This article first appeared in Independent Weekly, June 20, 2007. The issues, the science(s), and the political economy of raw milk are all well-represented. Go read it all!
http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A155882
Drink it raw -- Why is unprocessed milk the only illegal food in North Carolina?
A few choice quotes:
"When and how did the sale of one of nature's most perfect foods become a crime? And why is it legal to sell uncooked meat, raw seafood, alcohol, tobacco and firearms — but unprocessed milk is more difficult to obtain than marijuana?"
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"I have been amazed at the number of people I have met who want to drink milk that comes from a cow that has been raised not in confinement, grazed on grass, no hormones or antibiotics," Hagan says, adding, "back to what God and nature intended."
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Engel, the state epidemiologist, says if residents want raw milk badly enough, they can go to South Carolina or get a cow, dairy shares excluded.
"We relax the pasteurization laws, and I'll be counting illness and death. It's hard to deny that," Engel says. Asked for the illness and death statistics from states where raw milk is legal, he responded, "I can't tell you that off the top of my head."
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Read it!
http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A155882
Drink it raw -- Why is unprocessed milk the only illegal food in North Carolina?