Milk Powder – more harmful than harm caused by Tobacco!

The Ceylon Tobacco Company the Nation’s top listed entity, but still 93% owned by two of the largest Tobacco Conglomerates on Earth, must be chuckling at this news, maybe they paid Dr Nishantha Premaratne, the Secretary of the GMOA,( the 14 Generations of living in the West worth of bribe that Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena refused) to make this claim a few days ago, splashed across the local media.

The GMOA, a respected body representing a large number of Doctors, says that the non-communicable diseases attributable to the use of Milk Powder is so numerous that they propose a ban on the importation of Milk Powder!

http://denethharinna.blogspot.com/2014/01/blog-post_5.html

I further note a report in today’s Sunday Times that a spokesman in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs states that Milk Powder is NOT an essential item. This must really mean that price controls therefore DO NOT apply to this product, and thereby wash their hands off the proposed humongous rise in the price of Milk Powder! This way the Govt. comes off clean.

This news is serious stuff, and I see no one in Govt. has cared to comment on this and I wonder why? Is it beyond their comprehension, when the overwhelming majority of the people in this country use imported Milk Powder!  Is it such an electoral hot potato that they do not wish to get entangled commenting on?

I as a milk farmer, normally do not buy milk powder as I drink fresh organic milk, which I sell to the Milco for less than Rs50 a bottle a fraction of what it costs me! I have yet not been able to make this venture profitable, as it has to be done on a bigger scale and the price we must get has to be at least double the current level. As for me it is cheaper for me to give my dogs two bottles a day whilst I drink one.

So where do we go from here, by the GMOA statement? I HAVE NOT seen any follow up actions coming out of this statement, attributing it to be the recipients being in shell shock. If true, how quickly can we stop this import, and have local cow’s milk as a replacement? Most Sri Lankans I have come across cannot drink fresh cow’s milk and some have never had it, another shock to me.

I have NO evidence to corroborate the GMOA statement, but as they represent doctors who deal with patients daily it is a very serious statement that must be taken seriously and responded to intelligently.