Dairy Truth

by Robert Cohen (www.notmilk.com)

The Killers Within

The most common pathogenic organism found in raw milk is Staphyloccus aureus. Cows often get ulcers or sores on their udders. That bovine condition is known as mastitis, and the average cow in America requires $200 to treat that mastitis condition. Multiply that by 9.3 million dairy cows, and America’s dairymen have a $2 billion yearly problem

I read a remarkable book on Sunday’s flight from Detroit to Newark. “Killers Within” is the story of the deadly rise of drug-resistant bacteria. Written by Michael Schnayerson and Mark Plotkin (Little, Brown & Company, 2002), the book reads like a detective story.

I took notes.

Staphlococcus aureus is the most common infection of dairy cows. Bacterial toxins are easily passed from cows to humans in milk, and are not destroyed by pasteurization. On page 30, the authors write:

“Staph aureus bacteria are so virulent that very few are needed to do the job…it’s the most successful of all bacterial pathogens and the number one cause of hospital infections in the world.”

I was fascinated to learn that many of the so-called miracle antibiotic drugs were derived from feces taken from sewers (page 35).

On page 123, the authors explain one reason that antibiotic use continues on many farms. Antibiotics are growth promoters. That explains why chickens, pigs, and cows are so overdosed.

The authors go into great detail about new strains of bacteria that developed immunities to traditional antibiotics. Many Americans consume the antibiotic-resistant bacteria and become deathly ill. Some of these bacterial strains take residence in the human heart, and the ensuing disease in painfully expensive, painfully painful, and untreatable.

Cases of diarrhea from E. coli 157 or Guillain-Barre Syndrome from campylobacter can be traced to the diseased body fluids that we drink and infected flesh that we eat. The authors report a CDC study revealing that 60% of the 9.5 billions chickens sold in America each year are infected with campylobacter. Three out of every five chickens. If you eat chicken twice each week, thirty of your meals will come from highly toxic and infected flesh.

I was surprised to learn that 1.4 million Americans get salmonella each year, and 2-3% of those so infected get arthritis. I have not extended those numbers out over the course of a lifetime, but this information suggests a plague of bad health results from eating infected chickens.

On page 173, the authors report that staph pneumo is the leading cause of acute otitis, or earaches in children. How many cases per year? About 6 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Earaches are the most common reason that children visit pediatricians, according to the authors.

WHY ARE THERE NEW STRAINS OF BACTERIA?

The authors if “The Killers Within” do not explore the following:

In 1990, the Food and Drug Administration sent a message to dairy farmers: more drugs in milk was permissible. FDA arbitrarily increased the allowable level of antibiotics in milk by 100 times. The old protocol called for no more than one part per hundred million of antibiotic residues in milk. The change permitted antibiotic levels to be as high as one part per million. Consumers Union tested milk samples in the New York metropolitan area in 1992 and found the presence of 52 different antibiotics.

During that two-year period, cows were overdosed with antibiotics and new strains of bacteria developed.

If an imaginary cow had one billion bacteria in her system and she was treated with streptomycin and that antibiotic killed all but one of those germs, that one survivor would be immune to the drug, then reproduce a new population with total immunity. Doubling its population every twenty minutes, it would take 10 hours for a new strain of bacteria to grow to one billion in number. Multiply that by 9 million cows and 52 different antibiotics, and it becomes clear to see why antibiotics no longer seem to work when they are needed.

GOT MILK? GOT ANTIBIOTICS!

The average American drinks milk and eats cheese containing new strains of bacteria, immune to the 52 different antibiotics which are also present in milk.

Children are dying, and scientists do not have a clue why.

Milk and dairy products should carry a warning label. Forty percent of the average American’s diet consists of a product that is always infected with bacteria in its raw state. Raw milk usually contains blood, feces, bacterial and pus cells.

Pasteurization does not kill all of the bacteria in milk. Many cheeses are not pasteurized. Rod-shaped bacteria form a spore (spore is the Greek word for seed) at the first sign of heat. When the milk cools, the spore “blooms” and the bacteria re-emerges into its toxic state.

Does pasteurization really work? On day ten you might pour out the offensive smelling milk in your refrigerator, and on day nine, you drink it.

by Robert Cohen

BACTERIA
February of 1999 has been filled with news stories confirming the worst fears of the dairy industry. Reports of bacterial infections in milk given to kids in the Dominican Republic caused 1,000 schoolchildren to become ill. Fifty of those children were hospitalized. Contaminated milk contained samples of 22 different bacteria. At the same time in America, a nationwide milk recall was ordered for 270,000 cases of milk products due to possible Listeria contamination. Kohler Mix Specialties of Minnesota first recalled milk and dairy products from supermarket shelves in eight Midwest states, then expanded the recall to include all 50 states.
Tests on unsealed cartons of skim milk revealed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes. Symptoms of Listeria infection can occur up to 45 days after ingesting a tainted product. Beware the Ides of March. The Listeria bacteria can cause fatal infections in young children and the elderly. Healthy people may suffer flu-like symptoms. Pasteurization does not work. Every American knows this. Odoriferous milk from your refrigerator is dumped on day ten, but eaten with cereal on day nine. Do you wonder what you are drinking? Twenty-two different bacterium were naturally cultured from pasteurized milk in the Dominican Republic.

ANTIBIOTICS
The USDA and FDA have recently revealed that Americans might be ingesting too many antibiotics in meat. The official announcements did not mention milk, yet cows and steers are treated with the same antibiotics and the average American eats significantly more milk and dairy products than meat.

