The Sunday Read: Post-Pasteurian Cultures

Heather Paxson has an intelligent, scholarly look at the fears about germs, the microbiopolitics of raw milk:

Many blame colds on germs, demand antibiotics from doctors, and drink ultra-pasteurized milk and juice, while politicians on the campaign trail slather on hand sanitizer. Yet there are post-Pasteurians in their midst: dissenters who insist that not all bugs are bad, not only that microbes are a fact of life but that many also enhance human life. Resisting the hyperhygienic dream of Pasteurians, post-Pasteurians... may fashion informal social-economic channels to procure unpasteurized milk, via MIT.