Why shouldn’t we drink raw milk?

[ktlight]

FYI:

Those of us who choose to drink ''raw’’ milk are a tiny minority – barely more than 100,000 – so why is time and money being wasted trying to stop us?
The latest attempt is launched by Dairy UK, the association representing the producers and processors of 85 per cent of the milk sold in Britain. Dairy UK has demanded that the Food Standards Agency (FSA) ban the sale of unpasteurised milk, citing food safety and the “safe image of dairy products”.
This is baffling. If there were widespread and regular food poisoning outbreaks linked directly to drinking raw milk, then the industry as a whole would undoubtedly suffer, and the eccentrics who insist on milk au naturel ought, probably, to be saved from themselves.
But according to FSA figures, not one outbreak has been reported since 2002. Before that, the FSA says, illness due to unpasteurised milk accounted for a ''small proportion’’ of the total number of food-borne outbreaks between 1992 and 2002. I think we can say that raw milk has become a safer, not riskier, product over the intervening years.
I prefer to drink raw milk because I believe it to be more wholesome than standardised, homogenised, pasteurised milk. It can only be obtained direct from one of the 104 farms in England and Wales that are licensed to sell it. Each farm is regularly inspected, at the farmer’s expense, by both local and national authorities. Cattle are rigorously checked for disease, including TB. I would argue that dedicated raw milk producers pay more attention to hygiene than those who rely on the safety net of pasteurisation.


source
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/8684431/Why-shouldnt-we-drink-raw-milk.html

[phillipbbg]

If you talk to your grand parents they will tell you that they used to get there milk direct from farmers and they used to always put the milk on the stove and bring it to the boil themselves and then let it cool so it would KEEP longer.... no big deal and easy to do....

So the question is WHY DON THEY WANT TO DO IT FOR YOU? What else are they doing to the milk that is so important? and Homogenising is just putting the milk through a very fine strainer or sieve again no big deal all you do is run the heater milk through muslin fabric....

Its all about CONTROL and ADDITIVES...

[Tigressa]

Excuse me phillip, what additives?

[Carmen]

Raw milk is a healthy food. No need to boil it! Boiling it destroys all its health properties. If it comes from healthy cows and is handled cleanly there is no problem. We've used raw milk from our own cows for years. We also supply friends and neighbours with raw milk. They are required to bring their own containers, thats all.

Homogenising milk is not by putting it through a fine filter!! Its a much more invasive process than that and completely alters the milk' The fat is forced through the milk so it remains suspended in it and does not separate out. Im no scientist but that is how I understand it.

Raw milk is a health food, thats why they want to do away with it!

[phillipbbg]

Excuse me phillip, what additives?

That is the question you should be asking them....not me. And then ask what additives the cows have been given over their lives, and how they have been bread.... See if your labels state "Packaged with vitamins and minerals" see if there may be traces of NUTS, this means the equipment is used for different purposes.....WHY?

If you find there are no additives....GREAT... then its only about market control and producer control by the large supermarket chains.....

My Milk packaging contradicts itself by saying " without additives or preservatives" then if you look a little further around the packaging we come across "Packaged with vitamins and minerals"

Another interesting question to think about is How can Long Life Milk be sold cheaper per ltr than fresh milk?? It requires far more processing than fresh milk.....why is this so? At least in the UK this is the case....

Am not meaning to sound aggressive but I know dairy farmers personally who have gone to the wall ... I fully agree with buying fresh local milk from a reliable source... and yes my description of homogenisation was poor but to explain breaking up of fat molecules under pressure so that they stay in suspension seemed a little over the top. In the old days they used very fine materials that the milk was forced under pressure to gain the same result... Have never understood what was wrong with the cream rising to the top, but thats me.

[Providence]

Raw milk back in my grandparent's day (1920's) was not as safe as it is today. Sanitation was not considered a high priority and until someone finally put the pieces together and realized that it was the way the milk was handled that made people sick not the milk itself, raw milk got a bad wrap and thus a bad reputation. Today the farmers that I get raw milk from have incredibly high sanitation standards, and they treat their cows like members of the family. I began drinking raw milk back in the 70's, and after a long dry spell of not being able to find it, I am back on raw milk and I love it.
It is very healthy, and among other benefits, it is a great way to protect your thyroid from exposure to radiation. If you can find a source locally, try it out, I can guarantee you that you won't miss the processed, pasteurized, white, chemically laden, nutritionally inert liquid that you buy in the stores that claims to be milk.
B-)

[Alan]

Raw milk back in my grandparent's day (1920's) was not as safe as it is today. Sanitation was not considered a high priority and until someone finally put the pieces together and realized that it was the way the milk was handled that made people sick not the milk itself, raw milk got a bad wrap and thus a bad reputation.

