Fractions.aspx
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0813817463,descCd-tableOfContents.html <~~an expensive book http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk Have you ever seen a milk carton that stated it contained; g recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) ? I don’t recall ever seeing admission of that additive… I’ve only seen the ones that state it does not contain the toxin.
What chemicals are used to remove lactose? to get the exact amount of fats? to get the exact same flavor in each jug? clean the equipment? leeched from containers?
http://everydayfoodstorage.net/about-food-storage/powder-milk Vitamin A Palmitate= a synthetic version of the vitamin A http://www.ewg.org/2012sunscreen/sunscreens-exposed/the-problem-with-vitamin-a/
Before consumers jump to the conclusion that the problem is at the farm they should first consider their handling procedures and storage facilities at home.
Most producers have made a habit of cleaning out the condensers on the milk cooling units on a weekly basis. How often do consumers check and clean out the condensers on their refrigerators? What is the temperature of the room (usually the kitchen) where your refrigerator is housed? Do you take the time to turn the thermostat down during the summer? Do the children put the milk away right away after they have used it or do they forget and leave it on the counter for an hour or so?
If the defrost cycle on your frost free refrigerator is not functioning properly check to make sure the cooling coils are not building up with ice. It can take several days to a week for these coils to accumulate enough ice before you realize there is a problem. During this time your refrigerator will gradually loose its ability to keep the produce cool. A few degrees make a lot of difference when it comes to milk.
They should be thankful that the lactobacilli have initiated the self-preserving process causing the milk to go sour rather then rot.
Ken
Long wars with the Mongols, incursions by the Japanese into Korea, and harassment of Chinese coastal cities by the Japanese in the sixteenth century weakened Ming rule, which became, as earlier Chinese dynasties had, ripe for an alien takeover. In 1644 the Manchus took Beijing from the north and became masters of north China, establishing the last imperial dynasty, the Qing (1644- 1911).
The Ming court was very corrupt. Some court eunuchs and civil servants made small fortunes by setting fires and getting kickbacks from the contractors who repaired the damage. Others embezzled money that was intended to buy food for the court elephants.
In its final years the Ming Dynasty was weakened by corruption, power-hungry eunuchs and political trouble on its borders. The decline was accelerated after a costly war against Japan over Korea. The Ming dynasty finally collapsed as a result of a peasant rebellion launched in the Shaanxi province after a devastating famine there and an invasion of Manchus from the north. The last Ming emperor killed himself by hanging himself from a tree in the northern edge of the Forbidden rather that being captured.
After Manchu invasion from the north, the great 16th century historian Zhang Dai wrote that Beijing was overrun with unemployed soldiers and clerks, laid off couriers, miners, landless laborers driven from the desiccated farms, refugees from the Manchu-dominated areas north of the Great Wall, Muslim and other traders who had lost their money as the Silk Road trade faltered.
The Ming dynasty was overthrown by the Manchus in 1644. The impact of this one historian said “was comparable to that experienced by the Christian world after the loss of the Holy Land to the Muslim world.”
http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=35
http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=57
Can you explain a little what problem could be caused by consumers not cleaning their condensers and how in the world they’d even go about doing that?
thanks.
When Shanghai was letting Jews in, was it controlled by the Communists, the Japanese, or the Nationalists?
Condensers are similar to a radiator on a vehicle. Heat is drawn off the milk and transferred to the refrigerant. It is then pumped to the condenser (rad) where fans blow air through the unit in order to dissipate the heat. Unless the condenser is kept free of dust and other debris it will overheat, use an excessive amount of energy and not cool properly. The dirtier it is the less efficient it is. You can gain access to these units through grids front and/or back, top or bottom depending on where the unit is located. Some refrigerators dont have fans but rather a long twisted finned tube mounted on the back, in this case they can be easily cleaned if you pull out the fridge. On a milk-cooling unit in a dairy it is amazing how much dirt can accumulate.
