Serious illness or the death of a child is a tragedy that
touches all of our hearts. Over this past week four seriously
ill children have been hospitalized in Oregon after drinking
unpasteurized milk contaminated with E. coli O157, and although
the milk in question is no longer being distributed, additional
cases may yet occur. The lives of these children currently hang
in the balance. These tragedies are made even more distressing
when one considers that those who gave this milk to these
children undoubtedly believed they were doing what was best for
them. As a parent, my heart goes out to those adults.
Unpasteurized, or "raw," milk, like many unprocessed food
products, may sound healthier, but it is not. Hundreds of years
of experience have demonstrated that raw milk can carry many
kinds of harmful bacteria that can make you very sick or kill
you, and that's why pasteurization was invented in the 19th
century. While it is possible to get food-borne illnesses from
many different foods, raw milk is one of the