You should read the book "The Untold Story of Milk". People safely drank raw milk for 1000's of years. About 100 years ago the practice of factory farming began, which included feeding cows the cheapest, unhealthiest feed they could find, and there were very unsanitary conditions at these farms. Kids starting dying from drinking milk. Instead of going back to traditional methods of raising cows and delivering milk, and in turn making less money, pasteurization was introduced as a way to preserve profits, NOT as a way to make a safer, more healthy product.

[Providence]

Raw milk back in my grandparent's day (1920's) was not as safe as it is today. Sanitation was not considered a high priority and until someone finally put the pieces together and realized that it was the way the milk was handled that made people sick not the milk itself, raw milk got a bad wrap and thus a bad reputation.

You should read the book "The Untold Story of Milk". People safely drank raw milk for 1000's of years. About 100 years ago the practice of factory farming began, which included feeding cows the cheapest, unhealthiest feed they could find, and there were very unsanitary conditions at these farms. Kids starting dying from drinking milk. Instead of going back to traditional methods of raising cows and delivering milk, and in turn making less money, pasteurization was introduced as a way to preserve profits, NOT as a way to make a safer, more healthy product.

Thanks for the book reference, and I didn't mean to short the full story of raw milk, I was just relating to what was already posted. You are exactly right, profits are the basis for their actions, whether it's to over process wholesome food products, or raids on food clubs that distribute the raw milk.

[Siberia9]

Consider that the bacteria in your gut affects your brain, same as if you drink alcohol. The whole germ theory that has been taught to you is a lie and is designed to control you and what goes into your body. You are afraid of germs and that is of great use to the ones that enslave you. You have salmonella in your gut right now for example, and you need it along with all the other bacteria that is there. Eating raw any part of an animal that is truly organic will give your gut the bacteria it needs as has been the case for thousands of years with humans. Antibiotics and vaccines will mutate these healthy helpers into something that your system can not work with as well, resulting in illness. This is one reason why those on raw diets tend to feel healthier. Even the FDA has admitted that the Primal Diet(a raw dairy and meat diet) has a 95% cure rate for cancer for example. The ones that rule over us are preoccupied with altering our brains and thought processes in every way possible and diet is but one. If you dig enough you will find that many vaccines affect and live in the gut of the human and cause illness. Autistics for example will loose many symptoms by altering their diets, because their now damage brains are strongly affected by the gut. The more they do the better they will respond, not eating grains, eating raw milk, raw unsalted cheese and cream, regularly eating small portions of raw unwashed intestines of healthy organic animals will replace what has been damaged over time and thus affecting the brain in a positive way. But you don't have to be Autistic to reap the benefits of a raw diet, in whatever form fits you best. So they must stop you from knowing the truth if they can, and then they must stop you from obtaining raw organic foods required less you not be a good slave, and have a clear mind and healthy body that vibrates at a high level. NO that will not do and they will use any and all dirty tricks to get you to go along with the program, I have been expecting them to poison the raw milk products with some sort of bacteria and blame it for some sort of outbreak for some time now. If they start to loose the fight against it that will be how they win that battle and make it illegal once on for all in my opinion.

[DeDukshyn]

It's all about food, its all about what codex alimentarius was designed for, it's about total control of the food industry and about ensuring food isn't being made available that gov't organizations don't know about. Most raw milk is "outside the system" - they want absolutely nothing outside the system. When you control every aspect of food production, you have leverage; weak, starving people cannot fight ... sorry to say it. Everyone start collecting organic seeds, please.
EDIT: I have drank plenty of raw milk in my life - most notably when I was younger. It is absolutely fabulous and tastes 1000X better than anything you can get at the store. That said, drinking anothers animal's milk is a bit weird ...

[Carmen]

I feel very sorry for people who have no access to raw healthy milk and other natural products. My husbands trip to America a few years back totally turned him round as far as his dairy farming was concerned. He was alarmed at the state of the dairy industry in America. Factory farmed cows, full of antibiotics. Huge animals that could barely walk who stood or lay in a small space 24/7. They were old at aged three because they could not breed past that age. They never saw the sun, green grass or a bull!! Not that many dairy cows in NZ see a bull either, they are mostly artificially inseminated!

The cows in New Zealand are grass fed, outside all year and are therefore fit and healthy. Some are heading toward what is done in America but very few. Our butter here is yellow. Butter in America is white because of lack of green grass! My husbands ideal now is small herds, milked once a day, hence happy cows, non stressed farmers and better product as well as excellent profit. Our farmers own the industry so they are not at the mercy of the middle men. Our system of share-milking in NZ has enabled many keen young people to own their own farms in quite a short time. In our own situation six of our sharemilking couples have gone on to ownership of their own land and cows. Its a marvellous example of co-operation over competition.

