The FDA actually spent your tax dollars to create THIS — a poster they’re asking you to share with your friends and family about the dangers of raw milk.
I learned about the poster first from Cathy Raymond at the Farm To Consumer Legal Defense Fund. In her email, she asked the same question that came to my mind, “Where’s the poster for the #1 Food Safety Risky Food – Leafy Greens? Or better yet, Ice Cream?”
You read right. The absolute riskiest food in America to eat is LEAFY GREENS! Yet no one, not even the FDA, is saying that eating leafy greens is “playing Russian Roulette with your health.” No one is pushing for the sale of leafy greens to be illegal. And no one is using your tax dollars to create anti- leafy green vegetable posters.
It’s a double standard.
And it has made quite a few people upset. I especially enjoyed some of the more choice comments from the Weston A. Price Facebook Fan Page. So, I’m sharing my favorites with you.
“Just ignore them and get as many people hooked on real health as possible. Peaceful disobedience, choose freedom.”
~Connor Tupper
Amen. So long as we act free, we ARE free, despite what any laws may say.
“Hospitals kill tens of thousands of people every year with drugs that are administered according to the manufacturer’s AND FDA recommendations. Hospitals should have to carry this label. More people were killed by shark attack last year than by raw milk. We should not be allowed to swim in the ocean. Automobiles are by far and away the most dangerous invention in the history of the world. Cars should be illegal.”
~Jeremiah Griswold
Last I heard, the number killed by medicine was actually in the hundreds of thousands. It’s called the “iatrogenic death rate;” iatrogenesis being the inadvertent adverse affects caused by medical treatments (most commonly adverse drug reactions).
“Well I’ve been drinking raw milk for 40 years, go to work come home milk the goats, weed the garden, process my own food, clean the barn. I’m 60, and they think I’d be healthier if I switched to pastuerized from the store? The FDA has made some VERY unhealthy decisions. I don’t want their drugs or food.”
~Zion Daughter
And finally, check out this response posted by Samantha Anders:
What are your thoughts on the FDA’s latest anti-raw milk propaganda?
 |
this is to much all of it is
Where’s the Consume Peanut Butter At Your Own Risk leaflets?
GMO’s, sugar, processed and fast foods are the REAL health risks. Where are THOSE posters??
Unbelievable.
You know, it sounds to me like they are afraid of the real food movement. Otherwise they would not be trying to terrorize us.
I’ll create one that says, “Following the FDA’s and USDA’s guidelines poses HEALTH RISKs.”
I dislike the FDA.
RAW MILK…YUMMY!!!!
The FDA can suck it.
@Terri — I’m feeling ornery, too. Going to grab a glass of raw milk right now…
We need a poster with all the ACTUAL data-as in soy products have been the largest food recall in FDA history- and all the other jems of flawed science the fda is relying on!! *deep breaths, deeep breaths*
Doctor bills: $10,000
Medications: $3,000
Advice from the FDA: Worthless
Headed to the store and raw milk is on my list. Its safer than drinking a soda pop…..
“where’s the anit-leafy greens poster” LOVE that! lol
i agree with all of you, especially Terra!
How about a poster that shows a nice, tall glass of pasteurized milk with little bacteria corpses floating in it – YUM! :- (/
How about an anti side effects from perscription drugs poster????
Jerks!
And since this is a government agency, WE PAID FOR IT. ARGH!!
Wow, I can hardly read this stuff without getting depressed. What is our world coming to that we must turn on every single thing that is good for us. I’m very thankful that there are sites like yours and others doing their best to share the truth about real food!
You should really look into this! They are sending people to jail for selling the stuff, including fresh eggs. Why? Because the big biz guys might lose a buck!!! Or God forbid they lose two cents in tax. They should not be taxing food anyway!!! our government is getting way too big, and way too powerful!!!
just means they’re threatened
Paid for by tax payers; enforced by American Dairy Associations.
The weathly ranchers who produce crap food are getting scared.
