The Truth About Milk

I read recently in my local newspaper that a large chain of grocery stores has decided to sell only milk that is free of synthetic hormones. Finally, corporate America is seeing the light! Hopefully other grocery chains large and small will follow this trend, and I can stop buying the more expensive organic milk for my family. I'll save money because we use quite a lot of milk at my house, both for cooking and drinking, and for some time now, I have absolutely refused to buy anything but organic milk after learning about exactly what these hormones are. There are other reasons anyone who is at all health conscious would hesitate to drink milk unless they were certain it was certified as organic.

Milk contains growth hormones naturally. Why does man feel the need to add more? The hormones added to milk are not natural, and are injected into the poor cows so that they will produce more milk. They work, all right. The cows will produce around 15 percent more milk, but their health suffers because of that increase, as does ours. These powerful hormones are genetically engineered, and most people do not realize how much they can affect the human body. Some scientists feel that the added growth hormones could be a factor in the growth of human cancer cells. Who wants to give something to their loved ones that could increase the risk of cancer?

Another reason I choose organic milk is because of the treatment of the cows that supply most of the milk for human consumption in this country. Forget any image you may have of a happy cow grazing in a green pasture, waiting to be milked by a kind farmer. Cows are crowded together with thousands of other cows and forced into milking slots, then stripped of their milk by electrical pumps. This type of treatment cannot help but hurt the cows, and when they are treated with growth hormones, cows have even more of a tendency to develop udder infections from the machinery. This can lead to increased amount of bacteria and even pus in the milk you are drinking, according to admissions made by the Food and Drug Administration. Surprising, isn't it? But sadly, it's true.

The FDA has also stated that cows treated with BGH, or Bovine Growth Hormone can also have persistent sores and lacerations, reproductive problems, and an all around increased risk of disease. These illnesses are treated with antibiotics, which find their way into the national milk supply. This is one of the reasons why doctors are discovering that so many of their patients have become antibiotic resistant. Why not? They are getting a small dose of the drugs every time they drink milk or eat dairy products, and the drugs will build up in the body over time. This could be dangerous if you or a member of your family should develop some sort of infection that is antibiotic resistant. It can and has happened, and I do think a big part of the reason is because of the drugs we are consuming unknowingly.

It is shocking to me that the FDA still is allowing this sort of thing to continue. This decision by the grocery chain proves that at least someone is paying attention to the problem. Over 90 percent of consumers polled wanted their dairy products labeled so that they will know if they are consuming these growth hormones, yet for some reason the FDA has refused to make it a requirement. I will gladly give my grocery business to a company who is attempting to make one of nature's most nearly perfect foods safe once again for all.