Think twice if you are into raw dairy, it really needs to be pasturized. As confirmation of this, leukemia is higher in dairy producing regions where people drink the unpasturized milk from their own cows.

[www.all-creatures.org]

I hate to tell you this, but the bovine leukemia virus is found in more than three of five dairy cows in the United States! This involves about 80% of dairy herds. Unfortunately, when the milk is pooled, a very large percentage of all milk produced is contaminated (90 to 95 per cent). Of course the virus is killed in pasteurisation--if the pasteurisation was done correctly. What if the milk is raw? In a study of randomly collected raw milk samples the bovine leukemia virus was recovered from two-thirds. I sincerely hope that the raw milk dairy herds are carefully monitored when compared to the regular herds. (Science 1981; 213:1014).

This is a world-wide problem. One lengthy study from Germany deplored the problem and admitted the impossibility of keeping the virus from infected cows' milk from the rest of the milk. Several European countries, including Germany and Switzerland, have attempted to "cull" the infected cows from their herds. Certainly the United States must be the leader in the fight against leukemic dairy cows, right? Wrong! We are the worst in the world with the former exception of Venezuela according to Virgil Hulse MD, a milk specialist who also has a B.S. in Dairy Manufacturing as well as a Master's degree in Public Health.

As mentioned, the leukemia virus is rendered inactive by pasteurisation. Of course. However, there can be Chernobyl like accidents. One of these occurred in the Chicago area in April, 1985. At a modern, large, milk processing plant an accidental "cross connection" between raw and pasteurised milk occurred. A violent salmonella outbreak followed, killing 4 and making an estimated 150,000 ill. Now the question I would pose to the dairy industry people is this: "How can you assure the people who drank this milk that they were not exposed to the ingestion of raw, unkilled, bully active bovine leukemia viruses?" Further, it would be fascinating to know if a "cluster" of leukemia cases blossoms in that area in 1 to 3 decades. There are reports of "leukemia clusters" elsewhere, one of them mentioned in the June 10, 1990 San Francisco Chronicle involving No. California.

What happens to other species of mammals when they are exposed to the bovine leukemia virus? It's a fair question and the answer is not reassuring. Virtually all animals exposed to the virus develop leukemia. This includes sheep, goats, and even primates such as rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees. The route of transmission includes ingestion (both intravenous and intramuscular) and cells present in milk. There are obviously no instances of transfer attempts to human beings, but we know that the virus can infect human cells in vitro. There is evidence of human antibody formation to the bovine leukemia virus; this is disturbing. How did the bovine leukemia virus particles gain access to humans and become antigens? Was it as small, denatured particles?

If the bovine leukemia viruses causes human leukemia, we could expect the dairy states with known leukemic herds to have a higher incidence of human leukemia. Is this so? Unfortunately, it seems to be the case! Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin have statistically higher incidence of leukemia than the national average. In Russia and in Sweden, areas with uncontrolled bovine leukemia virus have been linked with increases in human leukemia. I am also told that veterinarians have higher rates of leukemia than the general public. Dairy farmers have significantly elevated leukemia rates. Recent research shows lymphocytes from milk fed to neonatal mammals gains access to bodily tissues by passing directly through the intestinal wall.

An optimistic note from the University of Illinois, Ubana from the Department of Animal Sciences shows the importance of one's perspective. Since they are concerned with the economics of milk and not primarily the health aspects, they noted that the production of milk was greater in the cows with the bovine leukemia virus. However when the leukemia produced a persistent and significant lymphocytosis (increased white blood cell count), the production fell off. They suggested "…a need to re-evaluate the economic impact of bovine leukemia virus infection on the dairy industry". Does this mean that leukemia is good for profits only if we can keep it under control? You can get the details on this business concern from Proc. Nat. Acad. Sciences, U.S. Feb. 1989. I added emphasis and am insulted that a university department feels that this is an economic and not a human health issue. Do not expect help from the Department of Agriculture or the universities. The money stakes and the political pressures are too great. You're on you own.

What does this all mean? We know that virus is capable of producing leukemia in other animals. Is it proven that it can contribute to human leukemia (or lymphoma, a related cancer)? Several articles tackle this one:



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2008 07:21PM by Lillianswan.

Dairy is Scary

Dairy is just not meant for humans. Thanks for the reminder

I never drank milk when I was a little kid because once I had a sip of spoiled milk at the age of six and permanently rejected it! It's truly disgusting, as though beverages weren't designated to be refreshing...milk is thick and strange tasting from what I remember. I would gladly eat a fruit off of a vine, but I could never bring myself to drink milk directly from its source!

blablablabla. Studies like this are dumb. I'm sure there's more than enough info on pro raw milk sites that will disprove this theory anyway.

I can't help but wonder what kind of conditions these cows were kept in and what they were fed and how healthy they were. Were these the same hormone infested cows that are used for "food"? Because you know.. Almonds had to be "pasturized" too because of diseases and wasn't there an issue with "raw spinach" and salmonella? Then there was the scare thread on here where we thought they were coming after our greens to be "pasteurized" because of these so called diseases. Milk pasteurization isn't anything new anyway.


This is a "vegan" forum anyway so it makes this thread even more pointless.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2008 04:05AM by LikeItOrNot.

Even pasteurized milk can kill people. Check out this very recent article in the news about people being killed by pasteurized milk: Dairy linked to 3 deaths, miscarriage.

Just because this is a vegan forum doesn't mean there is no interest in articles like the above. And not being able to talk about it is not going to make these issues go away is it?

Perhaps some of us know of people that indulge in raw dairy and would like to pass the information on to them... I think its crazy to not be able to post about these imporant issues in fear of getting our heads bit off.

I am not saying I agree with the article or disagree with the article but do appreciate the freedom to be able to read the article and discuss it.