The Raw Milk Movement: Healthy or Hazardous?

April 27, 2007 — -- Once a week on a suburban driveway outside of Tampa, a society of Floridians gathers to defy health warnings and purchase a product they have been repeatedly warned could kill them.

"I'll do whatever it takes to get the milk," said Steve Moreau, who said he drives three hours to get his hands on the product. But he's not searching for regular, grocery store milk.

Moreau and many others, ranging from parents to professionals, are buying raw milk -- untreated, unprocessed, unpasteurized, straight from the cow.

And raw milk drinkers say that it's not just a few people who are drinking it. They say it's a movement of people who want to feel healthier.

Drinking unpasteurized milk for good health might sound peculiar, especially in the age of deadly spinach. The process of pasteurization kills germs that cause salmonella and E. coli.

And according to the FDA Web site, "Raw milk can harbor dangerous micro-organisms that can pose serious health risks to you and your family."

In the last decade the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has documented more than a thousand cases of food-borne illness and two deaths, all caused by unpasteurized dairy products.

But raw milk devotees say the benefits outweigh the risks.

Christine Tyrell has been feeding her family raw milk for three years. "I really do feel we've seen medical benefits from this. My children are not as sick as they used to be."

Some people argue the changes felt by drinking raw milk might be psychosomatic.

"I don't deny that. They might be. All I know is I feel better," said Alan Petrillo, another raw milk drinker, who says raw milk cured his digestive problems.

Though most doctors say there is no good science to back up these claims, raw milk drinkers believe pasteurization destroys beneficial proteins and enzymes that help with digestion and strengthen the immune system.

But the problem for devoted milk drinkers is that it is illegal to sell raw milk for human consumption in 23 states. Laws vary from state to state so raw milk drinkers around the country use loopholes to legally get their milk.

In Ohio the law only allows people to drink unpasteurized milk from a cow they own.