Raw milk

There has been a lot of hoopla among some circles about raw milk. Advocates of raw milk claim that pasteurization destroys valuable nutrients and enzymes, making pasteurized milk a less healthy food. The CDC thinks raw milk is dangerous. I did a cursory search on the debate and was not able to find much that was not biased or without agenda.

Personally, I wouldn't drink raw milk. I wouldn't mind tasting it out of curiosity, but I wouldn't make it lifestyle habit. One reason is because I believe that many of the things we're doing in our modern times must be right if we are enjoying extended life spans and more leisure time. Food safety and medical science have come a long way since a mere one hundred years ago and new advances will continue to be made one hundred years from now. I'm not saying that some of the things we've embraced have not had ill-effects on us, but I am saying that not all modern things are bad.

There seems to be a trend towards the cave man way of life. There's even a fad diet call the Cave Man's diet where you only try to eat food a cave man would have been able to have, or something like that. Raw foodies go even farther and try not to eat anything that had heat applied to it, claiming that the cooking process destroys nutrients in food. Then there's the supposed benefits of barefoot running over running in shoes, and don't forget the movement against vaccines. Did the cave man really have a better and healthier life than the modern man? How much of our modern luxuries are we willing to give up in the name of healthy living and sustainability?

Anyways, I happen to be okay with the pasteurized milk I get from the supermarket. Pasteurized milk has been around for a couple hundred years at least and has yet to cause a worldwide epidemic of disease and malnutrition. I drink it cause it tastes good in my coffee and my cakes. I also happen to believe that pasteurized milk is safer to drink. However, if my neighbor wants to drink raw milk, I honestly don't see why I should stop him/her. I think the government has more pressing concerns than to outlaw raw milk for the few that are willing to drink it. Let's say that drinking raw milk is as risky as the CDC says it is. If so, what does it matter to me if someone wants to indulge in risky behavior that will only harm themselves and not me? If you can climb a tree at your own risk, why can't you also drink raw milk at your own risk? I support my neighbor's right to drink raw milk should he/she desire to.

Just my two cents on the matter.