Got E. coli 0157:H7? (And other udderly true tales of scientitis.)

According to this week's print copy of The New Yorker, John Cusack's personal chef is reportedly forbidden to shop anywhere besides Rawesome, the raw food operation currently under investigation--raw milk advocates say harrassment--by the FDA.  The article, "Raw Deal," unfortunately behind a paywall, details the conflict between raw milk lovers, which now include chefs at Michelin-rated restaurants, and health inspectors.

It's easy to mock the raw milk lovers who like the flavor "which tends to be richer and sweeter, and, sometimes, to retain a whiff of the farm--the slightly discomfitting flavor known to connoisseurs as 'cow butt.'"  On the other hand, we've just witnessed the spectacle of "pink slime," legally bleached beef bits that grossed out so many people, the producers literally went out of business in a week.

The freedom to enjoy
 bouquet of cow butt?

Still, while raw milk advocates claim it can cure whatever ails you, even cancer, it is also an ideal growing material for salmonella, listeria and the deadly E. coli 0157:H7 responsible for the deaths of several children during the Jack in the Box hamburger outbreak.  Tea Partiers and libertarians are now taking up the cause of raw milk, calling it "Freedom Milk."   Also consider:

In today's USA TODAY, Vermont legislators are debating what to do about the "philosophical" exemptions allowing unvaccinated children to attend public school; kindergarteners' vaccination rates have dropped from 93% in 2005 to 83% in 2010.  http://tinyurl.com/7o4xypt

The Times reported last week about the Discovery Channel 7-hour series on the melting of the Polar Ice Cap, which did not once mention global warming's cause for fear viewers might get turned off. http://tinyurl.com/6t3yldh

And then, of course, there's the evergreen "never did come from no monkeys, dang you" anti-evolution revolt, now marketed, smartly, as "Intelligent Design." 

Is it distrust of science?  Distrust of government?  Or is it the fear that like the old Candid Camera line, some day, somehow, someone is going to come up to you and say, "Smile!  We've just made a monkey out of you!"