This should be changed to “The FDA may pose a serious risk to your health.” I can’t believe how far they will go to spread this anti-real milk propaganda. Goodness, if raw milk was such a danger, how did our ancestors ever survive?
I am sure this is part of a very helpful series. . .anti-clean water, anti-home cooked food, anti-bedtime stories; you know, all those things as unwholesome and terrifying as raw milk from which we need an expensive bureaucracy to protect us!
The government, and especially the FDA do not surprise me anymore…I knew a 78 year old woman who consumed raw milk daily, and it did not cause her ANY problems.
Rubish! I can’t believe they are doing this!
If you check the FDA’s site, they are warning against drinking UNPASTEURIZED milk, which we have long been aware poses some amount of risk. The poster is just very unclear.
I think the poster is VERY clear. Raw milk drinkers know who they are, and they don’t like being targeted by the FDA when the foods they eat should be THEIR choice. Why does the FDA want to ban the sale of unpasteurized milk, but is making no such claim for raw spinach? You’re right in that every food poses some amount of risk. I, however, believe that it is far riskier to drink pasteurized milk from cows raised in confinement dairies and fed a diet of corn, soy, and chicken manure (among other things) than it is to drink raw milk from grass-fed cows from a farmer I know and trust. Know your farmer! Know your food!
I would say it shows that “they” are aware of a growing trend and want to stamp it out ASAP. They’re not going to affect raw milk drinkers, I would think. Just the people who already think that way (or haven’t yet thought otherwise).
How stupid does the government think we are? This really upsets me! They want to take away the good food and poison us and call it healthy. Bah Humbug on the government!
I definitely think that the FDA is concerned about the growing trend towards drinking raw milk. Yay for that trend growing! I don’t mind buying my milk with the warning label on it, after all I’m making an informed decision, but I would be PISSED if I could no longer pick up my raw cow or raw goat milk at my local store.
“If you think you might have become ill from drinking raw milk—or eating yogurt, cheese, or a product made from it—see your health care provider immediately”.
Clearly this is all about gathering information. They are trying to tie illness with raw milk and it’s associated products so they can ban it. They are having to fish for evedence because there’s so little…
I am absolutely impressed with your post and the post by Samantha Anders is splendid!
Thank you for both! Some great comments over at WAPF.
Breaks my heart to think of all the families that have no idea how wrong this is & will believe it! We do need some posters of our own to educate them!!!
Oy. Seriously people. Raw milk more dangerous than known carcinogens still on the shelves?
This is an absurd joke. It is truly getting out of hand. I’ve had enough.
But, guess what? My motivation just went through the roof like never before. That is the ONLY positive that is coming out of this for now!!
Great post, the FDA is such a joke! Once again this only proves they are out to support who they make money off of and who gives them funding for false propaganda. What about cigarettes, how many thousands of people they have killed over the years! If they are SO concerned about people getting adverse reactions to food/products then when are they going to make cigarettes illegal??? From what I see people are waking up & opening their eyes to the crap out there that is labeled as “food” and I think this clearly says they are aware of that as well. They can’t make money unless they make products available that keep people sick!
Hmmmm…what about ALL the pharmaceutical drugs THEY approve that cause DEATH!
How can we get copies of Samantha Anders REDO of their slanderous ad? These need to be printed and distributed by all in the community!
So Sad. The FDA has so little credibility with the general public these days. I think most will first laugh at the poster and then be dumbfounded by the fact that we have actually paid for this.
So true, it is rediculous how much money and resources are being squandered on demonizing raw milk — what about deli meats which are ten times more likely to cause illness. Or what about this article I just read about how sanitary wipes are contaminated!
“Medical experts at The Children’s Hospital in Aurora said they became alarmed last fall when a few youngsters developed bloodstream infections caused by the rare bacteria Bacillus cereus. “
I just can’t wrap my head around this. If they think raw milk is unsafe, they shouldn’t drink it. But creating propaganda like this just shows that it’s not really about safety; it’s about control. Big food companies don’t make any money when you buy raw milk from your own community, so they need to stomp it out.
