B.A.D. NEWS: BACTERIA, ANTIBIOTICS & DIOXINS

[Guest guest]

WHAT IS BUGGING DAIRYMEN in 1999?

http://www.notmilk.com/deb/021499.html

 

B.A.D. NEWS

BACTERIA, ANTIBIOTICS & DIOXINS

 

BACTERIA

February of 1999 has been filled with news stories confirming the worst

fears of the dairy industry. Reports of bacterial infections in milk

given to kids in the Dominican Republic caused 1,000 schoolchildren to

become ill. Fifty of those children were hospitalized. Contaminated milk

contained samples of 22 different bacteria. At the same time in America,

a nationwide milk recall was ordered for 270,000 cases of milk products

due to possible Listeria contamination. Kohler Mix Specialties of

Minnesota first recalled milk and dairy products from supermarket

shelves in eight Midwest states, then expanded the recall to include all

50 states.

 

Tests on unsealed cartons of skim milk revealed the presence of Listeria

monocytogenes. Symptoms of Listeria infection can occur up to 45 days

after ingesting a tainted product. Beware the Ides of March. The

Listeria bacteria can cause fatal infections in young children and the

elderly. Healthy people may suffer flu-like symptoms. Pasteurization

does not work. Every American knows this. Odoriferous milk from your

refrigerator is dumped on day ten, but eaten with cereal on day nine. Do

you wonder what you are drinking? Twenty-two different bacterium were

naturally cultured from pasteurized milk in the Dominican Republic.

 

ANTIBIOTICS

 

The USDA and FDA have recently revealed that Americans might be

ingesting too many antibiotics in meat. The official announcements did

not mention milk, yet cows and steers are treated with the same

antibiotics and the average American eats significantly more milk and

dairy products than meat.

 

ANTIBIOTICS IN MILK

 

After genetically engineering the bovine growth hormone, Monsanto

learned that cows were getting mastitis, painful ulcers on their udders

which resulted in an increase in pus, blood and bacteria in milk.

Monsanto arranged to have their top scientist, Margaret Miller, hired by

FDA where she reviewed her own research. Aware that dairymen would have

to treat cows with more antibiotics, Miller simply raised the allowable

levels of antimicrobials farmers could put in milk.

 

FDA CHANGED THE STANDARD!

 

Miller arbitrarily increased the allowable level by one hundred times --

from one part per hundred million to one part per million!

 

On March 16, 1994, a letter signed " concerned CVM employees " was

circulated to members of Congress, GAO, Dr. David Kessler (Commissioner

of FDA), the Inspector General of the United States Richard P. Kusserow,

and Michael Hansen of Consumer's Union. The letter in part reads:

 

" Dr. Miller (wrote) a policy on use of antimicrobials in milk. She

picked an arbitrary and scientifically unsupported number of 1

part-per-million as being the allowable amount of antimicrobial in milk

permitted without any consumer safety testing. This is for any

antimicrobial. A cow could be treated with several antibiotics and each

one would be permitted to be in milk at a level of 1ppm without

additional consumer safety testing. Effects of the different antibiotics

could be additive and this is not taken into account. "

 

Michael Hansen of Consumers Reports testified and brought attention to

Congressional committees that 52 drugs are known to be used as

antibiotics to treat mastitis. According to Consumer's Union, FDA had

approved only 30 of those antibiotics. Milk is routinely tested for the

presence of six different antibiotics. Farmers are aware of the

antibiotics being tested. Do you imagine they might be tempted to use

any of the other 46 not currently being tested?

 

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

 

When something doesn't work for the dairy industry the FDA often helps

private industry by changing the standard. This does not make the

product any safer but it does allow the FDA to officially state that the

drug residue is " well within safe levels. " This is usually done at the

expense of the consumer.

 

Margaret Miller's name recently " popped up into the news " again. It

seems that FDA recently approved a powerful liquid antibiotic for

lactating dairy cows. It is called:

 

 

 

LIQUAMYOCIN 200

Before approval, FDA allowed residues of 30 parts per billion of this

antibiotic to show up in milk samples. Unfortunately, milk samples

tested out at 300 parts per billion. What did FDA do? They changed the

standard! The new standard is now 300 parts per billion!

 

There is evidence of both comedy and tragedy...The Dannon Yogurt Company

cannot use this milk because the antibiotic kills the acidophilus which

they add to their cultured product. Not so cultured, huh? FDA approved

this product, and whose name do you think they have as contact for more

information? None other than Margaret Miller, Ph.D. Her phone number is

301-827-5282. Let Dr. Miller know how happy you are about arbitrary

changes in antibiotic protocols. Give her number to your congressman and

demand an investigation.

 

DIOXINS - WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SHOCKER

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently conducted an assessment of

the health risks of dioxins in Geneva, Switzerland. Peter Montague, who

writes RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENTAL NEWSLETTER, obtained copies of the

unofficial report. Hundreds of past issues of this brilliantly written

newsletter can be found at:

 

http://www.ejnet.org/dioxin/

 

The most recent issue of Rachel's (issue #636) referenced DIOXINS and

revealed:

" Eighty to ninety percent of our daily dioxin intake comes from eating

milk, meat and fish. Breast-fed infants take in 70 picograms of dioxin

per kilogram of body weight per day - seven to seventy times as much as

the average adult. Despite this, breast-fed infants are healthier than

infants fed bottled formula. "

 

Forum 583 TIP OF THE ICEBERG

Forum 601 MILKING THE PUBLIC

 

Robert Cohen (1-201-871-5871)

Executive Director

Dairy Education Board

http://www.notmilk.com

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