Tony Leys from the Des Moines Register got a chance to meet one of my heroes yesterday – Mary McGonigle-Martin, who he described as “a California mother who almost lost her son to a bacterial infection urged Iowa lawmakers Monday not to legalize the sale of unpasteurized milk.”  Mary got a trip to lovely Des Moines in the middle of winter.  Here is the part of her testimony to pay attention to:

Mary McGonigle-Martin recounted how E. coli bacteria infected her son, Christopher, after she gave him unpasteurized milk, also known as raw milk. “The damage done by this bacteria is incomprehensible,” she said at a Statehouse hearing.

McGonigle-Martin said she had believed natural-food enthusiasts’ claims that raw milk was healthier than unpasteurized milk. But the bacteria caused severe damage to her son’s kidneys and pushed him into heart failure, she said.

The boy, then 7, wound up on dialysis and needed surgeries. The ordeal, which began in 2006, led to more than $550,000 in medical bills.

“It is easy for people to be convinced that knowing your farmer and loving the cow will somehow magically prevent cow feces from getting into the milk,” she said. “We are all suffering from generational amnesia.”

Her son, Chris, is also one of my heroes, and he is very proud of his mom.  See, just a bit of what happened to Chris on the following post:

2006 E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak Linked to Organic Pastures Raw Milk – One Victims Story

Also, see Real Raw Milk Facts.