I like to think that some day in the not-too-distant future people will look back on the official hysteria surrounding raw milk and shake their heads in wonderment. One prime example of the hysteria would be found in a just-completed Public Broadcasting System (PBS) documentary about raw milk.
Even in the present, the raw milk fear mongers may have shot themselves in the foot in their efforts to sabotage the first serious television assessment of raw milk safety standards and health benefits.
At least thats how I interpret the clumsy intrusions of factory-food ideology into what is otherwise a serious, probing, and enlightening PBS documentary segment, Modern Milk; about half of the 25-minute show (beginning at about the eight-minute mark) is dedicated to raw milk. Modern Milk is one of 13 segments on sustainable food produced by filmmaker Greg Roden for PBSother segments are about fishing, urban farming, soil, and seeds are to be found on the same PBS page.
All the segments are highly professional and informative explorations of their subjects, using profiles of energetic food producers to engage viewers. Only Modern Milk, though, starts off with an amateurish-looking placard (pictured above), stating: Raw milk consumption can lead to illness and even death in extreme cases, especially in individuals with weakened immune systems including children and the elderly. Center for Disease Control.
A viewer sees that at the opening and wonders: What was that all about? Indeed, that placard is one of three such intrusions into this seriously probing, and at times touchingly introspective, consideration of raw milk safety by two raw milk producers (Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures Dairy Co. and Charlotte Smith of Champoeg Creamery in Oregon), along with explanations of raw milks health benefits by a scientist (Bruce German of the University of California, Davis).
A second placard of CDC wisdom, saying that pasteurized milk and raw milk have the same nutritional value, is inserted as German is lucidly explaining compelling research into raw milks health benefits. It has the effect of a high school kid waving bunny ear fingers behind another student trying to explain something serious to a friend or teacher. A third placard of CDC propaganda says that Good hygienic practices can reduce but not eliminate the risk of contamination from raw milk (as if good hygienic practices can eliminate the risk from any food).
My sense is that the placards merely reenforce the integrity of the rest of the production, which includes a number of public revelations Ive never seen presented in mainstream media:
- Mark McAfee, in discussing the dangers of raw milk, admits, Some of the (past) illnesses have come from Organic Pastures Dairy. This startling admission from McAfee comes in between his expressions of confidence that raw milk can be produced safely (You start clean and you end clean) and his belief in the superiority of raw milks appeal to consumers.
- Charlotte Smith puts to rest the fear-mongerers propaganda that raw milk producers dont care about safety, or about individuals who may have become sick from raw milk. Smith describes the terrible outbreak of illness at Foundation Farm in Oregon in 2012, which left young Kylee Young with long-term neurological and kidney problems. Says Smith: I have a picture of this girl in our milk room, because if we do our job, we never have to be responsible for something like that.
- Prof. German clearly captures the tantalizing prospect of raw milks health benefits. While he allows that pasteurization kills pathogens, he notes: Unfortunately, we dont know yet all the properties of milk that are inactivated by cooking it, as he puts it. Raw milk is not in and of itself unsafe. Then comes the kicker: Raw milk seems to have properties that confer an immunological benefit. The children who are consuming raw milk have dramatically fewer allergies We have this protection from allergies and we dont know how it happens. Of course, if it is up to the CDC and FDA, we will never know how it happens.
According to Roden, PBS executives required me to put all three of those cards in the film segment. I thought they went overboard.
While the statements from German about raw milks immunological benefits is startling in its frankness on prime time TV, Roden indicated there was more about about raw milks health benefits that was left on the cutting room floor. The data (on health benefits) is very conclusive, he told me.
He expressed sympathy for PBS predicament. PBS wanted to make real sure it was expressing the safety viewpoint completely enough. It walks a fine line in such matters, according to Roden, because there are many politicians who object to PBS receiving public funding and would like to see PBS go away. This isnt even allowing for the additional presence of Big Ag and Big Pharma interests among PBS sponsors and foundation support.
Despite the fear-mongering intrusions, I highly recommend this segment (along with the entire series). As you view the one on milk, see if you agree that the forces of fear wound up shooting themselves in the foot, and losing out to an artistically successful documentary production.
You are right, David – we had hours of interviews on film at our farm – interviews of several of our customers with dramatic health recovery stories after adding our raw milk to their diet. All these health recovery stories were left on the cutting room floor due to pressure on the producers by outside forces. I’d rather they air it like they did, highly edited, then leave it out of the series altogether.
By the time Greg Roden left our farm he and his whole crew were in awe at the amazing people they met and stories they heard, all due to the healing properties of raw milk.
