Seems Like The Raw Milk Isn't Making People So Healthy After All
21 people in Florida have gotten sick with e. coli, seven ended up in the hospital.
Once upon a time, conservatives lost their minds over New York City trying to pass a ban on “supersized” sugary sodas, they wailed over Michelle Obama trying to serve their kids healthy lunches in school — but now? Now they want to be healthy. They want to Make America Healthy Again.
Unfortunately for them, the things they think will do that … are completely fucking insane. They want food without seed oils, which are actually entirely fine and kind of good for you, they want to give up vegetables and become “carnivores,” they don’t want fluoride in the water because they want the freedom for their teeth rot, they don’t want to take vaccines, they want to take horse dewormer for everything that ails them, and they want to drink raw milk.
That last one did not work out so well recently for 21 people — adults and six children under the age of 10 — in Florida who were poisoned by e. coli after drinking it. You know, because pasteurization is what keeps bacteria from forming and prevents you from getting food poisoning. Out of those 21, seven people ended up getting hospitalized, and health officials in the state are now recommending that people stop drinking dangerous milk.
Can you believe we’re at a point where we have to beg people to not give their kids poison milk?
For all these types who worry about “toxins” they never seem to know the actual name of, e. coli actually does produce shiga toxin, which can cause kidney failure.
“STEC bacteria in its most severe form can result in hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) which is characterized by hemolysis and kidney failure, which is of particular concern for children,” a bulletin from the Florida Department of Health stated. “Groups at higher risk for severe illness include infants and young children, pregnant women, elderly individuals, and those with weakened immune systems.”
Raw milk has also been known to cause a bunch of Oregon Trail-ass illnesses, including “listeriosis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria, Q fever, and brucellosis.” This is according to information that is still available on the FDA website, though we can probably expect to see it taken down soon enough.
You can get salmonella from it as well, which is exactly what happened to 171 people — 70 percent of whom were under the age of 18 — in California and four other states in 2023, a recent report from the CDC has confirmed.
One of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s big promises was to stop the “aggressive suppression” of raw milk production and allow people to gulp it down to their heart’s content. A raw milk drinker himself, Kennedy has long touted its entirely unproven health benefits.
It would be one thing if it were just adults taking a dangerous substance that could possibly make them very, very sick. Personally, I’m not even bothered by that and think adults should be able to consume anything they want, even if it might give them food poisoning. These people know the risks and want to drink it anyway? Go and be well. I’m a big fan of oysters, so I guess I can’t judge too much.
But I’m not taking any children to oyster happy hours, am I?
The real problem is that raw milk enthusiasts tend to be most excited about what they think it can do for children. Specifically, they think it will keep them from developing allergies and asthma and will just generally boost their immune system — and there are some small scale studies from Europe that suggest there could be some benefit. But that’s where the problem is, because not only can kids not meaningfully consent to taking on this kind of risk, they are more likely to suffer severe reactions to food poisoning than are adults. And allergies, as annoying as they may be, are not worse than kidney failure.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
I grew up on a dairy farm. My dad would drink the raw milk out of the tank. He was sick ALL OF THE FUCKING TIME. Cows shit and piss while standing in the stanchion getting milked. Some of that gets into the milk no matter what you do to prevent it. Yes, it goes through filters and stuff but that only gets the particulate matter. E Coli and whatever go straight through. People who drink raw milk are unmitigated FUCKING IDIOTS and deserve to suffer. The sad part is that they give that shit to their kids.
Next up: SMALLPOX!