[Dawn]

I have very sensitive digestion. I am extremely healthy, it's just that my body is very clear in communicating to me what food is life enhancing, and what food is not. Raw milk is an absolute YES as far as this wise body is concerned. One was to test for ANY food for your body is to dowse your food items. For example... fresh raw milk will cause a pendulum held over it to spin in a clockwise (pro-health) direction. Pasteurized milk, or old raw milk, will cause an anti-clockwise spin (anti-life) of a pendulum.

You can also begin a dialog with your body regarding food.. and you can use it when purchasing food in a store or before eating. Simply stand straight with your ankles together and hold the potential food in front of your solar plexus or stomach. Ask your body if it would like to ingest the food... if the food is appropriate your body will lean towards it. If the food is not desirable the body will lean away. Sometimes the body will begin to rock or sway, this is usually an indication that the body simply wishes to 'ingest' the food (absorb the frequencies without eating it). In this case you can hold the food near the body and wait for the body to tell you it is done by becoming still or leaning away.

It took me a couple of weeks of intensely listening to my body to get this communication between us absolutely clear. It is worth the effort because being friends with your body can have wonderful results. It is your sense organ in this world and without it your life here wouldn't be any fun. Well worth becoming friends with it and beginning to establish a relationship of mutual respect.

[ktlight]

I have very sensitive digestion. I am extremely healthy, it's just that my body is very clear in communicating to me what food is life enhancing, and what food is not. Raw milk is an absolute YES as far as this wise body is concerned. One was to test for ANY food for your body is to dowse your food items. For example... fresh raw milk will cause a pendulum held over it to spin in a clockwise (pro-health) direction. Pasteurized milk, or old raw milk, will cause an anti-clockwise spin (anti-life) of a pendulum.

You can also begin a dialog with your body regarding food.. and you can use it when purchasing food in a store or before eating. Simply stand straight with your ankles together and hold the potential food in front of your solar plexus or stomach. Ask your body if it would like to ingest the food... if the food is appropriate your body will lean towards it. If the food is not desirable the body will lean away. Sometimes the body will begin to rock or sway, this is usually an indication that the body simply wishes to 'ingest' the food (absorb the frequencies without eating it). In this case you can hold the food near the body and wait for the body to tell you it is done by becoming still or leaning away.

It took me a couple of weeks of intensely listening to my body to get this communication between us absolutely clear. It is worth the effort because being friends with your body can have wonderful results. It is your sense organ in this world and without it your life here wouldn't be any fun. Well worth becoming friends with it and beginning to establish a relationship of mutual respect.

That's interesting!

[Carmen]

Yes, Abundant Traveler, very good advice. I am also experiencing my body's food preferences and going against causes adverse conditions. I was intrigued several years ago by a couple of nuns living in our area. I met them through Toastmasters, and they told me of dousing to see if butter or margarine was a yes or no. Butter was definitely, yes and margarine negative. Actually nature tells us about margarine. Stick a pottle of margarine outside for anything to eat and it goes untouched. Its a complete non-food and if you ever saw or heard how it is produced you wouldn't touch the stuff!!

[Jeremy]

I personally feel one doesn't need cow's milk anymore than they don't need giraffe's, hippo's, sheep's milk and so forth. It really isn't necessary for health, but could be if one was not consuming an adequate diet from plant sources.

[PixieDust]

When i was about 6 we lived on a goat farm and drank raw goats milk for several years. When circumstances changed and we had to move off the farm my sister and I wouldn't drink store bought cows milk because we could taste the chemicals in it. My sister (older) more so than I. Also with store bought eggs. My sister wont eat them cause they make her sick but farm fresh wont. I've gone back and forth my whole life when i have the opportunity to drink raw cows or goats milk i choose it over store bought always. Its much tastier and creamier, even after scraping the cream off the top.

a couple years ago we were even churning our own butter from our cows milk and the first time we made it and were eating it with mashed potatoes i made the comment it was like eating potatoe ice cream because it was so delicious.

I currently dont have access to raw milk but i buget so i can afford at least organic store bought though im not sure if its much better. Buying 5 dollar half gallons is worth the possibility of it being a tiny bit better then the full on chemical induced and highly pasturized 5 dollar gallons.

Also lactose intolerant people can usually handle raw goats milk just fine. I tested it with my friend and she didnt have any problems digesting it. She wasnt too sure about drinking goats milk cause she thought the idea was gross but i got her to drink about half a cup and she was fine.