ANTIBIOTICS IN MILK
After genetically engineering the bovine growth hormone, Monsanto learned that cows were getting mastitis, painful ulcers on their udders which resulted in an increase in pus, blood and bacteria in milk. Monsanto arranged to have their top scientist, Margaret Miller, hired by FDA where she reviewed her own research. Aware that dairymen would have to treat cows with more antibiotics, Miller simply raised the allowable levels of antimicrobials farmers could put in milk.

FDA CHANGED THE STANDARD!
Miller arbitrarily increased the allowable level by one hundred times — from one part per hundred million to one part per million!
On March 16, 1994, a letter signed “concerned CVM employees” was circulated to members of Congress, GAO, Dr. David Kessler (Commissioner of FDA), the Inspector General of the United States Richard P. Kusserow, and Michael Hansen of Consumer’s Union. The letter in part reads:
“Dr. Miller (wrote) a policy on use of antimicrobials in milk. She picked an arbitrary and scientifically unsupported number of 1 part-per-million as being the allowable amount of antimicrobial in milk permitted without any consumer safety testing. This is for any antimicrobial. A cow could be treated with several antibiotics and each one would be permitted to be in milk at a level of 1ppm without additional consumer safety testing. Effects of the different antibiotics could be additive and this is not taken into account.”
Michael Hansen of Consumers Reports testified and brought attention to Congressional committees that 52 drugs are known to be used as antibiotics to treat mastitis. According to Consumer’s Union, FDA had approved only 30 of those antibiotics. Milk is routinely tested for the presence of six different antibiotics. Farmers are aware of the antibiotics being tested. Do you imagine they might be tempted to use any of the other 46 not currently being tested?

HERE WE GO AGAIN!
When something doesn’t work for the dairy industry the FDA often helps private industry by changing the standard. This does not make the product any safer but it does allow the FDA to officially state that the drug residue is “well within safe levels.” This is usually done at the expense of the consumer.
Margaret Miller’s name recently “popped up into the news” again. It seems that FDA recently approved a powerful liquid antibiotic for lactating dairy cows. It is called:

LIQUAMYOCIN 200
Before approval, FDA allowed residues of 30 parts per billion of this antibiotic to show up in milk samples. Unfortunately, milk samples tested out at 300 parts per billion. What did FDA do? They changed the standard! The new standard is now 300 parts per billion!
There is evidence of both comedy and tragedy…The Dannon Yogurt Company cannot use this milk because the antibiotic kills the acidophilus which they add to their cultured product. Not so cultured, huh? FDA approved this product, and whose name do you think they have as contact for more information? None other than Margaret Miller, Ph.D. Her phone number is 301-827-5282. Let Dr. Miller know how happy you are about arbitrary changes in antibiotic protocols. Give her number to your congressman and demand an investigation.

DIOXINS - WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SHOCKER
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently conducted an assessment of the health risks of dioxins in Geneva, Switzerland. Peter Montague, who writes RACHEL’S ENVIRONMENTAL NEWSLETTER, obtained copies of the unofficial report. Hundreds of past issues of this brilliantly written newsletter can be found at:

http://www.ejnet.org/dioxin/

The most recent issue of Rachel’s (issue #636) referenced DIOXINS and revealed:
“Eighty to ninety percent of our daily dioxin intake comes from eating milk, meat and fish. Breast-fed infants take in 70 picograms of dioxin per kilogram of body weight per day - seven to seventy times as much as the average adult. Despite this, breast-fed infants are healthier than infants fed bottled formula.”

from Robert Cohen

Yesterday, I received an EMAIL request from Jack, one of my readers.

“An outstanding local 17 year old male athlete, and partial vegetarian is anemic. I could use some backup on the exact detrimental effect that milk consumption has on causing iron deficiency anemia.”

Here’s information for Jack and millions of Americans who suffer from anemia:

The most common cause of anemia is iron deficiency. Red blood cells have a life of about four months, and lack of iron leads to an inability to manufacture new cells. Hundreds of ailments can result from too-little iron, and milk consumption has been shown to cause intestinal bleeding, which ultimately results in lowering one’s hemoglobin count. The result: weakness, depression, irritability. The cure: NOTMILK.

The May, 1995 issue of the Townsend Medical Letter reported that cow’s milk causes hemoglobin loss.

In 1990, the Journal of Pediatrics (Vol. 116) reported:

“Cow’s milk can cause blood loss from the intestinal tract, which over time, reduces the body’s iron stores. Blood loss may be a reaction to cow’s milk proteins.”

Eight years earlier, Pediatrics (1982; 89 ) reported:

“Babies who are fed whole cow’s milk during the second six months of life may experience a 30% increase in intestinal blood loss and a significant loss of iron in their stools.”

THE CURES

Here’s the good news, as reported in the October, 1999 issue of the Journal of Pediatric Surgery:

“Cow’s milk-induced intestinal bleeding is a well-recognized cause of rectal bleeding in infancy. In all cases, bleeding resolved completely after instituting a cow’s milk-free diet.”

Here’s a better cure:

Soymilk contains eleven times the amount of iron as does cow’s milk. A 100-gram portion (3.5 ounces) of cow’s milk contains 0.05 mg. of iron. The equivalent portion of soymilk contains 0.58 mg. of iron.

Reprinted with permission of the author. http://www.notmilk.com