The proper role and scope of government

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Ibram

So then maybe (doubtfully, but this is a logical/theoretical argument) Lamp thinks that raw milk should only be available is a doctor thinks you need raw milk because it's the only way you can take calcium because youre allergic to everything else with calcium in it. Maybe he thinks the benefits of being raw are so far outweighed by the risks that it should be very-nearly banned outright, like heroin would be under laws that allow heroin-assisted treatment. I would just about call that the same as being banned.

Maybe he thinks any of those things... except he said none of them. He is still around, last I checked, we don't have to guess at what he maybe thinks. In contrast to your "maybe" scenarios, he did specifically say that he would outright ban it, not allow it with a doctor's prescription, or subject it to extremely heavy regulation. And again, the risks are known, and quantifiable. We can figure out exactly what percentage of customers do accidentally get sick over the course of time. Whether or not you think those numbers are relatively small or large, if the risks of raw milk outweigh the benefits, then certainly the risks of tobacco outweigh the benefits as well. If you are in favor of banning one, you must logically be in favor of banning the other. All I'm looking for is consistency in the argument.

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Clod and Griff, do you think raw milk is better than pateurized milk? If so, in what way(s)? Is it safer, tastier, more nutritious?

The primary difference between raw milk and pasteurized milk is that raw milk contains probiotic bacteria. A thriving probiotic culture in the digestive tract is crucial to digestion, as well as the correct functioning of the immune system. Generally speaking, a serving of raw milk is going to contain more than a trillion CFU (which stands for Colony Forming Unit, it's just a measurement of bacteria quantity.)

In comparison, the average over-the-counter probiotic pill contains a few hundred million CFU, a meaninglessly small number compared to what is already in your body, be it good or bad.

The average yogurt product on the market contains 5 billion CFU per serving, which is better, but not all that impressive.

The good probiotic supplements, stored in the refrigerated section, usually contain anywhere from 8 billion to 25 billion per pill. Better, but still nowhere near as good.

The strongest probiotic on the market today, available only by prescription, is called VSL#3 DS, and it contains 900 billion CFU per packet. It also costs $195 per month if your insurance doesn't cover it. And one glass of raw milk still contains at least twice as much.

What's more, the hundreds of species contained in the raw milk are naturally balanced, they have worked out their own mini-ecology, thriving in synergy with each other. The species in a commercially-available probiotic have been grown in a lab, and usually involve a blend of about 6 species that were grown independently and then mixed in the bottle. The probiotics in raw milk will all be working together to take over your digestive tract's ecology, while the ones in your pill may very well be working against each other to some degree.

For anyone with immune or digestive dysfunction, there is a very good chance that the individual's probiotic colonies are struggling or effectively nonexistent, either as a cause or an effect of the disease. The prescription probiotic I mentioned above was specifically approved by the FDA for the treatment of ulcerative colitis, but there have been anecdotal reports of individuals whose severe food allergies have gone away after they began regularly consuming raw milk, or whose autoimmune conditions improved dramatically, etc. Anyone who isn't in the absolute peak of health could benefit to some degree from the regular ingestion of powerful probiotics, since it only takes one course of antibiotics to kill enough of a person's colonies to allow an opportunistic infection to thrive.