\n

From 1993 to 2006, 69 outbreaks of human infections resulting from consumption of raw milk were reported to CDC. These outbreaks included a total of 1,505 reported illnesses, 185 hospitalizations and 2 deaths. Because not all cases of foodborne illness are recognized and reported, the actual number of illnesses associated with raw milk likely is greater.”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Okay, let’s look at the numbers. \u00a0That’s what scientists do when making informed <\/em>decisions.<\/p>\n

In 13 years, 1,505 people got sick from raw milk. \u00a0Two people died. \u00a0That’s too bad.<\/p>\n

This must be understood and burned into your mind, Governor. \u00a0Two people. \u00a0Nationwide. \u00a0In 13 years.<\/p>\n

The data for those years is available, but I don’t have the time nor the patience to download the years, compile the data and report out. \u00a0Instead I used the CDC datasets and grabbed what I could, which was 1999-2006. 8 years was the best I could do.<\/p>\n

Here are the results. \u00a0Do not laugh. \u00a0Death is not funny.<\/p>\n

\n
• Raw milk – 2 deaths.<\/li>\n
• Volcanic eruption – 3 deaths.<\/li>\n
• Wrong fluid used in infusion – 4 deaths.<\/li>\n
• Marasmic kwashiorkor – 5 deaths.<\/li>\n
• Intentional self-harm by blunt object – 16 deaths.<\/li>\n
• Crushed, pushed, stepped on by crowd or human stampede – \u00a033 deaths.<\/li>\n
• Contact with hot tap water – 334 deaths.<\/li>\n
• Rider or occupant injured by fall from or being thrown from animal or animal-drawn vehicle in noncollision accident – 619 deaths.<\/li>\n
• Atherosclerotic heart disease – 1,695,716 deaths.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  So, this means that volcanos, incompetent nursing staff, a rare African disease, crowds, \u00a0hot water heaters and horses and\/or buggies all are more lethal than raw milk. \u00a0Not to mention someone clubbing themselves to death with a piece of firewood. \u00a0Then there’s heart disease. \u00a0Just for a reference.<\/p>\n

  Then, Governor Doyle, you did an equally ridiculous thing. \u00a0You did NOT veto the “pickle bill,” which allows home production of canned goods for sale so long as the amount is under $5,000. This means that a little old lady with six cats milling around her kitchen while she cans beets to sell at the swap meet is, by your logic, less of a danger than a well-managed dairy herd.<\/p>\n

  Governor, I promise you that I’d rather have E. coli from raw milk (you recover from that) than Botulism from a jar of canned beans (you don’t recover from that). In fact:<\/p>\n

  \n
  • Botulism – 27 deaths.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    <\/a><\/p>\n

    And yes, I used to work for the Bureau of Public Health as an epidemiologist.<\/p>\n

    Bottom line: Why not let people decide what they eat?<\/em> We have decided to allow undercooked eggs in restaurants, so long as there is a warning on the menu. Same with sushi. \u00a0Why not do the same thing for milk? \u00a0Put it on the label and allow consumers the exact same choice. I decide if my over easy eggs are worth the chance of contracting Salmonella<\/em>. For me, it is.<\/div>\n

    <\/div>\n

    Of course, I expect a canned response stating you take my comments seriously. \u00a0I don’t, of course, expect a thoughtful answer to my last question.<\/div>\n

    <\/div>\n

    Because there is no thoughtful answer.<\/div>\n

    <\/div>\n

    Respectfully submitted,<\/div>\n

    Canoelover<\/div>\n

    P.S I must add, because of my puerile sense of humor, that Priapism (mortality code N48.3) caused two deaths between 1999 and 2006. \u00a0Yep. \u00a0Maybe we should outlaw Viagra and Cialis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Governor James Doyle The Little House on the Lake Madison, Wisconsin Dear Governor Doyle, I’m a Democrat, and I held my nose and voted for you in the last election. \u00a0I will not do that again. The primary is coming, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canoelover.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canoelover.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canoelover.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canoelover.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canoelover.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=968"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.canoelover.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2857,"href":"https:\/\/www.canoelover.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968\/revisions\/2857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canoelover.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canoelover.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canoelover.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}