Also, during the 2 days at our farm they were receiving regular texts from others involved in the project who were just getting a taste of how controversial raw milk is and their research was just beginning on how much of us they could include.
I think the whole series is fabulous (I’ve only seen the released 5 episodes so far) and one more step in educating even more of the public on how our food system needs to change if we want to improve our health and future generations.
I didn’t see this posted in here but it’s an interesting read even though the words raw or pasteurized don’t even appear. Are there any studies available comparing organic pasteurized vs. raw, organic or not? Just curious… here’s to hoping California gets a very rainy season to restore the balance before the water crisis takes an even higher toll.
http://grist.org/food/the-drought-is-destroying-californias-organic-dairy-farms/?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCrfK5rP_B6huriP1hLApw
On 8/27/14, CDC Scientist Bill Thompson issued a statement addressing his regret that he and his co-authors omitted statistically significant information in a 2004 study on the MMR vaccine causing autism.
CNN reporter Deborah Goldschmidt then published an article which embedded a CNN video where health correspondent Elizabeth Cohen states that within all of the dangerous side-effects of vaccines, autism is not listed. She then rephrased saying, Some people dont hear this well: vaccines do not cause autism.
Outraged that CNN would choose to embed such a statement within Dr. Thompsons confession that he and his co-authors had omitted evidence that African American males were at increased risk for autism from journal publication, autism parents across the country and across the globe responded to a call from the Autism Media Channel. These parents addressed the CNN correspondent directly, informing her that in their own families, vaccines had, in fact, caused autism.
Ken
Hmmm, writers are more balanced, relaxed? I’m not so sure about that based on the writers I know. And the results seem not to be correlated with diet. Do the benefits extend to people who write blog comments as well?
http://mic.com/articles/98348/science-shows-writers-have-a-serious-advantage-over-the-rest-of-us?utm_source=huffingtonpost.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange_facebook
I just got home from 8 days on The Canadian RAWMI Raw Milk Road Show as sponsored by herd shares in Canada. I spoke at three universities, was interviewed on live radio twice, audited micro dairies all across BC, Victoria Island and also in Ontario. Several of these micro dairies will soon become Listed by RAWMI. I made presentations to large and small groups of micro dairy producers and Canadian conventional producers as well. I even spoke to a well organized Weston A Price group.
“Canada has a Political and Economic raw milk problem….not a Food Safety or Risk problem” with raw milk. Under the current Canadian dairy quota system, it costs $43,500 dollars for the quota just for the right to sell milk into the federal milk pool system ( not including the cost of the cow) Milk Sale is mandatory into the federal milk pool! This is a highly socialized market supply control program that sets milk prices and assures profits for the dairies that hold this special Quota. This outrageous quota price is why raw milk in Canada is illegal. Why??? Raw milk goes direct between the farmer and the consumer bypassing the central control of the processors pasteurization death grip. $$$$ hence the political problem.
Never the less….I drank delicious raw milk every day in Canada. It was everywhere. But everywhere it is being oppressed.
This RAWMI road show was great for Canada, with me learning the most as i listened and absorbed everything. I even privately met with a member of the BC Milk Marketing Board who was all ears and wanted to know all he could about raw milk and why all of his expensive attempts to increase pasteurized milk sales were not working!! It is now clear that standards can be adopted and used in Canada to produce very low risk raw milk. Three PhD professors at a Canadian University were so excited to be able to offer their state of the art biology lab and its equip to test raw milk filters for pathogens. Yes….there is support from scientists in Canada! I spent two days with Mike Schmidt. His farm stands the tallest in Canada with innate food safety….because of the living ecosystem that provides good clean conditions for low risk raw milk. Mike has also long ago adopted RAMP like systems and intensive testing to verify that his programs work. His bacteria counts are low and consistent. This is nothing new to Glencolten Farms. Other raw milk dairymen had embraced food safety in their own ways achieving excellence as well. Some others needed some work, but had the heart to try hard.
The PBS Food Forward episodes will challenge the minds of the viewers. The message is clear and the CDC has shown its depth of bias, somehow they were in contact with the PBS editors and injected their explicitly biased unfounded messages onto the PBS screen. Talk about influential bias!! A large part of our food safety program and test data was discussed during the interviews…..not barely a mention of these practices or test results! Did the CDC mention that there had been at least 77 deaths from pasteurized milk since 1972 and none from raw milk?….no they did not. Was there a “warning” when on the Beef episode, an 8 month old baby is being shown being fed raw ground beef!!! No….there was no warning. The CDC has lost all credibility.
Lets all remember. Dollar voting is screaming loudly….all the while. Nationally, pasteurized milk sales are in decline at 4.3% per year. Raw milk sales raging upward!!
Enough said.