Living Maxwell

Better Choices

Organic Milk – The Most Important Product a Family Can Buy

For people who are new to organic or have very limited financial means to buy organic, the one thing that I always say is the following:

The absolute number one priority in your household should be organic milk for your kids.

Even if a family thinks that organic food is out of their budget, organic milk cannot be compromised under any condition.

Organic milk is about the health of the kids, and that comes before everything else.

THE SERIOUS HEALTH RISKS OF HORMONAL MILK

Approximately 20% of the milk in the U.S. is hormonal milk. But what exactly is hormonal milk?

Hormonal milk is milk that comes from cows who have received a genetically-engineered hormone called Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH).

Animals receive this growth hormone for one simple reason: it will increase milk production for the farmer.

And while some very biased studies say there is no health risk of hormonal milk to consumers or the cows, I don’t buy it for one second.

Neither does Dr. Samuel Epstein, Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition and an international leading authority on the causes and prevention of cancer.

Dr. Samuel Epstein says these studies were not only paid for by Monsanto and others but their claims are “blatantly false.”

Author of several books, including What’s In Your Milk?: An Exposé of Industry and Government Cover-Up on the Dangers of Genetically Engineered (rBGH) Milk, Dr. Samuel Epstein warns that:

– rBGH makes cows sick. Monsanto has been forced to admit to about 20 toxic effects, including mastitis, when rBGH had been administered to cows to make them produce more milk.

– rBGH milk is contaminated by pus, due to mastitis (an infection of the udder commonly induced by the hormone), and also by antibiotics used to treat the mastitis.

– rBGH milk is chemically and nutritionally different than natural milk.

– Milk from cows injected with rBGH is contaminated by the hormone, traces of which are absorbed through the gut into the blood of people who consume this milk or products made from it.

-rBGH milk is super-charged with high levels of the natural growth factor (IGF-1), which is readily absorbed through the gut.

Excess levels of IGF-1 have been incriminated in well-documented scientific publications as causes of breast, colon and prostate cancers. Additionally, IGF-1 blocks natural defense mechanisms against early submicroscopic cancers.

NON-U.S. GOVERNMENTS SEE RISKS IN HORMONAL MILK

Cancer Prevention Coalition warnings of these risks in 1990 were endorsed by the National Family Farm Coalition, representing 30 organizations, and also by the Campaign Against rBGH, representing 10 organizations.

A 2007 Cancer Prevention Coalition petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), “Seeking Withdrawal of the New Animal Drug application for rBST,” was endorsed by the Organic Consumers Association, Farm Defenders, and the Institute for Responsible Technology.

Nevertheless, the FDA has remained indifferent to these risks, in spite of longstanding Congressional concerns.

Unlike the U.S., other countries have not taken such a passive and indifferent stance toward hormonal milk.

The European Union, New Zealand, Japan, and Canada all have banned the use and imports of hormonal milk and dairy products in order to protect their citizens from IGF-1 hazards.

WHAT TO DO? BUY ORGANIC

As we have seen with recent stories about arsenic in apple juice and illegal fungicides in orange juice, consumers must take serious responsibility for the health of their families. And this means buying organic.

It is especially the case with milk because kids are consuming so much of it on a daily basis and it is a vital source of nutrition.

Furthermore, the bodies of children are still developing and are very susceptible to anything that is impure, synthetic or artificial.

Three action items here:

1) As I mentioned, make sure you are buying organic milk for your family.

Organic milk does not contain any synthetic growth hormones, and all feed that an animal receives is pesticide-free and organic.

2) Contact the school that your child attends and make sure they are not serving hormonal milk.

If it were me, I would start an aggressive campaign with other parents to get organic milk in the school.

3) Forward this post to anyone you know who may be buying conventional or hormonal milk for their families. We need to make sure that as many people as possible are aware as to what is really going on with our food supply.