Tag Archives: milk

Legislator says state going overboard in warnings against raw milk

A state legislator who pushed legalization of “cow share” raw milk marketing in Tennessee contends the state Department of Health has gone overboard in continued warnings to consumers that nonpasteurized milk can be dangerous.

“Consuming raw milk in the belief it’s healthier than pasteurized milk is a perilous risk that shakes off the possibility of a range of serious and occasionally fatal illnesses for the individuals and anyone they share it with,” said state Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner in a July 21 news release. “Our best choice for healthy, nutritious milk is the pasteurized kind. Even if one believes there are health benefits, an upside, is it worth gambling on the downside risk of a serious illness, especially in a child?”

The release (Note: posted HERE) says the department has confirmed two cases of cryptosporidiosis in the Chattanooga area that are “associated with consumption of raw milk from a dairy cow share program” and is checking to determine if others were sickened as well.

Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains, said there is no more risk to raw milk than pasteurized milk and probably less. Cryptosporidiosis is a parasite-caused ailment linked to animal waste and, according to Niceley, more often to beef cattle than milk cattle. In any case, he said, it involves exposure to the waste and not to the drinking of raw milk in and of itself.

“Blue Bell ice cream killed three people, and it’s made with pasteurized milk,” the senator said in an interview last week. “Why aren’t they up in arms warning about that?”

Blue Bell Creameries in April announced a nationwide recall of ice cream after reports of the product being contaminated with listeria bacteria. National media has reported that three deaths in Kansas appear linked to the contamination.
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TN Health commissioner: Don’t drink raw milk, even though it’s legal

News release from state Department of Health
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Health is investigating multiple gastrointestinal disease reports among people who say they consumed raw milk prior to their illness. TDH has confirmed two cases of cryptosporidiosis in individuals in the Chattanooga/Hamilton County Region. Both cases of illness are associated with consumption of raw milk from a dairy cow share program. TDH is interviewing additional participants in the program to determine if other people have been sickened. In recent months, TDH has interviewed individuals about sporadic cases of Campylobacter and Shiga-toxin producing E. coli who also reported consuming raw milk from different sources.

“Consuming raw milk in the belief it’s healthier than pasteurized milk is a perilous risk that shakes off the possibility of a range of serious and occasionally fatal illnesses for the individuals and anyone they share it with,” said TDH Commissioner John Dreyzehner, MD, MPH. “Our best choice for healthy, nutritious milk is the pasteurized kind. Even if one believes there are health benefits, an upside, is it worth gambling on the downside risk of a serious illness, especially in a child?”

Cow share programs were made legal in Tennessee in 2009, allowing wider access to raw milk. Since that time TDH has had increasing reports of disease and outbreaks linked to raw milk consumption. In 2013, nine Tennessee children became extremely sick with E. coli O157 after drinking raw milk. Five of these children required hospitalization and three developed severe, life-threatening kidney problems.

“The Department of Agriculture has a thorough dairy inspection program focused on detecting potential health risks before milk reaches the consumer,” Tennessee Department of Agriculture Commissioner Julius Johnson said. “Legal pasteurization through a licensed dairy facility is the only way to ensure that dairy products are safe to consume. Despite a producer’s best intentions, without pasteurization, bacteria exposure is a real danger.”
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Lamar & Bob Talk Medicare Cuts and Other TN Fiscal Cliff Notes

