Once, pasteurization helped conquer “The White Plague”, saving millions of lives from TB and other diseases. Now, legislators across the nation are inviting it back—served in a glass of “natural,” unpasteurized milk. The raw milk revival isn’t just a quirky food fad; it’s a symptom of the growing war on science waged by those who are supposed to protect us.
The wave of anti-science legislation has become a tsunami. According to an AP survey “more than 420 anti-science bills attacking longstanding public health protections,” are pending throughout the country. Proliferating in the pack are anti-vaccine legislation, anti-fluoride laws, and bills to foster the sale of raw milk.
Ours isn’t the first era to run away with misguided science. Today’s pending anti-science legislation mostly focuses on anti-vax ideology. But the raw-milk legislation brilliantly illustrates the perils of ignoring past medical history and sound science and chasing the good ole (all natural) days espoused by the raw milk champions, medical freedom advocates, and RFK, Jr..
"FDA’s war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive suppression of…. raw milk…. If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system,… [p]ack your bags.”
— RFK Jr
Status Check
In 1987 the federal government made it illegal to sell raw milk across state lines – without exceptions or exemptions. Today, some 20 states explicitly prohibit intrastate raw milk sales, but 30 allow it in some form. That is likely going to change. Currently, a dozen states have laws pending that would expand allowable raw milk sales within state borders. Although most states have some restrictions on the ability to procure raw milk, they vary in degree, with four categories of allowable sale on the books:
- States allowing retail sales (sometimes with licensing requirements):
- States allowing only sales to the consumer directly from the farm
- States allowing consumers to buy a portion of a cow, with distribution of the cow’s milk by agreement (Herd shares)
- All states allow raw milk consumption by pets.
Per the AP, “most of those bills were supported by at least one of four national groups connected to Kennedy: MAHA Action, Stand for Health Freedom, the National Vaccine Information Center and the Weston A. Price Foundation, which touts raw milk as an immune booster, “naturally immunizing the way God created,” citing one doctor who claims it is a medicine.
The FDA’s 1987 regulations were driven by demonstrable health risks of drinking unpasteurized milk. Notwithstanding, raw milk groupees argue that raw milk is healthier and tastier than the pasteurized stuff. Pushback to pasteurization is not new.
A Short History of Disease
The early crusade to promote pasteurization (and prevent childhood deaths) was initiated and waged largely by Nathan Strauss (of Macy’s fame) over a hundred years ago. Strauss (who coined the term “pasteurization”) was attacked with the same health and culinary arguments raised today. But in those days raw-milkers had an additional (and more compelling) argument: they claimed regulating raw-milk, would financially impact producers whose business would be affected by government- imposed regulations. As ordinances sprouted across the country, the raw-milk producers sought court intervention to void the legislation.
By 1927, five courts had sustained state and local laws requiring milk pasteurization, countering claims the process would compromise flavor and deprive consumer choice, culminating in the case of Pfeffer (no-relation) v. Milwaukee. There, the court rejected the plaintiffs’ claim that “pasteurization does not protect public health, and that milk subjected to this process of pasteurization is not as wholesome, healthful, and as good an article of food as milk in the natural state drawn from cows,” a ruling echoed by courts throughout the country.
“Scientific knowledge concerning these facts and the best method of pasteurizing milk for human use … as a pure and wholesome food is so generally understood and known that courts take judicial notice of these facts. It is a generally accepted fact that when milk is [pasteurized]… the disease-causing germs are destroyed.” Pfeffer v. Milwaukee
The major prevailing health threats of raw milk at the time were tuberculosis (“The White Plague”) and typhoid. The pasteurization process helped eradicate both– saving millions of lives in the process. Nathan Strauss’ tireless and unceasing efforts, alone, were credited with preventing a million deaths.
Since then, things have improved – until recently.
“In 1938, milk-borne outbreaks constituted approximately 25% of all disease-outbreaks from contaminated food and water. As of 2005, that figure was down to about 1%.” Of late, however, concomitant with the renewal of the raw-milk romancers and rise of the medical freedom movement, the figure has blossomed.