As long as the animal is treated right and the milk collected cleanly and correctly there shouldn't be any problems drinking raw milk with a ton of pluses. If buying from a local farmer always check out the milking room and make sure its clean and ask about how they do it, what they feed the animals and how they're cared for ect.

I think, in this day and age, if the government is trying to make something illegal that appears healthy (herbs milk ect) then its more proof that its better for you. If they can't make money off of it or control it then they're going to try and ban it.

[Darla Ken Pearce]

Wow. I sure love all the sharing of information and experience in this thread! It's fabulous! Carmen, I wish I lived near you! The clearest thing here is that we need new governance methods by taking back full control at a local level in the future. Imagine how many years, they've been adding poisons into our food and every other thing to which has turned into huge cancer and health system to rake in money off people's absolute misery and pain.

And if they didn't manage to kill or make you ill, and you get something home that isn't tainted, you put it into the microwave and kill every last vitamin that was left. Then, you could look outside and see chemtrail planes spraying the air. What is up with this? When will we have had enough? What say you? Thank goodness we are almost completely out of duality and 3D constructs. Be well. xoxoxox

[Jeremy]

The milk most people buy and consume comes from places like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RNFFRGz1Qs

[Carmen]

I've been having great fun this morning testing foods with my body, Abundant Traveller. Fascinating! Its works very well. Some foods I knew about but some favourites were a nono. Very Cool.

Calcium is king as far as the minerals go, and raw milk is a great source. AT food testing advice is a great way to test for what your body wants and needs.

The book 'Nourishing Traditions' by Sally Fallon is one I would recommend to people. It is in line with the dietary discoveries of Dr Weston Price who travelled the world to study the diets of populations untouched by civilization, living entirely on local foods.

Quote from the book:- " Almost without exception, the groups he studied ate liberally of seafood or other animal proteins and fats in the form of organ meats and dairy products; they valued animal fats as absolutely necessary to good health;and they ate fats, meats, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains in their natural unrefined state. A high proportion of these primitive diets consisted of raw foods, of both animal and vegetable origin.
In all of these groups--from isolated Irish and Swiss, from Eskimos to Africans---Dr. Price observed superb health in almost every member of the tribe or village. They were free of chronic disease, dental decay and mental illness; they were strong, sturdy and attractive; and they produced healthy children with ease, generation after generation."

[TWINCANS]

Due to hubby's illness, I got involved in a multilevel marketing health food product called Immunocal. (Still support it actually but this isn't a sales pitch) It's made solely from milk, but not milk pasteurized at the high levels used normally today - for a very specific reason. While low levels that were originally used in the dairy industry are quite effective at killing TB pathogens, once you increase the temperatures just a few degrees, milk's ability to benefit health is destroyed. That's why normal whey proteins just bulk someone up.

When the chemical reaction at the basis of the product was originally discovered in the lab, the researcher was able to replicate results all the time. Then he suddenly couldn't. He didn't know why. Then he noticed a TV news report that pasteurization temperature levels had been mandated higher in the country that he was sourcing the milk used in his lab. He phoned and sure enough it was. He then sourced milk pasteurized at the (then) traditional temperatures and bingo he could effect the cellular change once again. Temperature was everything.


Here's some background:
At the beginning of the 70’s, under the direction of Gustavo Bounous, MD, (FRCSC), a team of researchers from the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University (Canada), was studying proteins of animal and vegetable origins in order to feed the patients with an elemental diet that would allow them to reduce their stay in hospital. Since 1978, their studies had been focusing on whey proteins. This work led to the surprising discovery that a specific undenatured whey protein concentrate helped to sustain optimal glutathione levels, high immunological reactivity and anticarcinogenic activity. Subsequent identification of the active ingredients present in this protein mixture led in 1993 to the production of a high-quality bioactive protein that was given the name Immunocal. This research was supported by the Medical Research Council of Canada and the National Institutes of Health in the United States. The observed effects of Immunocal which have been discovered at McGill University have been validated by numerous independent research centers worldwide, notable in Germany, Japan, Australia, France, United States and in Nova Scotia (Canada).'

So as I was led to belive by this researcher who spoke to me personally, it's not the heating of raw milk that severely damages it's ability to stimulate intracellular glutathione production. It's too high a temperature. Nowadays all store bought milk is dead because the pasteurization temperature is are too high - a result of the unhealthy state of our dairy industry.

But of course, with that unhealthy state we can't just go to any farm and buy raw milk. Too dangerous. It has to be a properly managed herd. I'm familiar with a bio-dynamic farmer near us whose milk is totally trustworthy and VERY healthy because he does everything right.

Guess who was the subject of a mulit-agancy witchhunt last year (but won!)? Michael Schmidt from Durham, Ontario, that's him.