In order to clean your refrigerator condenser in the house a vacuum cleaner will suffice however if you can get in there with a fine brush as well or blow air through it with an air compressor thats even better. Dont use the air compressor if your wife is around an if at all possible have your vacuum cleaner sucking the air away while blowing air through it. In the dairy I simply spray water through the rad in order to clean it.
Ken
I believe Shanghai was controlled by the nationalists in the 1930s, when it first opened up to European Jews. By the early 1940s, it was controlled by the Japanese, who had invaded China. According to our guide, the Germans sent an emissary to Shanghai to convince the Japanese to cooperate with the Germans in murdering the Jews in Shanghai. The Japanese refused the request, even though they were allies of the Germans, but did agree to force the Jews of Shanghai into one small area, turning it into a kind of ghetto. (Our guide pointed out that China, along with most of Asia, has no history of anti-Semitism.) While the museum didn’t say much, my understanding is that conditions deteriorated badly after the Japanese took over, with food shortages and little medical care for the disease that became rampant. Whatever, the situation, it was better than what the Japanese did to the Chinese, which helps explain why the two countries remain at each other’s throats even today (fighting over a few remote islands).
In Oregon, where raw milk is unregulated and there are no educational resources for raw milk production, we began quarterly trainings on how to produce it safely about 9 months ago, starting with Mark McAfee’s RAWMI training day. Yesterday, for the third time, we had 50 raw milk producers from all over the state spend the day at our farm learning the basics from Tim Wightman. Oregon producers should be proud of how far we have come in the past 11 months since the local tragedy at Foundation Farm.
It is sinking in slowly but steadily among farmers that if we have another e coli outbreak here we will lose our right to produce raw milk under our current exemption, so most producers are jumping on board to get it right and protect this freedom.
Interestingly enough, the producers with the most complaints are the ones who haven’t attended any trainings yet, and a few of those jumped on board last minute this weekend.
As long as consumers keep drinking low quality milk and defending their farmer, what’s the motivation for the farmer to improve?
As producers we need to adhere to strong ethics and morals and we need to put aside our defenses and respond to customer complaints. Our colleagues who make improvements are enjoying more success with each improved test result – when we unify and learn together and support each other, our pool of raw milk improves.
Consumers and producers alike must raise the bar and hold it high in raw milk production standards! There are more resources than ever before to assure safe raw milk production.
http://public.health.oregon.gov/DiseasesConditions/DiseasesAZ/ecoli/Documents/foundationfarm2012_outbreak.pdf
It was on rectal swabs from 2 of the cows that tested positive for E. coli O157:H7. It was also in some milk.
Since it was in the cows butt, on surfaces and in the milk, the milk was probably contaminated from unsafe milking procedures. Could of been a cross contamination with cleaning the milking equipment, or not cleaning the udders well enough. I don’t know how long the farmer had been in dairy.
A farmer showing you their monthly test results for coliform counts and standard plate counts and mastitis types is a good start. If they claim they can’t afford testing, it’s less than $40 no matter where you live -milk can be shipped. A small increase in the milk price would cover the costs.
100% of farmers I see who implement testing show improvements immediately. It’s immediate feedback that some systems/procedures/practices/cows are not working and need to be fixed. If your farmer can show you monthly test results within the numbers David mentioned above, and your milk lasts 7 days or longer in your fridge, then you’re pretty safe.
Also, ask around. The raw milk community knows whose milk last 3 days and whose last 3 weeks.
I do understand that the plate counts give a heads up to the farmer about the potential for contamination. I get that.. I’m just not seeing how the average person will grasp and hold onto the significance of it and would it be important to them? I am not suggesting not to inform the consumer, I am just trying to figure out how they will retain the information and will they feel it is necessary.
I am also concerned that the average person will basically just go to the store to buy raw milk (or any product) thinking that all regulations are followed and the farmer knows what s/he is doing in regards to processing their foods. Those that bought cantaloupes assumed the farmer kept everything clean, etc, yet many were sickened. And I think that place was even inspected by the govt people….
There is a concern that some may see $$$ with selling raw milk and not know nor care if they sell tainted dairy. Some may have good intentions and still contaminate the milk.