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Alexander, Corker Join on Fiscal Cliff, Medicare Cuts:
Focus on Medicare, Not Taxes During news conferences on Friday, U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker predicted that the “fiscal cliff” tax situation will be resolved and decried another “fiscal cliff no one wants to talk about, the looming bankruptcy of Medicare,” reports the Bristol Herald-Courier.
There was a lot more reporting on the matter. A sampler:
Congress will act within days or weeks — perhaps even this weekend — to stem any increase in income taxes for almost all Americans in response to an inevitable public outcry, The Tennessean reported.
“I would like them (taxes) to stay the same (for everybody), but I am not king here,” Alexander said at a joint press conference with his Tennessee colleague.
The article also has comments from the two senators saying they still think they did the right thing in voting for the package of legislation that brought on the “fiscal cliff.” U.S. Reps. Marsha Blackburn and Scott DesJarlais offer similar comments — though Blackburn voted for the bill in question, DesJarlais against.
From the News-Sentinel: U.S. senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker said Friday taxes will not increase for most Americans and insisted “fiscal cliff” negotiations will either address pending hikes before Monday’s deadline or through retroactive legislation in the new year.
With that confidence, Tennessee’s senators turned to spending cuts and offered a proposal to exchange a $1 trillion reduction in entitlement spending — mostly from Medicare — for a $1 trillion rise in the federal debt ceiling.
“Taxes is not the biggest uncertainty,” Alexander said. “That is the possibility that all of those Americans who depend on Medicare to pay for their medical bills to fall off the fiscal cliff because Medicare goes bankrupt.”
The plan, which the senators have dubbed the “Dollar for Dollar Act,” was introduced by Corker on Dec. 12. Its details include reforming Medicare to include competition from private health-care options, gradually raising the eligibility age to 67 by 2027, requiring high-income beneficiaries to pay higher premiums and giving flexibility to the states to manage the program.
‘Total Dereliction of Duty’
CBS News aired a Corker interview wherein he chides President Obama and congressional leaders for “a total dereliction of duty at every level” and “a lack of course to deal with the spending issues.”
“I’m very surprised that the President has not laid out a very specific plan to deal with this,” said Corker, admitting, “Candidly, Congress could have done the same. And I think the American people should be disgusted.”
While Corker granted that “98 percent of the people in our country can be assured…their income taxes are going to be the same,” he argued, “We here in Washington are going to hurt the American economy, we’re going to hurt Americans at every level, and to me it’s just a travesty that we’ve not been willing to deal with this issue.”
And Corker did not predict much progress from (Friday’s) meeting between the President and congressional leaders, predicting a “worst case scenario” in which “We’ll kick the can down the road…we’ll do some small deal, and we’ll create another fiscal cliff to deal with this fiscal cliff.”
There’s a Milk Cliff,, Too
Tennessee dairy farmers soon could get paid substantially higher prices for their milk, but they’re not relishing the prospect, says The Tennessean. Instead, they fear it could make milk so expensive — potentially as much as $6 to $8 a gallon, by some estimates — that even more people stop drinking it.
“I don’t think it would kill our industry, but it would seriously injure it,” said Deborah Boyd, secretary/treasurer of the Tennessee Dairy Producers Association.
Those “dairy cliff” fears are based on Congress’ inability to pass a new five-year farm bill to replace one that is set to expire on Monday. The bill outlines how the federal government determines prices paid to dairy farmers.
Unless a new bill is passed or the current one is extended — Congressional leaders said Friday they were working on an extension — a 1949 law would take effect. That law would force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay roughly $38 per 100 pounds for milk, or double the current prevailing price.
Experts say that would ultimately increase the retail price for milk, which now averages $3.59 a gallon, as well as for other dairy products such as cheese and yogurt.
DesJarlais: Republicans Frustrated
House Republicans feel stymied but not hopeless as they prepare to return to Capitol Hill for possible last-minute action to avoid the “fiscal cliff,” Republican Rep. Scott DesJarlais tells The Tennessean.
DesJarlais, of Jasper, Tenn., was one of 234 members of his caucus who listened in on a conference call Thursday with House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio. Boehner said the House will return to work Sunday at 6:30 p.m. and remain in session in case lawmakers and President Barack Obama reach agreement on a deal to avoid more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts that will otherwise take effect on Tuesday. Economists fear the combination could jar the nation’s economy back into recession.
DesJarlais said in an interview from his Tennessee home Thursday that it’s up to the Senate to come forward with a plan now, an opinion also expressed by Boehner. “But all we are hearing is crickets,” DesJarlais said. Asked if Republicans feel a lack of hope about a possible solution, he said, “It’s more frustration.”

Of Horse Slaughter, Deer, Milk and Senate District 8 Campaign

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Horse slaughter, deer farming and raw milk sales might be ignored in most political campaigns, but not in this summer’s four-candidate, six-county Republican primary race that will decide who succeeds retiring state Sen. Mike Faulk.
“The horse is a very intelligent animal. In my personal opinion and the opinion of humane societies I’ve talked with, we don’t need to be killing them for human consumption,” said candidate Jeff Brantley of Sharp’s Chapel. “What’s next? Dogs and cats?”
Candidate Frank Niceley of Strawberry Plains, as a state representative, has pushed legislation that would clear the way for operation of horse slaughter facilities. The bills have failed.
He has also unsuccessfully sponsored legislation that would legalize keeping whitetail deer in captivity and selling them — an idea Brantley said he also opposes.
Critics say such a move would raise the risk of Tennessee’s native whitetails becoming infected with illnesses brought in by imported, domesticated deer, including chronic wasting disease. Proponents say such concerns are mistaken and deer farming would be a new source of income in rural counties.

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