Last month, board certified infectious diseases and critical care doctor Daniel H. Gervich MD wrote a piece for the Des Moines Register claiming that feeding raw milk to babies is tantamount to child endangerment.
Dr. Gervich’s misinformed and outrageous claim was made in response to House Study Bill 585 which, if passed, would dismantle Iowa’s strict anti-raw milk laws by allowing consumers to purchase it on the farm or have it delivered without restrictions to their homes.
As a Board Member and Chapter Leader for the Weston A. Price Foundation, I felt compelled to write an informed response to Dr. Gervich’s outlandish editorial. I was delighted to learn yesterday that the Des Moines Register is publishing the raw milk op-ed today both in print and online.
From The Des Moines Register, April 10, 2012 edition
Another View: Health Concerns from Raw Milk are Exaggerated
As a board member for the Weston A. Price Foundation, I have successfully taught and coached hundreds of parents over the past 10 years on how to safely make a raw milk baby formula. I am dismayed by Dr. Daniel H. Gervich’s misinformed opinion on House Study Bill 585, where he contends that feeding unpasteurized milk to babies is tantamount to child endangerment.
Our nutrition education group recommends that only carefully produced unpasteurized milk is suitable for human consumption. Farms produce such milk from healthy cows grazing on pasture. Such farms routinely test for pathogens and are meticulous about food safety.
Parents seek a raw milk formula when their baby is failing to thrive on commercial formula. Many of these children suffer from severe constipation, eczema, reflux and other mild to severe digestive and developmental problems.
Often, these parents feel abandoned by their pediatricians who only suggest a different brand of commercial formula or medications to cover the symptoms without actually resolving the ailment.
Parents are relieved and delighted once they try homemade raw milk formula. Many report that their babies finally begin to sleep through the night. Such problems as reflux and eczema significantly improve and even disappear.
Not even one parent has gone back to commercial formula after trying the homemade formula. The satisfaction rate for parents is at or near 100 percent.
It is wrong to force mothers who cannot breastfeed down the path to commercial formula when there is a clear danger from these unnatural concoctions. A baby recently died from tainted commercial formula purchased at Wal-Mart. Consider also the recent news reports of arsenic in organic baby formula.
Raw milk is a safer and healthier breast milk substitute than any commercial formula. I have never come across even a single report of a baby consuming a raw milk formula suffering from any of the illnesses Dr. Gervich mentions. On the contrary, babies have far fewer health problems on a raw milk formula as compared to commercial formulas.
Gervich gets his facts from a flawed U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, which claims raw milk is 150 times riskier than pasteurized. The Weston A. Price Foundation rebuts this report in CDC Cherry Picks Data to Make Case Against Raw Milk.
Raw milk is a safer and healthier breast milk substitute than any commercial formula. I have never come across even a single report of a baby consuming a raw milk formula suffering from any of the illnesses Dr. Gervich mentions. On the contrary, babies have far fewer health problems on a raw milk formula as compared to commercial formulas.
Gervich gets his facts from a flawed U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, which claims raw milk is 150 times riskier than pasteurized. The Weston A. Price Foundation rebuts this report in “CDC Cherry Picks Data to Make Case Against Raw Milk.”
According to research from Dr. Ted Beals, M.D., who has examined government data on illness and death caused by unpasteurized milk: “It is irresponsible for senior national government officials to oppose raw milk, claiming that it is inherently hazardous. There is no justification for opposing the sale of raw milk or warning against its inclusion in the diets of children and adults.”
Dr. Beals has compiled published reports of illness attributed to unpasteurized (raw) milk from 1999 to 2010. During the 11-year period, illnesses attributed to raw milk averaged only 42 per year. This means a person is 35,000 times more likely to get food borne illness from other foods than from unpasteurized milk.
With over 9 million people currently consuming unpasteurized milk, according to the 2010 census, or about 3 percent of the population, it would seem that if raw milk was as dangerous as Dr. Gervich claims, reports of serious illness from its consumption would be an almost daily occurrence.
