Thanks to Gordon Watson for sending this our way. Gordon has been involved in providing legal backup (and probably much else besides) for “Home on the Range” cowshare in Chilliwack, B.C., just west of Vancouver. He often writes about the west-coast raw milk scene for the Bovine and other media. This review by Susan Schenck appeared on the Basil and Spice blog:
Hot new book on a traditional but newly-cool food!
“Raw Milk Revolution deals with our most basic health right: the right to choose the foods that we feel and know are healthiest for us.
I love a good, documented, research-based book that shows the truth, and the truth is often (usually) the opposite of what we have been brainwashed to believe by the media, government and corporations.
David Gumpert takes us on a journey of truth as an unbiased reporter. He shows both sides: the parents who lost their children (or their children lost use of their kidneys) allegedly due to contaminated raw milk, and we are also shown that raw milk was never conclusively shown to be the culprit. (However, it probably was in at least a few cases—in which case I would say don’t feed kids raw milk unless their immunity is very strong from a nearly 100% raw organic diet. Kids’ immune systems are not as strong as of adults.)
We are also shown the side of the raw milk advocates, and testimonials of people finally being able to drink milk without digestive issues. People’s immune systems also improve from the friendly probiotics, and the good bacteria found in raw dairy. In some cases, raw milk took away people’s heartburn, asthma and allergies.
This book is filled with shocking info, such as the fact that sushi is 30 times more likely to make a person sick than raw milk, and even deli meat is 10 times more likely to be a contaminated food. The statistics on raw dairy making people sick show that it is not a big issue—in fact pasteurized milk is about as likely to make someone sick! So why is the government only going after the raw dairies, and not the producers of bologna? We are led to the inevitable conclusion that it is corporate profits. Pasteurizing dairy extends the shelf life by many weeks, thus enabling them to make more money in a day and age in which food is transported and kept on grocery shelves so much.
As for the issue of raw milk being a viable option, the bottom line is sanitary conditions: Raw milk from factory farms in which cows are living in poor conditions is probably going to be much worse than where the cows are pasture fed. Another point made is that the milk doesn’t get infected from inside the cow—rather, something with bacteria touches the milk that has been taken out of the cow!
This book covers just about everything, including the history of why milk became pasteurized in the first place. In the 1800s some of the earliest factory farming took place as cows were fed leftover fermented grains from the production of vodka and whiskey. The cows became diseased, and lived in an unsanitary environment, so quite naturally milk became a breeding ground for tuberculosis and other bacteria. The book covers the debate between Pasteur (whose theory led to a war on germs) and Bechamp (who believed the immunity or internal environment was what we need to focus on for health). It covers the battle in California to keep raw dairy legal, the health benefits of raw milk, and the importance of getting it from a good source….”
