Cow's Milk - Is it really safe for human consumption?

Isabelle's chronic eczema was a result of her ingesting cow's milk, either fresh or powdered since she weaned from me. Ilysse recently started having rashes which we believe was due to her daily intake of a glass or two of powdered cow's milk. Since I stopped breastfeeding Ilysse only about 7 months ago, I have since been giving her powdered milk. What is it then in cow's milk, whether fresh or powdered, that causes this condition? Are my daugthers simply allergic to cow's milk? Or, is it because of something else in the cow's milk?

I finally got my answer from the controversial but truly informative book, Diet for a New America, by John Robbins. This book was written in 1987 but his writings still echo true to this day. This book has been repeatedly recommended to me by Nona Andaya-Castillo, a lactation consultant and one of the forerunners in promoting breastfeeding in the country. She mentioned the book to me the first time I met her in 2003 but it was only a month ago that I finally got hold of it.

If you are brave enough to find out what diet is fed to the cow that gives us milk and meat, I quote below a portion of the book:

"Some of the larger feedlots have as many as 100,000 "units". Here the animals are fed a diet designed for one purpose only - to fatten them up as cheaply as possible. This may include such delicacies as sawdust laced with ammonia and feathers, shredded newpaper (complete with all the colors of toxic ink from the Sunday comics and advertising circulars), "plastic hay," processed sewage, inedible tallow and grease, poultry litter, cement dust, and cardboard scraps, not to mention the insecticides, antibiotics, and hormones. Artificial flavors and aromas are added to trick the animals into eating the stuff."

The reality of all this is one that even a cattleman, Mr. Herb Silverman, cannot take. His reply to Mr. Robbins' question about how he felt about the high levels of drugs fed to today's cattle is this:

"It's not good. Instead of improving husbandry practices, which would make the animals healthier, we just shoot 'em up with drugs. It's cheaper that way, and because this is a competitive business, I've got to do it, too. Bu in the meantime the general public is catching on, and getting afraid of residues in the meat. And I'll tell you something. I don't blame them."

Our Philippine Bureau of Food and Drugs have recently been kept busy testing milk and milk products for the chemical melamine as an aftermath of the scandal that rocked China. But, in the interest of public health, especially those of the children, they should not only test for melamine but for all other chemicals as well.

The only alternative to consider if you would still like to give your children cow's milk is to give them organic milk from cows fed natural food and/or allowed to graze. In the Philippines, Rizal Dairy Farms offers organic fresh cow's milk. They have a stall at the Market!Market! in Taguig and the Salcedo's Weekend Market on Saturdays. I also have also given my kids Baby's Only Organic Dairy Formula which unfortunately is not available in the Philippines.

Another option available for children who insist on drinking dairy milk is to give them goat's milk. I recently introduced my kids to fresh goat's milk from Milk Star. Not only do they love it, but, it seems that they are not allergic to it as I even see a big improvement in Isabelle's skin condition since she started drinking it. The goat's milk can bought from the Picky Moms' stall at the Tiendesitas and Market!Market!

Aside from cow's or goat's milk, there are other dairy-free milk to consider like rice milk, soy milk, or almond milk which are all available in Healthy Options. Isabelle and Ilysse have been taking either rice or almond milk since we discovered that they are allergic to cow's milk.