[Carmen]

Thank you TWINCANS, that is a very informative post.

[TWINCANS]

It's another of life's frustrations for me, but you're welcome.

[Jeremy]

Most animal earthlings drink milk from their mother at birth. After they are weaned they discontinue this. No animal or terrestrial being continues to consume milk for any kind of sustainment other than humans. Why? Aren't we the most evolved and cognizant? Cow's just go straight to the light, the plants. The source. People want to consume the animal products which is produced via plant-source consumption? Organic raw milk or not, contains a multitude of hormones not necessary to our system. We don't utilize any of them for any health sustaining or building purpose. If you're concerned about fluoride and other foreign elements within municipal tap water, then you might want to look into what water is being used to hydrate the cows. Fluoride is very concentrated in cow's who consume it, and most do. It is hard to avoid all pollutants in the world, but they can be minimized through awareness and deliberate avoidance. Really all humans despise being forced to be used and exploited for labour, thus animals do to. Because I could only think that they would rather breed at their will. The way it is done for humans, is through a kind of rape. Because they are injected with semen. Not all do this, but most do. Constant, regular impregnation is distressing and is a violation of other sentient beings paths, when you know better (we are human). If a cow, gorilla, horse, and other diet-related beings can get all they need from plant-based food. Then so can we. You might have to influence your body though through consciousness and dynamic will, to give your entire system the knowing and conviction of such a way of life. We can constantly evolve, so if you think due to your ancestor, genetic tie, that you require animal products for sustainment. Then you could also come to know that you can evolve and be without it. It was simple for me. I grew up on every animal product most commonly consumed in the western society here in Canada. But one day I chose not to consume it anymore, and I believed I was in abundance and pure health. And consequently, I am well because of that conviction from consciousness. If we don't exploit and use other sentient beings for our sustenance, then we free ourselves and the animal. Every one can eat, drink and be how they want. I don't oppose anybody's timing and spot in the omnipresence. I am every where to. But the choosing I deploy is to not enslave another for sake of appetite. Intellectual appetite and necessity are different things in which we experience. Good taste and good sense is comparably similar. When we think we need something, our body system will respond likewise. The synapse, electrical messages will be sent out via those thoughts and get embedded into the system. I use to think I was deficient in a nutrient or specific nutriment necessity. It wasn't until I believed that I was abundant and filled perfectly will all light and sustenance that I flourished. When I focus on getting this or that from food, I become more heavily dependent on the earth and others as a necessity. I become too grounded within the earth, heavily anchored when I think vitamin B12 is only attainable through the milk, or the animal. When I used to believe that, I'd become that.

[Lettherebelight]

When we lived on the Isle of Wight, we were able to buy our milk direct from the farm, before it was treated. The dairy farmer there told us he would never dream of putting anything else on his cornflakes.

The cow is like our Mother, in that first we drink milk from our birth Mother, later we drink milk from the cow, so she too, becomes our Mother. Because of this relationship, cows are protected and looked after very carefully, with respect, in advanced societies.

OXvoeJVo_pU

[Jeremy]

Did you know the meat industry is an environmental disaster for our planet and a source of suffering for both humans and animals. The meat is a waste of water, grain. It is linked to land degradation, deforestation, contamination of waters by nitrates, fertilizers, pesticides and destruction of tropical forests. It has an a large impact on greenhouse gas pollutants from animal husbandry. The meat industry is starving the poor, contributing to famine and a misallocation of resources.

-On a global scale, 90% of soybeans are farmed animals. (World Watch Institute)
United States 70% of grain goes to livestock. In India only 2% of grain go to animals. (USDA FAS l991)
- In a feedlot of 37,000 U.S. cattle, 25 tons of corn are distributed at all hours. (Steve Boyan, University of Maryland)
- If all the grain for the U.S. cattle were consumed directly, they could feed 800 million people. (David Pimental, a professor of ecology at Cornell Institute)

-It takes 7 kilograms of grain to produce the kilogram of beef - 4 kg to produce the kilogram of pork - 2 kg to produce the kilogram of chicken. (World Watch Institute)

-Currently 776 million people, or the 6-malnourished and, despite an increase in cereal production by almost one billion tons since the mid-l960s, a large percentage of the quantity n is not used for human benefit. A little over a third of global cereal output is fed to animals each year, and a quarter of world production of fish. (FAO Agriculture World ")

-In l985, during the famine in Ethiopia, when the population dying of hunger, the country was exporting grain to livestock English. (Compassion in World Farming)

WASTE WATER TO PRODUCE THIS SEEDS

The shortage of drinking water threat worldwide: 40% of the population, distributed in 24 countries suffer from water shortages, both in quantity and quality. (World Bank)

Over 3 million children under five die every year worldwide from diarrhea caused primarily by contaminated water and food borne pathogens. (International Food Policy Research Institute)

25 African countries expected to lack of water within the next 25 years while China and India would be subject to water stress. Already 70% of fresh water resources are degraded or polluted. (United Nations Committee for the Environment)

It is estimated that half of global water consumption is for the production of meat and dairy products.
United States, 80% of drinking water
used for rearing animals.

