Pediatricians renew call to ban raw milk as anti-science rhetoric reigns

As many doctors are moving ahead with the latest advances of modern medicine—from powerful obesity drugs to breakthrough cancer treatments—pediatricians are being forced to turn back, fighting to maintain advances in children’s health that were hard-won decades ago.

当许多医生正随着现代医学的最新进展不断前行——从强效减肥药物到癌症突破性疗法——儿科医生却被迫倒退，努力捍卫几十年前来之不易的儿童健康成果。

With anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has spent a considerable amount of time and resources in the past year fiercely defending lifesaving vaccinations—safe, routine shots that have saved the lives of millions of children over decades and thwarted untold suffering and disability.

随着反疫苗倡导者小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪（Robert F. Kennedy Jr.）出任卫生部长，美国儿科学会（AAP）在过去一年中投入了大量时间和资源，极力捍卫挽救生命的疫苗接种工作——这些安全、常规的疫苗在过去几十年里挽救了数百万儿童的生命，并阻止了难以计数的痛苦与残疾。

But just this week, The New York Times reported that Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, has opened aggressive investigations against pediatricians simply because they vaccinated their patients. Paxton falsely claims vaccines are part of a “multi-level, multi-industry scheme.” But critics say his anti-vaccine campaign appears more aimed at currying favor with Kennedy, President Trump, and their supporters as Paxton runs for the US Senate.

但就在本周，《纽约时报》报道称，德克萨斯州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿（Ken Paxton）对儿科医生展开了激进调查，原因仅仅是他们为患者接种了疫苗。帕克斯顿错误地声称疫苗是“多层次、多行业阴谋”的一部分。但批评人士指出，帕克斯顿此举似乎更多是为了在竞选美国参议员期间，向肯尼迪、特朗普总统及其支持者献媚。

Meanwhile, the AAP this week had to renew another decades-old stance for children’s health—one against unpasteurized dairy, aka raw milk. Since the early 20th century, dairy producers in the US have briefly heated milk to kill the array of dangerous pathogens that naturally dwell in and around cattle and can easily migrate into milk. The simple intervention of pasteurization contributed to a sharp, “remarkable” drop in infant deaths and illnesses.

与此同时，美国儿科学会本周不得不重申另一项针对儿童健康的数十年立场——反对未经巴氏消毒的乳制品，即生乳。自20世纪初以来，美国的乳制品生产商一直通过短暂加热牛奶来杀死自然存在于牛只体内及周围、且极易进入牛奶中的多种危险病原体。巴氏消毒这一简单的干预措施，促使婴儿死亡和疾病率出现了急剧且“显著”的下降。

But, much like vaccines, a flood of misinformation has eroded trust and understanding of this public health triumph. And again, Kennedy has been among the advocates working to reverse this health victory.

然而，就像疫苗一样，大量虚假信息侵蚀了人们对这一公共卫生胜利的信任与理解。而肯尼迪再次成为致力于扭转这一健康成果的倡导者之一。

Regressive health: In recent years, state laws have been loosening on raw milk, despite a federal ban on interstate commerce. At least 27 states now allow raw milk sales. In turn, outbreaks from raw milk have increased over the past two decades, the AAP highlights. Nearly half the illnesses in these outbreaks are in children—who are particularly vulnerable to foodborne pathogens.

健康倒退：近年来，尽管联邦政府禁止生乳的州际贸易，但各州关于生乳的法律却在放宽。目前至少有27个州允许销售生乳。美国儿科学会强调，过去二十年来，由生乳引发的疫情有所增加。在这些疫情中，近一半的病例是儿童，他们对食源性病原体尤为脆弱。

Last week, ProPublica reported the heart-wrenching story of a 17-month-old girl in California, who nearly died after acquiring E. coli O157:H7 from drinking raw goat milk. She developed a life-threatening complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome that destroys red blood cells and damages blood vessels in the kidneys, which can lead to kidney failure and death. She required intensive care, and although she survived, she will have lasting effects from the ordeal.

上周，ProPublica报道了一个令人心碎的故事：加利福尼亚州一名17个月大的女婴因饮用生羊奶感染大肠杆菌O157:H7，险些丧命。她患上了一种名为溶血性尿毒综合征的致命并发症，该病会破坏红细胞并损害肾脏血管，可能导致肾衰竭甚至死亡。她需要重症监护，尽管幸存下来，但这次经历将给她留下持久的影响。

Her speech and motor development were halted, and she faces long-term kidney problems, requiring monitoring by a nephrologist every six months. Prior to the girl’s infection, her mother was unaware of the dangers of unpasteurized dairy and trusted information on social media, which falsely claimed that raw milk has health benefits over pasteurized milk. Such myths have persisted despite experts pointing out for years that they are unfounded or plainly false.

她的语言和运动发育停滞，并面临长期的肾脏问题，需要每六个月接受一次肾脏科医生的监测。在感染前，女孩的母亲并不了解未经巴氏消毒乳制品的危险，而是轻信了社交媒体上的信息，这些信息错误地声称生乳比巴氏消毒奶更有益健康。尽管专家多年来一直指出这些说法毫无根据或纯属虚假，但此类谣言依然存在。

The girl’s mother now strongly regrets ever giving her daughter the raw milk and has tried to raise awareness of the risk—only to get barred from online groups for speaking out. In the AAP’s policy renewal this week, pediatricians review all the reasons health experts have, for decades, endorsed consuming only pasteurized dairy products.

女孩的母亲现在非常后悔给女儿喝生乳，并试图提高人们对这一风险的认识，却因直言不讳而被在线群组封禁。在本周美国儿科学会的政策更新中，儿科医生回顾了健康专家几十年来一直主张仅食用巴氏消毒乳制品的所有理由。

“The AAP also endorses a ban on the sale or distribution of unpasteurized milk and milk products throughout the United States,” the AAP wrote. “This recommendation is based on the multiplicity of data regarding the burden of illness associated with consumption of unpasteurized milk and milk products, especially among pregnant people, fetuses and neonates, and infants and young children, as well as the strong scientific evidence that pasteurization does not alter the nutritional value of milk.”

“美国儿科学会还支持在全美范围内禁止销售或分销未经巴氏消毒的牛奶及乳制品，”美国儿科学会写道，“这一建议基于大量关于食用未经巴氏消毒乳制品所致疾病负担的数据，特别是在孕妇、胎儿、新生儿、婴儿和幼儿群体中，同时也基于巴氏消毒不会改变牛奶营养价值的强有力科学证据。”