Health - Got Milk? Then You've Got

Pus. That's right. Yecch.

Check out this site for some tasty medical treetz. Argh. Blargh. I am all anorexically no-appetited now. PS: BGH (Bovine Growth Hormone) increases the incidence of mastitis (udder infection) and the number of pus cells in milk.

One culprit causing the hundreds of millions of pus cells in every liter of milk may be “bovine growth hormone,” the Monsanto chemical company’s growth hormone marketed as Posilac. Posilac is now widely used by dairy farmers to increase the amount of milk that their already overburdened cows produce. Because cows are not built to produce this much milk, they are prone to a painful udder infection called mastitis. When they are milked, pus and bacteria from the infection flow right along with the milk. The journal Nature reported that Posilac increases somatic cells—pus—in the milk by a whopping 19 percent! Researchers estimate that an ordinary glass of milk contains between one and seven drops of pus. This isn’t just disgusting—it can also be dangerous. Pus can contain paratuberculosis bacteria, which are believed to cause Crohn’s disease in human beings.

I stopped drinking milk recently because I noticed it was (quite literally) making me sick. Increased number of colds, sinus infections, coughs, congestion, mucus, even wheezing. Today I stumbled across the NotMilk page, and after reading it, I think I shall avoid milk for the rest of my life.

The NotMilk site claims milk consumption is linked with cancers and a myriad of other illnesses. I don't have the scientific background to assess the claim, but I know that milk producers in this country are more interested in profit than in consumer health. (I once worked with someone who uncovered some shoddy practices of the various dairy associations.) So bye-bye, milk, cheese, butter, all dairy products. You read what that page contains and decide for yourself. Some interesting information on IGF and BGH.

Picture from Don Fawcett's The Cell, 1981.

Stumble It!