The April issue of Harper's features an outstanding essay on the controversey surrounding unpasteurized -- i.e. "raw" -- milk, and the black market that caters to those who love it.

Advocates describe their love of its flavor almost like hardcore carnivores salivate over juicy, blood-red meat. But unlike steak tartare, raw milk is illegal in half of the United States and all of Canada.

Why? Because pasteurizing milk -- which just means heating it to 160 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 seconds -- kills bacteria that may cause serious damage to your system, potentially resulting in tuberculosis, salmonella, E. coli, and sisteria. But some advocates of raw milk claim that we're susceptible to those bacteria precisely because we've adapted to milk that's been cleansed of its bacteria. If we instead grew up drinking the raw stuff, we'd be more resilient and thus capable of combating those germs -- as well as the many other germs that threaten our well-being every day.

It's not a new argument, suggesting that our anti-bacterial approach to life has weakened our systems and made us ultimately more prone to get sick. But in most cases, we have the freedom to make our own choices on just how anti-septic our lives will be. In this instance, however, it's the government that makes the call.

Dr. Val, a medical blogger who grew up on a farm and occasionally drank raw milk as a child, says she would never serve it to her own kids. Though she never got sick from it herself, she says the risks simply aren't worth it.

And Dr. Val isn't alone in sharing her ambivalence. A simple Google search for "unpasteurized milk black market" yields a wealth of other blogs and newspaper articles on the subject.

Where do you stand?