It would be wise for physicians to stop issuing shrill warnings against unpasteurized milk using skewed statistics put forth by governmental agencies like the CDC and actually examine the data for themselves to understand the truth. Raw, unpasteurized milk from cows freely grazing on green grass is one of the safest foods anyone, particularly a baby, can consume.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources: Letter to the Des Moines Register by Dr. Gervich, March 5, 2012
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Rising Plague is a good book to read, and a great answer as to why the milk today is not the same as the milk of 50 years ago. Also, before you jump to conclusions and call doctors all sorts of names, please consider this – they are the ones who end up treating the unfortunate kids who end up on dialysis with failing kidneys, even sometimes losing their kidney, to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome. Many of you seem very angry and judgmental of the mothers who come to you for help and advice, and that seems selfrighteous and not very helpful at all to me. As a mother and a nurse, I often recommend Baby’s Only for mothers who are unable to, for whatever reason, to nurse their babies. In my 13 years in the profession, I have NEVER treated a baby who suffered from arsenic poison or any other adverse effects from formulas, but we see several cases a month of HUS (ALWAYS from unpasteruzed goat’s milk). I’m all for being as close to nature as possible, and if the products are closely QCd and safe, by all means. I truly despise commercial formulas, and am certain that many of childhood medical problems (diabetes, obesity, behavioral problems) may be directly linked to the over-processed formulas on which they are started as infants, but I don’t belive that villifying the healthcare workers who fight so hard to get the word out there is in anyone’s best interest. There’s more than one side to every story.
Great article. I live in Iowa and have been searching for a while for a raw milk supplier. I’d love to purchase some. None of the WPF chapter leaders in Iowa are near by and driving 4 hours just isn’t cost effective, the closest one in Minnesota never emailed me back… I will continue my search.
Hi Sarah! I LOVE LOVE LOVE our Raw Milk, and even did a short blog post about it recently. But- I have had some family members come to me concerned about raw milk and miscarriage. I’ve already had one miscarriage (before we drank raw milk), and naturally they’re concerned for me. After reading a lot more on the topic- I’m a little concerned, too. I’m fairly confident that it’s super safe and that my chances to miscarry are probably LOWER now that I drink raw milk and my body is just in better shape nutritionally than before…but haven’t seen any research on it.
Could you help me in answering our questions about the safety of raw milk during pregnancy? What would be the signs of listeriosis from our raw milk (which comes from a fabulous farm and super healthy cows)? How could we protect our future child from the threat of listeriosis if we continue to drink our raw milk?
Or is the threat of listeria contamination little to none with good quality raw milk? Thanks so much!
Listeria is extremely rare in raw milk. I drank raw milk for 2 of my 3 pregnancies without issue. Raw milk was my key to overcoming morning sickness too … the easily available B6 kept nausea at bay for me .. I just sipped it all day long.
Sarah – perfect response. We need to pick up our pens like you and challenge these guys continuously – great they would publish it, too.
Last year in my district in northeast Indiana, I found out eggshells were no longer admitted to be put on fields. I called up my congressman and asked what kind of poison was sanctioned instead of eggshells now? But need to do more, much more: this has inspired me!
Rebuking boneheaded doctors is something I quite enjoy doing 🙂
Both of my children have done so well on the homemade formula. People always ask what I feed them and are always amazed, I am so thankful that I was brave enough to try it and have never regretted it.
My Uncle David was raised on raw milk in the 50’s. He was an unusually large baby (almost 11#). It’s probable that my Grandma had gestational diabetes, although they didn’t know it then. He was born with a club foot. My Grandparents lived in the country and kept a cow. The local doctor told them how to ammend the cow’s milk to feed it to him. If raw cow’s milk nurished my Uncle then (even with his hard start in life), how is the same substance a threat now? My Uncle is 55, his foot was straighted long ago, and he is the father of two healthy children and a grandpa. Thank goodness for the common sense doctor who worked with them and helped them feed their baby.
Hi
Thanks for all information I am new here please can you send me link for raw baby formula.
Many thanks