you have no idea... before saying nonsense do some proper research, not once have l heard of anything outside research
honestly tho, as a generalisation the average brit doesnt give a crap about the farming industry as long as there is food on their table and most are misinformed and believe they are above rules
I wasn't going to reply, a) because this thread had a relaxed feel to it initially, and b) as you obviously feel emotional about the issue and are bringing emotion into your posts which is not to any of our benefit; but i'm in a lose-lose situation after being insulted for giving my personal viewpoint.
Whilst i appreciate and enjoy good discussion and debate, i only do so when mutual respect is granted to all parties, irregardless of personal stance or circumstance.
Just because one hasn't heard of it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
You in one sentence speak condescendingly to me telling me to do some research and in the same sentence say that you haven't heard anything about it outside of research studies (thus implying that you don't attribute much if any stock to it; and by proxy you wouldn't accept as worthwhile any research that i have read either anyway).
One only needs to do a simple internet search to see reams of articles that point towards multiple long term, large scale studies showing an increase in, for example, the incidence of Parkinson's and heavy pasteurised milk consumption. Similarly there are numerous studies showing an increased risk of cancers both in men and women. There are studies linking cow's milk consumption in young children to insulin dependent diabetes. I have read about it and even my own Dr's advice is not to drink much cows milk.
I did not state that in the UK hormones are artificially injected. The hormone is banned in Canada and Europe. That does however happen in other parts of the world, specifically the USA.
Irregardless of use of the artificial hormone in the UK or not, i still do not believe that it is positively healthy to be promoting and drinking a foreign species' breast milk which may have some significant health risks.
There is no medical or nutritional necessity to drink pasteurised cows milk. Why choose to drink something which is not natural for us while we can gain calcium, for example, and in fact every single other nutritional benefit from milk can be gained elsewhere.
Just two little quotes as i get the feeling that if i start showing 'evidence' it may be countered by something else. Im not a scientist, i simply think that for something which is unnatural and has possible risks..its not needed.
Two decades ago, scientists at Cornell University pioneered studies of treating dairy cattle with injections of natural bovine somatotropin (BST). Work by researchers there and elsewhere showed that the hormone alters how cows use nutrients—causing them to divert more of their energy intake into milk generation rather than growth. Indeed, early studies in New Zealand had shown that cows that naturally produce more milk than others in their herd do tend to secrete more of the natural form of this pituitary hormone. Cows now getting a genetically engineered version of the hormone typically produce at least 10 percent more milk than other cows do.
Critics of rBST ask why so many U.S. dairies choose to inject their livestock with the engineered hormone when the nation is already experiencing a milk glut. The answer, agricultural economists say, is that dairying doesn't offer farmers much profit. So any treatment that allows dairies to get hundreds to thousands more gallons from a herd each year looks mighty attractive.
The results show that at 3 months of age, infants who had been fed cows' milk had a significantly higher immune response to bovine insulin than did infants who received the other formula or were breast fed, the authors reported. The groups showed no differences, however, in reactivity to human insulin at that age.
"Our observations raise the issue of whether oral exposure to foreign insulin plays a role in the autoimmune process leading to type 1 diabetes," Dr Paronen and colleagues wrote. It could be that in some predisposed children, early exposure to cows' milk could trigger an immune reaction to insulin.
"The initiation of insulin-specific T-cells by dietary insulin in the gut immune system may carry a risk for an autoimmune process progressing ultimately to clinical type 1 diabetes," they concluded.
Naturally these are all research studies, and even if some of them even come from the BMJ, i wouldn't expect you to think them of much consequence.
Rather than arguing however, instead I suggest simply that our mothers milk, when we are babies, is an incredible food for us. It has growth hormones as babies need. Pasteurised Cows Milk, is no comparison in terms of its value to us as humans, yet it also has growth hormones, for baby cows.
Any food which is not natural to our bodies
and in fact is rejected by most humans bodies, and additionally has potential risks, shouldn't be promoted as being this perfect substance, just because it can be mass produced, packaged, sold, stored and consumed. Would i merrily guzzle away at this foreign breast milk (that is what it is) and feed it to my babies if i had any? No, i don't see the need to do so.