Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Raw Milk Rage or What's Wrong With Milk?

We are involved in the raw milk issue. Because we want to drink it.

Our raw milk provider (we have been participating in a local herd-share) has been targeted and attacked by health Canada. They are prosecuting and trying to put it and other raw milk dairies out of business. A month or two ago I sent a letter to Leona Aglukkaq, Canada's Minister of Health, regarding my desire to see raw milk legalized, and for them to stop harassing those who make the food we want possible for us. Her response, below, shows the sort of blindness that our public officials have for our health and for science. They work for the people who fund their campaigns and paycheques. And, despite all those taxes we pay, that's not us.

Read her letter, here (click to enlarge if it's too small to read, here). And then read my response, below.


My response:

A Public Letter to Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health Canada,
in response to her letter, visible at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr8iZPyb-rbU8oorohb7n9YvbQqwtU5tqk_lcOUdGFCfMNwI_T_HzK85tvzsbIEuaOE-hMR18eSuLNVj_xnU0zF0SKL7HjTznt3jVMcmcBDDx0Ja9Qj776tIztAkE92dFxphXER3ceEbM/s1600/health-canada-response-about-raw-milk.png

Well thank you for your predictable, closed-minded, and short-sighted response.
I expect you will immediately be outlawing honey, tunafish, all poultry, all processed meats, and all other foodstuffs that have been shown to carry the risk of contamination by those same common pathogens. In short order we should be allowed a diet of pure chlorine bleach, since it is one of the only things currently found in our diets that does not, in fact, risk harbouring these bacteria (yes -- chlorine bleach is used to sterilize the chickens you allow us to consume, and, despite claims that it dissipates before consumption, it does leave traces on the food and in the packaging).

I will take your letter public, now, and, instead of depending upon you to protect my food sources, out you as a supporter of the dairy corporations, who find it reasonable to squash small farmers and endanger the public health with false claims that their milk (sic) is healthy.

It is now becoming common knowledge that most of the beneficial nutrients found in milk are destroyed through the pasteurization process. The milk which you allow us to consume is sourced from various farms in various countries, to maximize the profits of the large dairies that produce it. It is not fresh, it is not very well regulated, and sometimes it is not even pure milk. The mixing of milk and cream from various sources requires the dairies to homogenize the milk, which makes the fat molecules so small that they pass through our veins and cause blood-clots and other life-threatening damage. So you tell us to consume low-fat milk, to minimize our ingestion of these smaller fat molecules, but still promote the consumption of cream, butter, and cheese. But I assume this does not concern you. It is, after all, more important that you support those people who pay for your position of authority; not the public.

I have been drinking raw milk for 6 months, and was happy to find my health returning, as I, who have a compromised immune system and small children, was not sick during that time, following many years where I contracted a virus every month or so.

Thank you for your response. It will allow me to show publicly how little you do for us.
Emily van Lidth de Jeude

7 comments:

  1. Awesomely eye-opening and to the point disappointment with the industry tow-line. Thank you for your efforts to spread the good word. Have you looked into keeping your own cow?

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  2. Hi Karen!
    Yes we've thought about a cow (or sheep). I still think about it quite often. But the investment and the full-time no-travel staying-home-to-look-after-the-animals is more than our current life can handle. Still... we think about it often and I think sheep are definitely in the picture for the future. Once the kids require a bit less of our time, though.

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  3. You go girl!! Like the Occupy movement, it is time to start seriously looking at all those institutions which claim to be in our best interest. When we follow the money, we see where the interest really lies.

    I remain hopeful that we, resilient humans that we are, will create new structures for our society that will truly serve us and not be dictated by money.

    Keep up your good work!

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  4. Heya! So glad to have connected with you! I can't find your email address seperately on your blog but please feel free to email me at: jenn.nelson@hotmail.com. Hopefully we'll see you guys at another event! :)

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  5. Nice response, although I would've just started with paragraph 3. The first two run the risk of the reader not even making it that far.

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  6. Anonymous -- I agree! Too late, unfortunately, since I already sent the letter, but I think that kindness (and a little less anger) would probably have served me better.

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  7. OK, I just read the exact text in the Minister's letter in a parenting magazine - it wasn't attributed or anything, just reported in answer to the question "is raw milk safe?". Honestly, you would think she could have some independent thought on the issue.

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