Do people have the time or inclination to go to a farm and actually look around or even ask questions? I know it appears that those who are seeking a healthier food system, do ask questions. Do they go out to the farms if able?
I can look at a cow and if it’s not obviously ill, I wouldn’t know it wasn’t healthy. (A big reason why I don’t have a cow). I’ve been around enough farms to notice if a farm is a dirty farm (but I’ve been around them off and on my whole life). Many don’t know what to look for and it can be overwhelming. I’m learning something all the time.
What you are describing is what’s happening now and what you and I are changing by having this dialogue. Currently the average person buys the milk thinking the producer is an authority on the subject and the milk is of the quality it needs to be. They soon realize it’s souring in 2-3 days. They complain, maybe find a new farm, but never learn the basics of how to find the safe source.
Raw milk is unique in that it forces people to educate themselves on some basics if they want to find a good source, and they are forced to build the confidence to ask the questions necessary. What other food do you buy that requires this attention and education? Not many. In certain places, raw milk is not a lazy man’s food 🙂 People don’t usually acquire these skills until forced to – because they’ve experience bad raw milk and don’t want to go through that again.
Many raw dairy farmers aren’t able to identify an unhealthy cow because we have a large pool of inexperienced farmers. How can you expect a consumer to have that skill? They both need to be trained. It takes more effort to be a drinker of raw milk than pretty much any other food.
This conversation has an answer, but it’s not a short term one – it’s years of education and experience for consumers and producers. We have a 9 month start here in Oregon and hundreds of people are learning what safe raw milk is. So much farther to go, but further along than we were a year ago.
Raw milk is not allowed to be sold in my state, but in a neighboring state I’ve seen standards ranging from one farm that does eight different tests on the milk to one that only tests the well water once a year for bacteria. I buy from the one that does the eight tests. I like to make cheese from it, so it’s necessary.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_27166.cfm
“We are pleased that Whole Foods has finally recognized consumers’ right to know about GMOs,” said Ronnie Cummins, National Director of the OCA. “This is a major victory for U.S. consumers who have for far too long been denied basic information which would enable them to make safe, healthy food choices. This also represents a major defeat for Monsanto and the rest of the biotech industry who have been deceiving consumers since they first conspired more than 20 years ago with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to falsely convince consumers that genetically modified foods are no different than foods that don’t contain organisms created by manipulating DNA in laboratories or by injecting seeds with bacteria and pesticides.”
Ken
” Professor Don Huber who has identified an unknown entity in genetically modified corn. Concurrent with that discovery and research, he has found several very serious health effects from consuming GMO plants.”
http://elizabethdougherty.com/2013/03/18/professor-don-huber-purdue-university-on-why-gmos-are-unsafe-elizabeth-dougherty-food-nation-radio-network/
http://www.plucodes.com/faqs.aspx#q16
http://scienceofmom.com/2012/03/19/truth-from-the-dairy-aisle-is-milk-from-cows-receiving-rbst-safe-for-my-family/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/plu-codes-do-not-indicate_b_473088.html
Ken
I have a different perspective. I live in an area surrounded by dozens and dozens of raw milk dairies. Some milk is very safe, some milk is full of pathogens and will give you and your family diarrhea/vomiting/fever for a week, and that’s if you’re healthy. If you are immune compromised the results will be worse. For the purpose of this conversation, that is what I am defining as unsafe raw milk.
Perhaps until you’ve lived drinking unsafe raw milk and experiencing the above symptoms, along with your whole family at the same time, I can totally get that you may not be aware of what unsafe raw milk is.
Continued consumer awareness and peer pressure of successful colleagues will continue forcing the others to improve their milk quality.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/new-legislation-would-push-genetically-modified-foods-onto-our-plates/5327677
And then there’s the drug industry, whose help we also don’t need, whose actions are also supposed to be monitored by the inept procedures at the FdUH. http://www.thedailysheeple.com/doctors-warn-we-must-stop-giving-antibiotics-to-livestock_032013
Yes sir, I feel very safe knowing the fdUH is so busy monitoring raw milk and hauling people to court. They’re really looking out for our health, aren’t they?
