When agriculture changed into agro industry, we lost part of our cultural patrimony and our access to healthy food without even knowing it. So many things have changed since then, and many of us are completely cut from our roots and ignorant of some basics about how health works.
Pasteurized milk is a great example. Pasteur discovered the secret that lead to the creation of many vaccines because he noticed that people who milked cows by hand didn´t get sick like other people. From that simple observation of the natural vaccination occurring when dairymen came in contact with raw milk, the concept of vaccination came to be. But, raw milk not only worked as natural vaccination formula, it also provided the very useful healthy bacteria our digestive system needs for its processes, plus water, fat, lactose (milk sugar), proteins, and different vitamins and minerals.
Raw milk represented a very upsetting challenge to the dairy industry though. Raw milk spoils after a couple of days – this is why we have yogurt, cheese and other derivatives. That spoilage was not an issue in farming communities, but the industrial model of society with centralization and big cities implied huge economic losses for the industry. There was another issue, raw milk is not homogeneous; it has cream in it so you can have different densities leading to a live and always changing product. Of course, this is very bad for the industrial model where everything has to taste and look the same.
So what was the solution? Pasteurization and homogenization.
Pasteurization is the process of boiling the milk. This process kills all bacteria, increasing the shelf life of the product. But, pasteurization also disrupts the chemical structure of milk destroying the precursors we use to create lactase enzymes. These enzymes are the ones which allow us to digest food. So, in layman’s terms: pasteurized milk is indigestible milk. This is where lactose intolerance comes in: the important single element that allows us to digest milk is gone.
There is another problem with pasteurization: instead of ingesting the bacteria and our immunological system stepping into action in response, we get dead bodies of bacteria smashed and mixed with the milk. These dead bacteria are waste that our body needs to get rid of and it has no nutritional value for us.
Homogenization is the process that removes all the cream – sold as a separate product – milk becomes a watery white thing with no life or substance. Dairy marketing took the thinning of milk to the next level by pushing the “light” angle. This was a risky move, as it actually goes against all common sense. But, but with a few celebrities and doctors supporting it, you can evidently overcome common sense.
Having two feet in the corporate world, the dairy industry did not stop there to increase the profits for their stockholders. Now that the milk was stripped of all its substance, they could afford to not worry so much about the quality of the milk, the food the cows ate, and the health of the animals. So, at the expense of the cows’ and our own health, they put new systems in place to increase revenue.
They started by removing cows from the field and putting them into an industrial type of complex. This was cheaper and allowed more control. The cows now are fed anything but grass. Again, new research was conducted to see how much extra revenue they could give to the shareholders, and that translated into providing the cows with food that was definitely not natural for them. In the best cases, GMO corn and cotton, from there it goes downhill.
Of course, pasteurized milk brought lactose intolerant people into the spotlight … some of us can deal with eating trash better than others. A few generations of children raised on milk from GMO-fed cows increased allergic reactions in the populace big time. Now, we have huge amounts of people allergic to milk.
And that was not the last step. The injection of cows with rBGH was an outstanding method to increase profits. Cows injected with this hormone produce more milk – between 20% and 40% more . The drawback? The cows contract repeated infections that require treatment. The problem for us? rBGH is a kind of growth hormone … it increases weight, disrupts our endocrinology system, and reduces the age girls become women. And, we are getting yet more artificial antibiotics that migrate from the cow to the milk.
Now, when someone has a very bad product and is actually stealing from the public with cheap maneuvers, what can that person do to stay in the market and not being kicked out? The solution is to be the only game in town. This is the reason why raw milk market is cornered, and regulations are put in place with the intent of making it difficult for those who want to produce it and consume it. Once you try it, there is no going back.
Raw milk tastes great; it is not massively allergenic; and it´s weapon of mass nutrition. People who drink it are actually healthier and don´t need to spend so much in the medical/pharmaceutical industries – yes, they are industries by now. Of course, this is not good for their shareholders.
Note: I heard the phrase “weapon of mass nutrition” in a very enlightening conversation between Mike Adams and Mark MacAfee, and it is fantastic.
Here is the link: http://www.naturalnews.com/033328_Mark_McAfee_Organic_Pastures.html
