Push to put A2 milk theory to test
By PAUL GORMAN - The Press | Saturday, 05 April 2008
New Zealand is being promoted as a laboratory for A2 milk testing.
Australian population health specialist Professor Boyd Swinburn believes New Zealanders could be the guinea pigs in a "natural experiment" to show that A2 milk is safer than the dominant A1 variety _ particularly in relation to type-one diabetes, in which the pancreas loses its ability to produce insulin.
Swinburn, of Melbourne's Deakin University, told The Press he was changing his mind about how much research needed to be done before New Zealand switched its dairy herd to A2 milk production.
Farmers had to take the lead in shifting herds to A2, and New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra had to support them and provide all the relevant information, he said.
A2 milk does not contain the A1 milk protein that some link to illnesses including type-one diabetes, heart disease, autism, Crohn's disease and schizophrenia.
Swinburn was the author of a review of A1 and A2 milk several years ago and .
advocated more research to prove A2's benefits.
However, yesterday Swinburn said he now believed there was a limit to how much research had to be done before changes could be made, and compared it to the cot death issue.
Efforts to reduce the number of cot deaths by lying babies on their backs were made once the first evidence came out that the move might save lives, rather than waiting until it had been proven beyond reasonable doubt.
"Cot deaths have plummeted. They haven't gone away but they have gone down substantially. There we have what you call a natural experiment.
"If we want to have sufficient evidence for there to be some kind of public policy or direction from the Government about milk, absolutely we need more research.
"But if we want to take action on changing the herds in New Zealand, then actually I don't believe we do need more research. That's because the cost of doing it is zero, because farmers just need to select A2 semen from bulls. Potentially, the detrimental effect as far as we can tell is zero."
Food Safety Minister Lianne Dalziel said more research was needed before there was any "public policy change".
"The question of whether New Zealand herds should be switched to A2 in the absence of such evidence is one entirely for the industry to consider."
Fonterra did not want to comment on Swinburn's remarks.
Asked why Fonterra was not leading research into A2 milk, a spokeswoman said: "Fonterra is a responsible organisation and reviews any science that comes out about milk and its components. We have done this a number of times on this issue and have found no cause for concern."
ATM - A2 Corp
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