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Milk, Nature's Most Perfect Food???

Or so the TV ads say. A great source of calcium, or say the TV ads say. Is milk really all the good things we have been told over the last 40 years or more? And even if it was then, is the milk sold in the stores the product it used to be?

The answer is no to both of those questions. Cow's milk is not the more perfect food and no, the milk you get in the stores today is nothing like we could get years ago. Today, the cow's milk you get in the store to make your kids healthy is a genetically modified product and a possible source of illness.

Oh, no here he goes again attacking a staple food product. How can I be making these claims? Well, what I am about to tell you are not claims. I am going to explain how dangerous the milk you are feeding your children really is.

Before I go into the studies, let me ask you a question. What on earth would make any of us think that drinking the milk of another species is a healthy thing to do? Mother cows produce milk to feed baby cows. Baby cows, called calves on the farm, drink this very special product and gain lots of weight very quickly. And baby cows grow large until they can eat regular cow food. And when they can eat normal cow food they stop drinking milk. Adult cows do not drink cow's milk. In fact no other species drink the milk of its own species after they wean. And no other species drink the milk of another species especially as an adult. Except humans.

Ok, I know your mother feed you milk and you still drink it today and it hasn't killed you yet. Well the milk you are buying in the store is not what you think it is. According to the New York Times in an article entitled Fighting on a Battlefield the Size of a Milk Label , dated March 9, 2008, more than 1/3 of the cow herds in the US produce milk contaminated with rBGH or rBST. (1)

What do those letters represent? It is an artificial hormone sold by Monsanto under the name of Posilac given to cows to stimulate milk production. Cows that are given this hormone produce an extra gallon of milk a day. BGH means Bovine Growth Hormone. BGH in a cow's blood stimulates another hormone referred to as Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1. (2) IGF-1 is directly responsible for increasing milk production in cows. Sometimes it is referred to as Bovine Somatotropin (rBST). Oh and the '"r" means synthetic. It is a genetically modified synthetic hormone produced in Monsanto's laboratories.

Increasing levels of this hormone boosts milk production, causing a number of problems with the milk, among them, raising levels of pus, antibiotics residues and a cancer-accelerating hormone called IGF-1. (2)

Michael Hansen, Ph.D., a senior scientist with Consumers Union, said this about rBGH:
 
“Consumers may have a number of reasons why they want to know whether milk comes from cows that were treated with rbGH. Some consumers may be concerned with the various animal health problems (increases in mastitis [visibly abnormal milk], various reproductive problems, laminitis, injection site reaction, etc.) caused by the drug and may not want the cow to suffer needlessly. Indeed, Canada and the European Union turned down rbGH for approval on the grounds that it was not safe for animals.

Others may be concerned about the unanswered human health questions, which primarily revolve around potential for increased milk levels of antibiotic residues and of insulin like growth factor 1, which has been linked to numerous cancers.

Yet others may want to support small, family farm operations. According to 2007 US Department of Agriculture figures, some 9.1% of small farms—those with less than 100 cows—use POSILAC, while some 42.7% of the large farms—those with more than 500 cows—use it. Thus, rbGH is used more than 4.5 times more frequently by large farmers than small farmers.”(3)

 

Samuel Epstein, MD, a scientist at the University of Illinois School of Public Health who is one of the top expert's on cancer prevention, authored one of the best books on the topic, Got (Genetically Engineered) Milk?

"This milk is qualitatively and quantitatively different from natural milk," states Dr. Epstein. "In addition to the issue of increased IGF-1 levels, these differences include:
 
bulletContamination of milk by the GM hormone rBGH
bulletContamination by pus and antibiotics resulting from the high incidence of mastitis in rBGH injected cows
bulletContamination with illegal antibiotics and drugs used to treat mastitis and other rBGH-induced disease
bulletIncreased concentration of the thyroid hormone enzyme thyroxin-5'-monodeiodinase
bulletIncreased concentration of long chain and decreased concentration of short chain fatty acids
bulletA reduction in levels of the milk protein casein"

So should you be concerned about any of those things? Yes, you should be real concerned about all of them.

Pus

The Posilac label explicitly states: "Cows injected with POSILAC are at an increased risk for clinical mastitis (visibly abnormal milk). The number of cows affected with clinical mastitis and the number of cases per cow may increase.... In some herds, use of POSILAC has been associated with increases in somatic cell counts [pus & bacteria]."

Antibiotics in Milk

Cows with mastitis are treated with antibiotics. Milk cows given antibiotics increase the antibiotics residue which is present in milk fed to consumers. Supporters of rBGH insist that milk is one of the most heavily regulated foods with regards to antibiotics. The claim is antibiotic residues in the milk couldn’t possibly reach the consumer because each tanker of milk is tested. If antibiotic residue is found the milk would have to be thrown out. Every time a milk truck makes a pickup, the milk is tested. A farmer guilty of contaminated milk would be charged for an entire tanker, therefore it would not be economical for a farmer to sell such milk. (2)

Only 4 out of 82 commercially used antibiotics are commonly tested for. So few of the antibiotics are tested for, other antibiotics that are not legal for use with cows end up in the milk supply. The Wall Street Journal (Dec. 1989) did a study of the antibiotic residues in milk on the market and found that 20% of the milk had illegal antibiotics present. This number was confirmed in a May 1992 Consumers Reports study while the Center for Science in the Public Interest found 38% of the milk to be adulterated with illegal antibiotics.(2) Current tests are designed only to detect antibiotics in the Penicillin family.

