meat is murder

Raw Milk sales are soaring…

IT might sound udderly unbelievable, but the latest food fad to hit Wales is… RAW milk. Straight-from-the-cow, unpasteurised milk is regularly drunk by more than 100,000 Californians and is equally popular in New York.

Now the craze is hitting our shores with farm shops in Wales are reporting a sharp increases in sales. Advocates of raw milk, which is sold in green- topped bottles, claim that it is high in immune-boosting nutrients and disease-fighting antibodies. Steve Oultram, who owns Newbridge Farm Shop in Ewloe, said that his family had been selling raw milk for more than 50 years, but had noticed that it had become more popular recently. He said: “There’s no doubt that the demand for raw milk is increasing all the time as more people are made aware of it. We have people coming here from considerable distances, not just from Wales, but from as far as Aberdeen and Brighton. We’ve even started sending it out through mail order because of the demand.” And Mr Oultram said some of his customers had used the milk to help them combat illnesses. “One person who used to come to us had quite an advanced cancer. She said that the milk was helping so much that she wasn’t having to take as much medicine,” he said. “And another guy has been buying it for his son who has bad eczema, and he’s said that it’s made a tremendous difference.” But it’s not just raw milk that is becoming ever more popular – raw cheeses are on the up too. Jill Pateman, who owns Merlin Cheeses in Ceredigion, said: “20 years ago it just wasn’t accepted. But now society is more affluent and as people have more of a choice, they are opting for raw dairy more often.” But raw dairy is not without its critics. There have been reports it could be banned in Wales and England – as it has been in Scotland for more than 20 years. Legislation introduced in January this year means that Welsh retailers of raw milk must now have a licence, as well as carry a warning on the bottle that the milk is not pasteurised. They are also forced by the Food Standards Agency to have a sample of the milk tested every three months to check that it contains no harmful bacteria.

Wales’ Food Standards Agency warns: “This milk has not been heat treated and may therefore contain organisms harmful to health. The Food Standards Agency strongly advises that it should not be consumed by children, pregnant women, older people or those who are unwell or have a chronic illness.”

See the ‘White Lies‘ campaign for an explanation of the health detriment caused by drinking dairy.

White Lies is the first review of its kind.

The evidence is overwhelming – cow’s milk and dairy products are neither natural nor healthy, in fact they are harmful to health and have been linked to a wide range of illnesses and diseases. Many of the key findings were discussed at the public talk on May 24 2006. Hot topics that the campaign and report cover include:
 
Heart disease – What it is in milk and dairy products that can cause heart disease and how following a plant-based diet can reduce cholesterol and even reverse heart disease.

Diabetes – Research shows that drinking cow’s milk at an early age is strongly linked to an increased risk of type 1 diabetes in genetically susceptible people. Several different theories have been suggested that attempt to unravel the actual mechanism by which cow’s milk causes diabetes; they all share a common theme.

Cancer – Nutrition plays a major role in cancer; a poor diet is the second largest preventable risk factor for cancer (coming close behind smoking) and an increasing body of evidence now links the consumption of cow’s milk to certain cancers. What it is about modern dairy farming practices that concerns scientists studying certain cancers including cancers of the breast, ovaries, colon and prostate? And which types of food can protect against these, and other, diseases?

Obesity In 2004 the UK Foods Standards Agency reported that 25 per cent of men and 20 per cent of women were classified as obese. The British Medical Association warns that childhood obesity levels have soared in the UK. Part of the problem is the increasing lack of physical activity but diet plays a major role in the obesity epidemic. The World Health Organisation blames the rise in obesity on a shift away from diets high in complex carbohydrates towards diets high in saturated fats and sugars. How do dairy foods contribute to the rising levels of obesity and what is the difference between ‘good’ fats and ‘bad’ fats?

Osteoporosis and the calcium myth Osteoporosis is a growing problem in the UK; one in two women and one in five men will suffer a fracture after the age of 50! The science shows that shows that dairy is part of the problem rather than the solution, White Lies reveals why it is not the best source of calcium and describes how best to promote bone health in the young and old.

Pinta pus Milk containing up to 400 million pus cells per litre may be legally sold for human consumption! That means that one teaspoon of milk could contain 2 million pus cells! Find out why.