They have proved they cannot be trusted.
If you don’t have access to, or can’t afford, a CSA the option to grow your own is still legal, so we better do it while we can. I purchased a truckload (!) of seeds from that site I posted here a while back and they are just wonderful and the packaging is excellent. It’s designed to last in the packages for more than 5 growing seasons and I feel secure that saving the seeds would be easy and worthwhile for their quality. ( http://www.mypatriotsupply.com ) Also, for those interested in planning as well as planting, here’s an online interactive gardening/organizing site: http://www.growveg.com/freetrial.aspx This one just has a free trial period. There are likely other similar sites online.
That first link I posted in my comment above is vital – right now – because we only have a week left. I can’t even begin to tell people how very important a call to your senators can be. I don’t sign online petitions I write letters most of the time, but in this instance I’m going to call and I’m also contacting my local state reps to get THEM off dead-center to communicate with our WADC connections (there’s often a breakdown). Like I said, this is vital because there is soooo much twisted wording in those bills (along with a lot of fatty pork) and it may be our last chance at public response to this subject. The second link I provided (a video, short) was based in Canada, but the problem is worldwide as we all well know. Personally, I don’t think the medical industry should be as dependent on antibiotics for us humans as they are, either – lookit the mess we’re in now in that regard. All the money they get for research and they can’t come up with anything else??
This is a thought- provoking post. We certainly have to self-police, and not just bury our heads in the sand. That’s really difficult for many of us; it requires us to educate ourselves, and to be bold about asking questions of our farmers. The advantage of buying locally is that you can physically do that, and if they react with hostility it won’t take long to spread the word!
Wow, your milk lasts that long? That’s amazing. I’m envying you ;-). I can only buy milk every other week, so if it could last that long I’d buy tons.
I’m actually planning to start freezing it, though I know that will take away some of the goodies. Better that than drinking yuck.
Does anyone here know how to make cheese with a truly all-natural rennet that is NOT from an animal source? I know there’s a kind made from mold, and wondered what else is out there (non-GMO, obviously).
I agree with you. I tend to go more by sight, smell, and even instinct. I find the discussions here regarding microbes, bacteria, etc. sometimes leave my head spinning.
I have noticed that the farm where I buy milk frequently has the cows inside the barn lately, tethered in their stalls. Is this something to be wary of?
Also, here’s a page with good information about different types of rennet.
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Rennet/Rennet.html
He does talk about the fact that some types of rennet are GE.
Why do you want rennet from a non-animal source? I can tell you from my personal experience with cottage cheese that the animal based rennets work better; I don’t know about other types of cheese. Tablets are the easiest and best even if you have to break them in halves or fourths, depending on how much cheese you’re making.
My hope is that the Raw Milk Institute will eventually talk more about how we can manage our cows so that their milk will promote health. Somatic cell counts and bacteria counts are indicators of cow health and milk quality,but laboratory tests are mysterious to most of us and can be misleading. Focusing on a goal of producing milk that tests negative on a few pathogen tests is not reassuring to me. What I want to know is how can I maximize my health by producing the most nutrient dense milk possible.
Drinking the milk raw is a small step in the right direction,but what other factors are involved in making the milk health promoting? To begin with I hope that we can completely abandon the modern conventional dairy farm as any kind of a model.That model has always been about production not quality. The only model that makes sense to me is the type of setting that cows would choose if they were free to go where they want. Am I keeping too many cows in too small an area? How do I decide how many is too many? If mud is a serious problem maybe spreading fewer cows over a bigger area will help. Well established sod can support more traffic and limit the mud. Confinement should be avoided. Lack of variety in the pasture and in the hay will lead to deficiencies that are impossible to remedy with mineral supplements. Keeping the cows happy,reducing stress, involves management of calves , bulls,milking etc.. How can we talk about milk quality and cow health without resorting to lab tests as indicators. I have no faith in those lab tests.