The economic incentives, rather than preventing antibiotics from reaching the consumer, seem to encourage farmers to use antibiotics which they know won’t be tested for.

Cancer

According to Monsanto studies rBGH use raises IGF-1 levels significantly (about five times as much). IGF-1 is a naturally-occurring hormone found in the milk of both cows and humans. It affects cell growth and is responsible for the quick growth of infants in both species. This is why it is biologically present in mother's milk, it is meant to be consumed by infants. While the IGF-1 hormone already exists in humans, it is usually bound to a protein and has less of an effect than unbound IGF-1 in cow's milk.

When cow's milk is consumed by human non-infants, it behaves as a cancer-accelerator. IGF-1 is not destroyed in the pasteurization process or during human digestion. It is biologically active in humans, and is associated with breast, prostate, and colon cancers.

IGF-1 promotes cell division. As cells divide, at some point they are instructed (by their genes, in combination with hormone signals) to stop dividing or they are instructed to die so that the creation of new cells is matched by the death of cells and no net growth occurs; this is called "programmed cell death." If "programmed cell death" is prevented, then cells don't die at the right time, causing out-of-control growth of cells, which is another way of saying cancer. Cancer is uncontrolled cell division. (2)

What does rBGH do to the cows?

You read above that the cows tend to get mastitis. It also shortens the life of the milk cow. Remember the cows are kept in a persistent state of being pregnant in order to give milk. Injecting the cows with rBGH will shorten the cow's life expectancy to about 2 .5 years. Normally a cow can live about 25 years.

Should you drink milk?

If you insist on drinking milk, it is pretty obvious you should avoid ALL milk that comes from cows injected with Posilac or whatever they want to call it. At this time, milk that does not contain rBGH says so on the package. Monsanto has successfully got the FDA to say there is no difference between rBGH milk and normal milk. And the FDA does not require milk contaminated with rBGH does not have to be labeled as such. Consumer pressure is resulting in companies, even Walmart, to remove rBGH milk from its shelves. Read the labels.

Canada and Europe have banned importation or us of rBGH in all food products. Sheep and goat’s milk cheeses are safe, since rBGH is used only with dairy cows. Imported European cheeses made from milk are also safe since rBGH is banned in Europe.

I join many others and feel humans can not digest milk products. Worse, milk coats other foods you eat if you drink it during your meals inhibiting digestion of the entire meal. Many people are saying if you are going to drink milk find raw, non-pasteurized milk. At least that milk contains helpful bacteria to aid you in the digestion of it. Pasteurized milk has all the bacteria killed in it.

Oh, by the way, Monsanto is doing all it can to force the removal of non-rBGH labels from milk. Monsanto and its surrogates are trying to force the FDA to ban non-rBGH labels on milk and milk products.

The American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology, or Afact, calls itself a “grass-roots organization” that came together to defend their right to use the artificial growth hormone recombinant bovine somatotropin, also known as rBST or rBGH, in their milk production. (3) Afact has a direct connection to Monsanto and a consultant out of Colorado.

Monsanto is an evil company. That company does not care at all about the healthiness of their products. Their only concern are profits, to hell with the consumers. Monsanto is a leader in genetically modified plants and animals. There is no good sense reason to be introducing such products and creatures into our environment. It is a dangerous experiment that no one knows what the long (or short) term results will be. (Read the pages found here on GMO food products.) Boycott all products that Monsanto has anything to do with.

Footnotes:

bullet(1)  THE FEED; Fighting on a Battlefield The Size of a Milk Label - by Andrew Martin, New York Times, March 9, 2008
bullet(2) Bovine Growth Hormone: Milk does nobody good... by Mike Ewall
bullet(3) A Fake Group Fights for Monsanto's Right to Deceive You - Mercola.com
bullet(4) Research on rBGH and IGF-1 Points to More Dairy Risks - Twin Cities Natural Food Co-ops

 

Links:

bullet “Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone, rBGH or rBST vs. Organic Dairy,” Organic Consumers Association, www.organicconsumers.org/rbghlink.html
bulletThe rBGH Scandals,” Organic Consumers Association, www.organicconsumers.org/text4.html
bulletrBGH,” Center for Food Safety, www.centerforfoodsafety.org/rbgh2.cfm
bulletBovine Somatotropin (BST),” IFST: Current Hot Topics, January 2004 www.ifst.org/hottop8b.htm
 

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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This web page or any products found here are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you find information here that is of interest to you, take it to your medical doctor for conversation and evaluation. Do not stop taking any prescription drugs without consulting with your medical doctor.

© 2007 Donabee.com - All Rights Reserved  Last updated on Monday, November 19, 2007