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John F. Sheehan, JD, Director of Plant and Dairy Food Safety at the US Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, stated the following in his Mar. 15, 2007 testimony before the Health and Government Operations Committee of the Maryland House of Delegates, available at www.fda.gov:

“Raw milk is inherently dangerous and may contain a whole host of pathogens…

Claims that raw milk has miraculous disease-curing properties are not supported by the scientific literature…

Permitting raw milk sales, or the operation of so-called ‘cow-share’ schemes to occur within any given jurisdiction, will not result in the maintenance or further strengthening of our food safety systems. On the contrary, permitting such sales and schemes will inevitably result in an increased incidence of foodborne illness…

Raw milk is inherently dangerous and should not be consumed. Raw milk continues to be a source of foodborne illness and even a cause of death within the United States. Despite the claims of raw milk advocates, raw milk is not a magical elixir possessing miraculous curative properties. Pasteurization destroys pathogens and most other vegetative microbes which might be expected and have been shown to be present in milk. Pasteurization does not appreciably alter the nutritive value of milk.”

Mar. 15, 2007