Wisconsin Ignores Raw Milk E. coli, Campylobacter and Salmonella Threats
Wisconsin has foolishly legalized the sale of raw milk on 60-35 vote by its Assembly, rejecting warnings from its own disease experts, doctors, researchers, child safety experts and farm bureau.
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If signed by Gov. Jim Doyle, the bill will put the state's endorsement on a product labeled as dangerous to human health by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the USDA and the FDA -- not to mention its own state department of health.
In the Pittsburgh area right now, a 67-year-old man is fighting for his life on a respirator after being paralyzed from consuming raw milk that later tested positive for the pathogen Campylobacter. James Orchard and his wife are represented by Pritzker Olsen, a national food safety law firm that has actively supported banning raw milk sales.
Wisconsin has set itself up for more raw milk E. coli outbreaks and raw milk Salmonella outbreaks -- disease clusters that will seriously injure and eventually kill consumers who expect what they are drinking is safe because the state legalized it.
Despite quackery spewed by some evangelical supporters of raw milk, there is no nutritional difference between raw milk and milk that has been pasteurized to kill microscopic bugs that cause extremely painful and often bloody diarrhea and other symptoms.
For a certain number of victims of raw milk food poisoning, there also are long-term consequences. As is the case of Mr. Orchard, Campylobacter can lead to Guillain-Barre' syndrome. Salmonella can lead to Reiter's syndrome and E. coli can lead hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the leading cause of kidney failure in children.
Wisconsin is still known as America's Dairyland, despite being eclipsed in milk production many years ago by California. Wisconsin health officials and farm organizations who worked to defeat the bill can only hope it won't be renewed when it sunsets in 2011.
