Raw milk sales soar as idiots believe drinking bird flu will give them ‘immunity’

U.S. raw milk sales have increased 21% since avian flu was first confirmed in dairy cattle in late March, according to a PBS Newshour report, citing new data from a research firm . NielsenIQ. Why on earth would people drink raw milk at a time when pasteurization has been shown to kill the virus? Because some people believe that being intentionally exposed to H5N1 will give them “immunity” to the disease. Seriously.

At least 46 dairy cow herds in nine states have tested positive for bird flu, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and four new herds have been reported. just today. The big concern is that widespread outbreaks in dairy cows provide more opportunities for the virus to mutate, potentially allowing it to spread freely between other species.

Inactive viral remnants of H5N1 have been found in pasteurized milk, but the USDA assures consumers that this is the case. drink safely. Raw milk, on the other hand, has “high concentrations” of virus, according to the USDAand consuming unpasteurized dairy right now is like playing Russian roulette.

Although there have been no known cases of human-to-human transmission of the virus, the situation could change if mutations occur. The World Health Organization has identified 889 human cases and 463 deaths due to H5N1 worldwide. since 2003which brings the mortality rate to around 52%.

Surprisingly, the growing popularity of raw milk appears to be directly linked to the detection of bird flu in unpasteurized dairy products and the erroneous belief that exposure to the virus would benefit humans.

THE Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that interest in raw milk producers has only intensified since the avian flu pandemic began to worsen on American farms:

Mark McAfee, founder of Fresno’s Raw Farm and the Raw Milk Institute, said his phone keeps ringing with “customers asking for H5N1 milk because they want to be immunized.” (Bird flu has not been detected in California dairy herds.)

Other raw milk drinkers, like Peg Coleman, a medical microbiologist who runs Coleman Scientific Consulting, a food safety consulting firm based in Groton, N.Y., said the government’s warnings had no effect. basis in reality.

Social media platforms like TikTok and Twitter have many anti-science activists extolling the virtues of raw milk, and these influencers only seem to Gain traction since bird flu was first detected in U.S. dairy cows on March 25.

Please never drink raw milk, especially not now. Despite claims that raw milk has nutritional benefits, this is simply not true, according to the CDC. The only statement that holds is that raw milk tastes better, which is obviously a matter of taste. And that’s a really stupid reason to get very, very sick — not to mention potentially triggering a whole new human-centered pandemic that could kill half of all those infected.