In California, the dairy industry, the largest of the country consumes as much water as a city of 22 million people. (Greenpeace). This state suffers periodic droughts and water shortages for its inhabitants. To produce the kg of chicken, it takes 3, 500 liters of water. In comparison, it takes 900 liters of water per kilogram of wheat and 500 liters of water per kilogram of potatoes. (David Pimentel)

ALWAYS MORE AND WASTE DISPOSAL

Herds of animals use most of the farmland in the world: in 1999 some 3 460 million hectares were regularly used for grazing, more than doubling of agricultural land under permanent cultivation. (UVE)

To produce the kg of meat, it must the same area of land to grow 200 kg of tomatoes or l60 kg of potatoes or carrots l20 kg or 80 kg of apples. (Jeremy Rifkin)

On the acre (2 l / 2 acres hectare = l): may feed 20 vegans for 1 carnivores

Tropical rainforests cover about 720 million hectares and are home to some 50% of the biodiversity of the planet. More than 200 million hectares of forests have been destroyed since 1950, particularly to make way for pasture or cattle farms. This deforestation has been linked to loss of some unique plant and animal species in South America and Central, the richest source of biodiversity in the world. In Central America, grazing areas increased from 3.5 to 9.5 million hectares since 1950 and the cattle population has more than doubled from 4.2 to 9.6 million animals (Kaimonitz 1995).
Brazil has the second largest cattle herd in the world after India, with l60 million animals.

For a burger, is converted to pasture: 6 square meters of virgin forests. If the meat comes from a South American cattle are destroyed: 75 kg of living material, 20 species of plants, insects l00 and dozens of species of birds, reptiles and mammals. (Jeremy Rifkin) The United States imports 200 million lbs of beef from Central America each year. (Steve Boyan, University of Maryland)

Deforestation in Quebec: the southern province deforestation at a rate of serious concern particularly in the lowlands of the St. Lawrence. In the Chaudière-Appalaches, Centre-du-Québec, Montérégie and Lanaudière regions, deforestation has increased by 30% in three years compared to five years before that. This deforestation is largely due to the adoption of new standards of application, which increased the area needed for the "recycling" of manure and slurry from livestock mainly pigs. Deforestation hit a total of 32 000 hectares of forest, or 320 square kilometers, between l999 and 2002. (Ministry of Environment, Quebec)

[Jeremy]

Here is a good documentary to check out if you want: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce4DJh-L7Ys

EARTHLINGS is the single most powerful and informative documentary about society's tragic and unforgivable use of nonhuman animals, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix with soundtrack by Moby. Directed by Shaun Monson, this multi-award winning film by Nation Earth is a must-see for anyone who cares about nonhuman animals or wishes to make the world a better place.

Food Inc Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eKYyD14d_0

Plot: An unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry

Farmageddon: The Unseen War On American Family Farms

http://farmageddonmovie.com/

Hidden camera video secretly shot by an investigator with Mercy For Animals at an Ohio dairy farm reveals shocking, malicious cruelty to calves and cows. The video, recorded between April and May, 2010, shows dairy farm workers beating cows in the face with crowbars, stabbing them with pitchforks, breaking their tails, and punching, throwing, and kicking calves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYTkM1OHFQg&feature=player_embedded

[Jeremy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYTkM1OHFQg&feature=player_embedded

Let's dispense with the euphemisms. Dairy farms are nothing more nor less than concentration camps for cows and calves. The above video consists of footage shot by activists working undercover at Conklin Dairy Farms, Inc. in Plain City, Ohio during the month of April 2010. The obscenely gratuitous and unspeakable abuse you see in that video is much more widespread than many people think.

The books Diet For A New America and The Food Revolution by John Robbins expose the dairy industry's deceit like no other. Robbins, the former heir to the billion dollar Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire, walked away from the family business more than 25 years ago. Robbins made a moral decision not to profit from a product that abuses and kills cows and makes people sick.

Cow milk is a secretion that oozes from the udder. It's filled with a somatic cell count, commonly known as pus, with the national average hovering around 350 million pus cells per liter. Basically, this means that each glass of milk in America can have around an eye-dropper full of pus. Over the years, The Hoard's Dairyman and other dairy industry trade journals have run a few articles about the pus content in milk.

