Milk and antibiotics

“Pasteurized milk contains traces of antibiotics given to cows.”

I wrote that comment in an e-Alert I sent you earlier this month (“Skinny Dipping” 3/4/03), and in response, an HSI member named Todd, who describes himself as “a practicing dairy veterinarian for thirty years,” wrote to say that my comment was wrong. Todd says:

“On commercial dairies, milk from the cows is held in large, refrigerated bulk tanks until the refrigerated tanker trucks transport it to the creamery. Before the milk is placed in the tanker truck a sterile milk sample is taken for bacteriological culturing and antibiotic testing. If a milk sample tests positive for antibiotics, the milk is discarded and the dairyman must pay the creamery for all the milk (several thousand gallons) from the contaminated tanker. If this happens more than once, the creamery may refuse to accept milk from the offending dairy. No dairyman wants to have to pay for thousands of gallons of discarded milk or to have no place to ship his milk.

“Trust me when I say that the dairy industry takes the antibiotic residue issue very seriously. Your commentsupports the gross misconceptions that dairymen are not concerned about the quality of the milk their cows produce and that milk is ‘full of antibiotics.'”

Todd makes a very convincing argument. And I respect his sincere defense of the honest dairymen who go to the extra trouble to provide uncontaminated milk.

I don’t want to portray milk as “full of antibiotics,” because that’s not true. But in fact there is evidence that milk with traces of antibiotics reaches the shelves of grocery stores.

Environmentalist Mike Ewall (a board member of the Pennsylvania Environmental Network) has written extensively about a variety of public health concerns. In a widely reprinted article on bovine growth hormone, Ewall points out that a Wall Street Journal study showed that as much as 20% of commercial milk contained illegal antibiotic residues. And in a study that sampled milk in 10 cities, the Center for Science in the Public Interest reported that 38% of the milk contained illegal antibiotics.

Ewall writes that the most common tests for antibiotics (as Todd describes above) are designed to search for 4 antibiotics out of 82 that are used commercially. In addition, illegal antibiotics are not tested for. As a result, some milk with antibiotic contamination does reach grocery store shelves.

Todd is right – milk is not full of antibiotics. But the small amounts that apparently slip though just add one more potential hazard to the list of problems with pasteurized, homogenized whole milk.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute

Sources:
“White Poison: The Horrors of Milk” Shanti Rangwani, ColorLines, Winter 2001-2002, alternet.org
“Bovine Growth Hormone” Mike Ewall, Web Resources for Environmental Justice Activists, ejnet.org