Stay out of my milk, FDA!
If the FDA says it’s good for me, I get very skeptical, If they say it is bad for me, I start to laugh. They have ZERO credibility as far as I am concerned. It would be nice if such a huge government agency meant something other than a load of crap. But it doesn’t.
The FDA certainly knows how to ‘milk’ our taxdollars. They can screw themselves. I am sticking to raw milk. I will not be guilty of collaboration with Big Dairy.
The best way to maintain your freedom of choice is to choose freely, and bedamned their laws. Come and get me. Yea, right. Plant your own, grow your own, buy from your local farmers, and the hell with the FDA/USDA. Hey, why don’t we all take a tax-exemption for the money they used to produce such trash?
“Raw Milk May Pose Health Risk” Okay, I guess I can live with that, since they actually say “may” and don’t say “will” or use some other stronger language. ALL foods “may” pose a risk. But then they reference the food pyramid. Any credibility they had – and with me, that would be none, but for the sake of argument let’s just say they had a little credibility – well, any credibility they has is gone after that reference!
We just need to keep educating people. Eventually, there will be too many of us for the FDA, USDA, and CDC to ignore. And we’ll all be healthy, to boot.
And in the mean time, I’m gonna keep drinking my milk the way I believe God intended me to drink it. You know – from a cow. That eats grass. And that’s it. :o)
Did you ever think that maybe the reason that milk is not on the Top 10 list is because of pasteurization?
Perhaps we should start pasteurizing green veggies as well, or just use smart growing and processing methods to avoid cross contamination.
Would you drink water straight from a mountain stream without boiling it first to kill harmful bacteria? If you wouldn’t, you’re posing an unnecessary risk to your health. Pasteurization is simply heating milk to a temperature that will kill bacteria that could make you – or worse – your children, very sick. Certain bacteria in raw milk can also cause miscarriages in pregnant women (Listeria Monocytogenes). The milk is just as wholesome after pasteurization, and it spoils less quickly because there aren’t as many lactic acid bacteria present. Homogenization is simply blending it up so you don’t have to shake it. It removes no nutrients from the milk.
Pasteurized and homogenized milk don’t have to come from cattle that have been given hormones, antibiotics, or food other than grass and hay. They aren’t related. Milk can be organic without being “raw”.
And if you are still not convinced, take the advise of one of my favorite food safety professors and “DON’T EAT POOP!” Farms are dirty, no matter what you do to keep them clean. Wash your fruits and vegetables, cook your animal products (YES! EVEN MILK).
I understand why you believe the way you do. I used to believe the same way. I had a lengthy reply but decided to just ask you to do more research. The FDA lies to us and state governments take away our basic right to decide what to eat. Our government allows us to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, and ingest pharmaceuticals but tells us that raw milk is dangerous and outlaws the sale of it in some states. Something is very wrong here.
Here is a helpful link on milk:
http://www.newtrendspublishing.com/PDFS/15MilkFinal.pdf
/agree Sarah
There’s a reason we started boiling milk, and it wasn’t just that we like watching bubbles.
Also, the hormones and antibiotics used may be unpleasant (ok, horrible?) for the cow, but the hormones are digested by us (into amino acids like any other protein) thereby making them ineffectual, and the antibiotics are regulated so consumption is low.
I drink a lot of evaporated milk, as I don’t mind the taste and it saves trips to the store. (enables laziness AND saves CO2!)
As organic raw milk sales rage vertically straight up every year, CA conventional pasteurized fluid milk consumption dropping at more than 2% per year and…..CA lost 105 conventional dairies in 2012 alone….2 or more dairies being closed every week. Pasteurized milk is being sold below cost….it is doomed!!!! All by itself. The truth is the truth. Dollar voting always points to the true north. Pasteurization intolerance is what it is!!!