When machines are hooked up to the udders three times a day to suck the cows dry, the machines, and the countless drugs and myriad injections of Bovine Growth Hormone, cause mastitis, and irritate and infect the udders. Pus, mucus, and infections are sucked out with the milk, and pasteurization—which cleans the pus, but does not eliminate it from the milk—creates a concoction of sanitized pus. Organic, chemical-free cow milk is not pus-free either. It actually has more pus than non-organic milk because when cows come down with infections, as they always do, chemicals are not being used to treat the infection. Thus, more pus accumulates in the system. Soy, rice, almond, hemp, coconut, oat and hazelnut milks (the vegan ones)—along with human breast milk—are the only pus-free milks.

Moreover, mother cows make milk for THEIR babies and for THEIR babies alone. That case is closed forever. No debate. No discussion. The jury is in. They don't make milk for baby humans, adolescents humans or adult humans. The human body has absolutely no need for cow milk, just as it has absolutely no need for dog milk, giraffe milk, zebra milk, camel milk, goat milk or rhinoceros milk. This is why dairy is responsible for most allergies, asthma, Crohn's disease, childhood ear infections, acne, and breast, ovarian, colon, prostate and pancreatic cancers.

Cows, like every other female mammal, only produce milk during and after pregnancy. Cows, therefore, are artificially impregnated (raped) once a year to keep the milk-flow going. Within moments after giving birth, babies are stolen from their mothers. From a business standpoint, the dairy industry has to steal babies because it can't have calves sucking up all that milk that was meant for them when they would rather sell it to humans instead. Every time humans have a glass of cow milk, some calf is not!

Like male chicks on an egg farm, male calves are useless by-products of the dairy industry. Unlike the chicks who are killed at birth, calves are sent to veal farms and put in tiny crates with ropes and chains around their necks to completely immobilize them. No movement is ever allowed because no muscle development is allowed. The veal industry is only in existence because of the dairy industry. If you don't eat veal, but still consume dairy, it doesn't alleviate the suffering of enslaved male calves, or mother cows! When cows no longer produce huge amounts of quality milk after 3-7 years, they're killed. There are no cow sanctuaries in the dairy industry. Ninety percent of hamburger flesh in America comes from the dairy industry. For some amazing info about the scams and cruelty of the dairy industry, please check out www.NotMilk.com, www.coalitionforcancerprevention.org, and www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/us/07fat.html?src=me&ref=general.

Dairy and Osteoporosis

If you think milk builds strong bones, why do Americans—the largest consumer of dairy products worldwide—have astounding rates of osteoporosis and bone fractures (and cancers)?

More than ten years ago, the Harvard University Nurses' Health Study, with over 120,000 subjects, found that the consumption of milk and other dairy products does not protect against the bone fractures of osteoporosis (the bone-thinning disease that the dairy industry wants you to believe is related to too little milk in your diet). In fact, those in the study who drank three or more servings of milk a day actually had a slightly higher rate of fractures than women who drank little or no milk (American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 87 (1997), pp. 992-997).

In Western societies, we're told that calcium is the answer to preventing bone loss. However, it's not a lack of calcium that causes osteoporosis. Excessive intake of animal-based protein (which is always acidic) and a lack of exercise, magnesium and vitamin D cause osteoporosis. The Lancet, The U.S. Department of Health, and Harvard University call the link between meat and dairy based diets and osteoporosis "INESCAPABLE". Tobacco, salt and caffeine contribute to bone loss as well.

Animal protein contributes to the acceleration of osteoporosis because keeping blood at a neutral Ph balance always takes priority over keeping calcium in the bones. Bones can hold out for years with insufficient calcium, but blood cannot. When blood becomes acidic with animal protein, the result can be fatal. So the body withdraws calcium phosphate from the bones and uses the alkaline mineral phosphate to keep the blood's Ph level balanced. The calcium is then excreted through our urine. Animal products are the only sources of acidic protein. Plant protein is not acidic. People who consume the least amount of animal protein, always have the lowest rates of osteoporosis and bone fractures (and cancers) because of their non-acidic protein diets.

The best sources of calcium are found in açaí, alfalfa sprouts, almonds, apricots, avocados, beans, brazil nuts, broccoli, cabbage, carob, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chlorella, coconut, cornmeal, dandelion greens, dulse, figs, filberts, grains (all), green vegetables (leafy), hazelnuts, hemp (milk/oil/powder/seeds), kelp, lemon, lentils, lettuce, lucuma powder, maca powder, mango, mesquite powder, millet, miso, nuts, oats, onions, oranges, parsley, prunes, raisins, seaweed, sesame seeds, soy, spirulina, sprouts (all), sunflower seeds, watercress, wheatgrass and yams.