Now here’s a subject that Bill should be an expert on, but hasn’t chimed in yet…
This is my original recipe from my Gramma, with a few changes (like sea salt, which she didn’t have). Now that we’re empty nesters, I rarely make this using a whole gallon of milk, but usually a half gallon, so you’ll have to adjust the recipe accordingly. Someone told me recently that you can also use lemon juice in a recipe like this, but I’ve never tried that so I don’t know if the amount would be the same as vinegar or what.
EASY COTTAGE CHEESE
1 gallon raw whole milk, skim cream off a little (to add later)
1/2 c. white vinegar
sea salt to taste
Heat milk on medium heat in large covered pot, stirring occasionally (more toward end), until it reaches scald and gets a skin. This is a necessary step for cottage cheese because it won’t “curd” otherwise. Take off heat and stir in vinegar.
Stir until curds begin to separate, approximately 20-25 seconds
Allow to cool a bit, then pour contents into a strainer to drain the whey – and save the whey. *Don’t use a fine mesh strainer unless you’re also going to use cheesecloth, or you’ll end up with a heck of a mess and you’ll have to throw the strainer away.
Add sea salt to taste, and the extra cream to the curds.
Raw milk cottage cheese stays good for about four or five days. I usually toss it in the freezer after that, if there’s any left. I often use it in lasagna or other pasta dishes once thawed from the freezer.
*If you want dry curd cottage cheese to make kase knephla (German cheese noodles) or something similar, you can omit the extra cream. This comes out a little like ricotta but better. Some people have told me the curds are almost like mozarella but I’ve never thought so.
Ive used white vinegar, cider vinegar or lemon juice, they all work although the cheese will take on the different flavors.
You dont have to use any of the above however, just leave your milk out on the counter to get good and sour (acidic) then heat it up. This works just as well.
Ken
It will take this independent initiative in each state to make training happen. We can’t sit back and wait for an institution to come to us and show us what to do – that’s not their job. Individuals who can make it happen must step forward – the resources are out there. We have huge momentum in Oregon – 50 producers are moving forward in producing improved raw milk. The 150 who aren’t showing up at trainings are being left behind with less quality product and the consumers will make the final decision of who’s successful, who’s not.
Also, testing is one part of a check on how your milk production is going. You can’t throw away any of the checks -they all work synergistically to indicate milk quality, herd health, environment, and many other things.
If you or anyone you know has the resources to bring training to your area, it would be a great cause to take on. Producers appreciate it and are very willing to jump on board and learn. It should be a natural part of our raw milk production culture.
The method Ken described is lovely, I do that when I have time. But if you’re wanting a faster product, then the recipe I posted is the only way I’ve ever made it.
Thank you for replying. I’m all for testing.It is part of being observant of the whole process of food production. I hope everyone will realize that laboratory tests are not the standard that I would use to judge a farm by. Agriculture has moved,over many years, steadily away from diversity towards monoculture. When people new to producing food start out ,they often use this model of monoculture as a standard. Everything is separated into it’s own space on the farm. Look at the unmanaged natural world. Everything is mixed together. If we allow the natural world to flourish on the farm, it will do a lot of the work for us. We don’t want to replace anything. We want to add in things that are food sources for people. The rest of the natural world is maintaining fertility and balance for us. When people look for a farm to produce food for them, they should, first of all, look for a place with lots of diversity in habitat , wildlife and plants of all types. It should have a bit of a wild shaggy look to it. Neat and orderly and well maintained buildings and fences are not as important as diversity of life . This article by Jerry Brunetti is good.
http://www.agri-dynamics.com/pdfs/TCT_Brunetti.pdf
Jessica Green makes some good points about some unexamined assumptions we all have about our health and our environment. Conventional agriculture assumes that we should keep nature away from our food crops. Nature is seen as a source of disease. Badgers and deer are said to be carriers of TB. Wild plants are often blamed for harboring diseases that affect domestic crops. She demonstrates the fallacy of this way of thinking with a simple example.
http://www.sloan.org/major-program-areas/basic-research/microbiology-of-the-built-environment/jessica-green-at-ted-are-we-filtering-the-wrong-microbes/
Ive just forwarded Jessica Greens comment to a good friend of mine who is on the hospital board in North Bay.
Ken