The predominant diseases associated with raw milk consumption today are Salmonella, Listerosis and Avian Flu from H5N1-infected cows, resulting in escalating disease outbreaks throughout the country
- Between 1993–2006, raw milk-related outbreaks resulted in 1571 reported cases, 202 hospitalizations, and 2 deaths, most occurring in the states permitting the sale of raw milk.
- Between 2013–2018, 75 outbreaks with 675 illnesses were linked to unpasteurised milk. 2009–2021 saw 143 raw-milk related enteric disease outbreaks.
- Between 2023 and 2024 Salmonella-caused “171 cases of raw milk-related” in California and four other states.
Florida is considered a hot bed of raw milk-related diseases, reporting 21 cases of bacterial disease in August. Although only the sale of the product for pet-use is legal in Florida, apparently, this is a ruse. Per Keith Schneider, food safety professor at the U. of Florida, “everybody knows they are selling it for human consumption.” Schneider called the law a “wink, wink, nudge, nudge form of regulation.”
While these numbers may not seem large, the exposed group is small. Currently, less than 1 percent of Americans routinely consume raw (or unpasteurized) milk, although that number is increasing , with
“[t]hose from states where the retail sale of raw milk for human consumption is legal … more likely to consume raw milk than … those from states where the sale of raw milk is not legal.”
“The White Plague” Returns
TB has been considered a plague ravaging humanity through the centuries, infecting law, lawyers, and literature, and just about everyone else. In the late 1800s, TB killed one out of every seven people in the U.S. and Europe. Today, the disease is treatable by antibiotics, but drug-resistant organisms are proliferating, making TB challenging to treat. About half of those with untreated active TB die from the disease
Usually, transmission is airborne, causing respiratory disease, but TB can also be transmitted by consuming raw milk via M. bovis infecting cattle. Perhaps not so co-incidentally, bovine TB is increasing. (Mexican cattle are also a concern, with Mexican milk-products imported into the US a prime source of Bovine-TB.)
TB has climbed since 2020, with 40 states and Washington, D.C. reporting an increase. In 2023, “America saw more than 9600 tuberculosis cases—an incidence rate of 2·9 cases per 100 000, the highest in a decade.” In 2024, that number mushroomed, with TB reaching its highest levels in a dozen years, increasing 8% from 2023 and reaching 10,300.
Cases of M.bovis-caused tuberculosis from raw-milk consumption, while rare, are also ticking upwards – increasing from 1.1% in 2005 to 1.8% in 2023, translating to 200 TB cases likely caused by consuming unpasteurized milk or milk products. Add that to the 761 bacterial illnesses attributed to dairy-related outbreaks, and you have about 1000 raw milk-related cases last year.
States Rights -- or Wrongs
While states are empowered to enact laws protecting public health and safety under its Police Power, the proposed laws will do the opposite. Indeed, state laws increasing availability of raw milk have been associated with more outbreak-associated illnesses. One study predicted that doubling consumption of unpasteurized dairy products would translate to a near 100% annual increase in outbreak-related illnesses.
Precedentially speaking, courts have held that unpasteurized milk is unsafe for a over century, justifying regulation. As to the supposed benefits of raw milk, a hundred years ago courts ruled that “scientific reviews by various international groups have concluded that there was no reliable scientific evidence to support any of these suggested health benefits.” This has not changed.
“I support … bill [HB 609] “We raised our kids on raw milk, and they are very healthy adults now.” Rep. Jay Adams, of North Carolina.
Personal anecdotes by legislators or the beliefs systems of Health Secretaries are not scientific evidence, and one wonders on what basis courts will justify these proposed laws to enable invocation of its police power.
While the proposed raw-milk laws should be per se invalid, with RFK Junior behind them, they seem to have lives of their own -- and likely will be responsible for the deaths of others.
Source:
Disease in Milk -The Remedy: Pasteurization by Lina Gutherz Strauss