The best sources of vitamin D/calciferol are found in alfalfa sprouts, avocados, basil, carrots, chlorella, fenugreek (powder/seeds), garlic, green vegetables (leafy), mushrooms (shiitake), papaya, parsley, seeds (all), spirulina, sunflower seeds, SUNLIGHT, sweet potato, watercress and wheatgrass.

The best sources of vitamin D2/ergocalciferol are found in alfalfa sprouts, chlorella, spirulina, SUNLIGHT, yeast.

The best sources of magnesium are found in açaí, alfalfa sprouts, apples, apricots, artichokes, avocados, bananas, beans, beets, broccoli, cacao/chocolate, cantaloupe, carrot, cauliflower, celery, chlorella, coconut, corn, dandelion greens, dates, dulse, fenugreek (powder/seeds), figs, garlic, grains (all), grapefruit, grapes, green vegetables (leafy), hemp (milk/oil/powder/seeds), lemon, lentils, mango, mesquite powder, mushrooms, nuts, oranges, paprika, parsley, peaches, pears, peppers, pineapple, plums, prunes, rice (brown/wild), seeds (all), sesame seeds, spirulina, sprouts (all), squash, strawberries, sunflower seeds, sweet potato, tomato, watercress, watermelon, wheat and wheatgrass (Genuine cacao/chocolate is naturally vegan. It's a bean.)

Dairy and Cancer

Statistics show that death rates due to breast cancer are considerably higher in areas with a high dairy consumption (British Journal of Cancer 24, 633-43). And a 2004 study showed that for every glass of milk a woman consumes each day her risk of dying from ovarian cancer goes up by 20 percent (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2004). Countries that have low milk consumption have much, much lower rates of these and other hormone-related cancers, including prostate cancer (American Journal of Epidemiology, 2007; 166: 1259-1279).

Children who consume high levels of dairy products may have a greater risk of developing colorectal cancer in adulthood, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (December 2007; 86: 1722-1729). Among nearly 5,000 individuals followed for an average of 65 years, those who grew up in families reporting the highest levels of dairy consumption—nearly two cups per day—had close to three times the risk of colorectal cancer compared with those from families reporting the lowest intake (about 1/2 cup per day or less), reports Dr. Jolieke C. van der Pols of the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia and colleagues. The level of milk consumption in the high-dairy group was similar to the estimated average daily intake of children in the United States, noted van der Pols and colleagues. Links between colorectal cancer risk and childhood exposure to dairy products had not been previously evaluated, the researchers said.

Using data from a study of weekly food consumption in families living in England or Scotland, researchers estimated the daily dairy intake ranged from less than half a cup at the lowest to nearly two cups at the highest. Nearly all (94 percent) of the dairy products came from drinking milk. An increased risk of colorectal cancer among those who consumed the highest amounts of dairy during childhood was still seen after the investigators adjusted the data for potentially influential factors such as meat, fruit, and vegetable consumption, and socioeconomic status.

[Lettherebelight]

Cows can be looked after with love and respect, and not be mistreated. Smaller farms, milking only by hand, why should we hurt our mother.

Raw milk has so many health benefits. If you live in the UK, you can order it from this site:
http://www.ahimsamilk.org/blog/page/2/

[Dawn]

Yes, Abundant Traveler, very good advice. I am also experiencing my body's food preferences and going against causes adverse conditions. I was intrigued several years ago by a couple of nuns living in our area. I met them through Toastmasters, and they told me of dousing to see if butter or margarine was a yes or no. Butter was definitely, yes and margarine negative. Actually nature tells us about margarine. Stick a pottle of margarine outside for anything to eat and it goes untouched. Its a complete non-food and if you ever saw or heard how it is produced you wouldn't touch the stuff!!

If you decide to listen to your body and ask it about food it can save you a lot of mental anguish about food. There are many hidden poisons the FDA allows manufacturers to put in food without labeling. Did you know, for instance, that bottled water usually contains formaldehyde and/or acetone? (And so does most fruit juice and wine, by the way). When you ask your body about what it would like to digest it always gives the perfect answer. You don't have to worry about what is hidden in the food because the body has already examined it.

With this method you might find your body asking for junk food once in a while. A homeopathic dose of 'unhealthy' food may be just what is needed in the given moment. I had a huge emotional release from drinking a chocolate malt one day, for example.

Sometimes something really healthy is not appealing to my body, while other times the same food is absolutely desired. Remember... YOU are not eating the food.... YOUR BODY IS. Honor it's conscious awareness and your relationship with your body will become magical.