He's the guy who was on Oprah's side in the "cow defamation" trial. He graduated from the Cornell School of Agriculture and got his medical doctorate at Tufts University.
It's probably best if you stop reading now and jump on over to Educating Miss Beazley to help train Miss B. to keep left wing wack jobs away from the White House. Don't say I didn't warn you...
After reading Dr. Greger's article you may never want to drink milk again, ditto for consuming any other dairy or cow parts as well.
Here's a synopsis of what Dr. Greger is saying:
We have a lot of diseased cows in the U.S. No one knows for sure how many. The infection and onset of symptoms can take many years. Those diseased cows may be transferring their disease to humans via milk and meat.
Johne's disease, in cattle is caused by a paratuberculosis mycobacterium with a long name. To make things easier on us Latin impaired folks they have an acronym for this bacteria; MAC.
MAC is a tough bug. It is not killed by pasteurization or freezing (sorry for you ice cream lovers). It can be killed by boiling milk but that makes milk taste different as you know. On the up side it's probably killed by the temperatures used in baking pizza.
MAC causes a disease in cattle called Johne's disease. It's a tough disease to eradicate since there is a long period of time from exposure to appearance of symptoms, it's more likely to be spread from one animal to another in the crowded conditions of a feedlot, and in the U.S., there are no mandatory controls on the transport, sale or testing of cows infected with Johne's disease.
The folks in Ireland have decided that the meat and milk of cows with Johne's disease is not fit for human consumption. Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia all have plans in place to eradicate Johne's disease from their cattle. In the U.S. the USDA and the other agents of the federal government have chosen a more conservative path which involves sticking one's head in a dark place.
If you want to understand what's going on - follow the money.
Something is causing the incidence of Crohn's disease in humans to increase. In the article he says, "The longest continuous study of the incidence of Crohn's disease is from Wales, which reports a 4000% increase of the disease since the 1930's."
If you have time to read Dr. Greger's article you will see that considerate, careful, reasonable people have good reason to believe that the increase in Crohn's in people is correlated to the increase in Johne's in cattle. This is not to say there is conclusive proof beyond a reasonable doubt but the case he presents would make a thinking person think twice about the safety of our milk and meat.
The article has good citations. Regardless of whether you think Dr. Greger is a nut or not, you might decide that the studies and expert sources he cites may be on to something.
The New York State Cattle Health Assurance Program Johne’s disease in Cattle is one of many articles he cites. This one is part of Cornell's agricultural extension service and gives you an idea of the challenges of controlling Johne's disease in cattle herds.
If you'd like to learn a bit more about the good doctor check out Michael Greger, M.D.
After I looked into Dr. Michael Greger's writing's on the possible correlation between MAP and Crohn's disease I was curious to know that other medical authorities might have to say.
From the Mayo Clinic Health Information Letter October 2005 -
"One microorganism that may be involved in the development of Crohn's is Maycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), a bacterium that causes intestinal disease in cattle. Researchers have found MAP in the blood and intestinal tissue of many people with Crohn's disease, but only rarely in people with ulcerative colitis. Yet this doesn't necessarily mean that MAP causes Crohn's disease."
From a NIH workshop held in 1998, "Crohn’s Disease – Is There a Microbial Etiology?" -
"In summary, looking at the problems raised here from the perspective of what is known about the immune response to other mycobacteria, Dr. Kaplan did not think there was enough evidence to prove or disprove an association between mycobacterial infection and Crohn’s disease."
At this point (assuming you got this far) you may be asking yourself, "if milk and meat is causing disease in humans why wouldn't we know?", "isn't the U.S. food supply the safest in the world?", "isn't the government looking out for us?".
Where do we find answers?
That's right on bumper stickers and T shirt slogans.
So here's why we don't know stuff -
The dominant paradigm is celebs "got milk", "McDonald's happy meals for happy kids", "beef it's what's for dinner" etc.. I can receive these messages on my T.V., radio, on the billboard I see riding home, in magazines.
They pervade our consciousness and form our version of reality.
Why don't we hear so much from people like Dr. Greger?
Follow the money.
It's not that you couldn't find any number of more or less reputable articles on the potential dangers of drinking milk and eating dead cows but most of us don't want to hear bad news. As the Incredible Hulk said we are "puny humans." We can't handle the truth, or at least as someone said "we can't take too much reality."
So what's a guy to do?
Give up the barbeque? Stop eatin, drinkin or doin anything bad for you?
I guess you could and my second guess is you'd either (a) die a slower death or (b) the "God of pompous asses" would give you a shot of Karma in the form of a big truck mowing you down the next time you cross a busy street or a diagnosis of a terminal disease unrelated to your lifestyle. Probably best to live a life of enthusiasm and joy and not worry about things (I didn't say not to act on things that concern you...just don't worry about them).
I'm a firm believer in risk management. If you smoke try to keep from getting too fat, if you drink try to keep off the pills, if you drive fast do it in a fast car, if you are going to drink and drive make sure you have a car since stealing a car while you are drunk is risky; that sort of thing.
I found that "I Heart the Dominant Paradigm" T Shirt at Chickenhead.com as they say a
Towering Pillar of Intellectual Bankruptcy. You might get a chuckle or two from that site. Chickenhead and it's affiliate sites are way over done but there may be something to tickle your funny bone (assuming you are not a Republican, conservative, religious type person without a sense of humor - in which case you shouldn't look).
I think the Reader Mail at Whitehouse.org is another gold mine of funny stuff if you like satire, parody, and a lot of swearing (and who doesn't?).
peace out...
Jack
