Raw milk debate: Should it be legal?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The beverage which is synonymous with breakfast is at the center of a passionate debate: should Indiana allow milk to be sold raw and unpasteurized.

“Shouldn’t other people have the right to drink raw milk if they want?” asked dairy farmer Alan Yegerlehner. “Is it fair that we’re allowed to drink this nutritious milk for ourselves, but not share it with anyone?”

In Indiana, drinking unpasteurized milk is only legal if you own the animal from which the milk came. Otherwise, the sale of raw milk is against the law.

At the end of the Spring 2012 legislative session, state senators tasked Indiana’s Board of Animal Health with coming up with a plan to manage the sale of raw, unpasteurized milk in case it were to be legalized. Part of the process is for the board to accept public comments from Indiana residents on the issue. Submit your comments here.

Indiana is one of only 20 states that has outlawed the sale of unpasteurized milk. Thirty other states have myriad of laws governing the approval and sale of raw milk. The issue has public health officials squirming.

“There are no additional benefits to drinking raw milk that you're not going to get out of the pasteurized product,” says Public Health Veterinarian for the Indiana State Department of Health, Jennifer House. “Well, over 100 years ago, over 25 percent of all outbreaks were actually caused by milk and the pathogens in milk. So, states began to start requiring pasteurization for the sale of milk and that actually cleared up a lot of outbreaks that were occurring at that time."

Pasteurization is the process of heating milk, usually below the boiling point, until it destroys pathogens. In the United States, milk pasteurization became widespread in the 1920s and was considered one of the major breakthroughs in public health.

There are multiple pathogens that could easily end up in milk. Some of the most common are Campylobacter, Salmonella and E. coli. When a human ingests one of those bacteria, it causes gastroenteritis which can lead to bloody diarrhea, extreme abdominal cramping, miscarriage in pregnant women and even death. Those pathogens are killed in the pasteurization process.

“Pasteurization is one of the greatest public health tools. To compromise or reduce its use through this legislation is not just bad politics – it’s a huge, inhumane step backwards, and one that will cause sickness and death,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation.

The argument for legalizing the sale of raw milk in Indiana is a holistic one. While pasteurization kills the harmful bacteria, supporters say it kills the helpful bacteria, too.

One pro-biotic found only in unpasteurized, raw milk from free-range cows, Lactococcus lactis, became Wisconsin's state microbe after legislators hailed its unique features which enable the development of cheddar, Colby and Monterey Jack cheese. In fact, when making these cheeses from pasteurized milk, the live bacterium must be added back into the mix to curdle the milk and produce the whey.

A recent Swiss study published in April 2012 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology compared Northern Indiana Amish farm children with children in Switzerland. The team found that the Amish have a superior immune response to allergens and asthma than Swiss farm children. The researchers attributed it to raw milk.

“I’ve drank raw milk my whole life,” says Yegerlehner. “My whole family has, too. Not only have we not gotten sick from it, we’ve also been healthier than most people. So, shouldn’t others have the right to drink it if they want?”

For more information, check out the following links:

Pro-Pasteurization Websites:
Food and Drug Administration
Centers for Disease Control
Milk of Nonhuman Origin and Infectious Diseases in Humans, 2006

Pro-Raw Milk Websites:
Weston A. Price Foundation
RawMilk.org
Links to various studies on the health benefits of Raw Milk