Date of 1st event: Thursday 29th November, 10:00 - 15:00

Venue: University Guild of Students, Liverpool, UK

This Raw Milk Series event, Risk Trade-offs, will discuss the hype, the science, and of course the risks around the consumption of raw (i.e unpasteurised) milk. This topic is the starting point of a wider discussion around what the role of regulation should be in public health.

The Raw Milk Series is an open forum for discussion and debate about the greatest challenges facing society today, and how this should guide and influence our scientific work. These events will consist of invited speakers with particular expertise, and international recognition in the field under discussion, followed by a lively open debate. These meetings are open to anyone; academic, industrialist, or member of the public.

The idea behind the series began when considering the benefits and risks of consuming raw milk. Controversy has been brewing around the world for several decades about the risks and benefits of raw milk, i.e., fresh unprocessed milk that has not undergone pasteurisation. Scientific evidence documents both benefits and risks associated with drinking raw milk, but public health authorities often focus exclusively on perceived risks rather than the full body of evidence regarding risks and benefits. This forms the basis for discussion during the first event on the topic ‘Risk Tradeoffs : Crying over Raw Milk’.

There are two further such events currently planned for this series. ‘Risk Communication: Lying over Raw Milk’, where issues of fake-news, the ethical use of absolute and relative conditional probabilities, dark methods in advertising, and the "authority" problem of undue belief in numbers promulgated by government or advertisers will all be open for discussion.

The final event planned in this current cycle will be titled ‘Risk Regulation: Dying over Raw Milk’, where the current thinking on making life-and-death decisions for public good and human health will be interrogated. What is the role of regulation, and who is responsible when it fails? Are catastrophes ‘black-swans’ unavoidable? In a modern world of algorithmic decision making is the current regulatory framework even still applicable.

Click here for more information on 1st event…

Event 2: TBA

Event: 3: TBA