Page 4 - Fall2010

Letters

MEDIA REACTION a huge corporation. The interpersonal is merely a perfectly normal immune
I am a person who has been a connection of a group of consumers to reaction to “cooked” bacteria and pus,
healthy and happy customer of Min- a family farm builds trust and relation- warped heated proteins, artificial hor-
nesota’s farm-fresh, organic and clean ship. We want to shake the hand that mones, traces of genetically modified
raw milk products for at least a decade feeds us. This way, if a health problem grains, traces of mold from bad grain
and, in addition, I grew up with it. As is suspected, at worst, only a few are and feed-based antibiotic residues.
such, I’m mystified and stunned by the exposed, and the problem can be stopped William G. Winter, DVM
knee-jerk reactions and hostility against quickly, then corrected. Minneapolis, Minnesota
raw milk in the media. A year ago, one contaminated batch
The recent Minneapolis Tribune of commodity hamburger from a factory Will Winter is a retired holistic vet-
editorial, “Recklessly ignoring raw farm-sourced, mass-produced facility erinarian a version of this letter is
milk’s danger,” came off as a critical caused a recall of over one hundred published by the Minneapolis Tribune
scientific statement excoriating “internet twenty million pounds of potentially- in response to that newspaper’s June
idiots,” know-nothings who wander like dangerous hamburger! Tens of thou- 28, 2010 editorial, “Recklessly Ignoring
lost sheep into the clutches of bad farm- sands of school children had already Raw Milk’s Danger—Ban on raw milk
ers who want to poison them. According eaten most of it! The US Food Service sales is needed to protect families.” Will
to the editorial, these easily bamboozled had to deal with nearly four hundred Winter will be a speaker at Wise Tradi-
fools clearly need the government to food recalls last year alone! tions 2010.
“protect them.” These writers talk about There is a tremendous difference
science but present not a shred of science between milk produced for pasteuriza- THE USDA LACKS CREDIBILITY
in these attacks. tion and milk that is produced to be The new dietary guidelines repre-
The typical raw dairy customer consumed raw. Since pasteurization has sent the selected research and opinions
is vastly more knowledgeable than the become law, the standards for bacteria, of just thirteen individuals, some from
average supermarket shopper. They are, white blood cells and even coliform academia and some from the USDA. The
for the most part well-read parents who organisms have been seriously watered- notion that these few people, who are
duly note the well-documented facts down. Deadly pathogenic bacteria are unaccountable to the public, are going to
regarding the declining safety and nutri- not routinely found on small family decide how and what the entire country
ent density of conventional food. They farms using pasture-based farming. should be eating (especially at public
know that there is no such thing as a food Milk is no longer touched by dirty hands schools) is really outrageous, given how
that is one hundred percent safe. They but runs through glass and stainless steel politicized agencies and even academia
know that if every category of food that pipes to the bulk tank. Deadly pathogens are.
ever caused an occasional incidence of come from cities, off-farm workers, the Too often, academics are judged
food poisoning were made illegal, there use of feedlot-runoff irrigation water, not by their scholarship, intellectual
would be no hamburger, no lettuce, no and from confinement and unsanitary rigor, or their abilities in the classroom,
eggs, no cheese, no hot dogs, no spinach. conditions. Pathogens take root when the but by how much money they bring to
Virtually nothing to eat! They also un- animals are under-nourished, indoors, the school or to their department, which
derstand that improvements are always confined and over-worked. can then have an influence on what they
appreciated and necessary. Thousands of people who think they teach.
True “food bio-security” can only are “allergic” to milk or have “lactose And the track record of the USDA
come from organic, sustainable fam- intolerance” can almost always thrive on is not one of impartiality. The USDA
ily farms, never from imported food, wholesome, pasture-based, organic raw maintains that there is no difference
never from a factory farm, never from milk! Their “allergy” or “intolerance” in quality between conventional and
4 Wise Traditions FALL 2010