Aug. 13, 2025
How Did Raw Milk Become the Villain?
Hello and welcome back to ChasingEden, where we explore the paths to true wellness—rooted in nature, nourished by tradition, and guided by wisdom—while still recognizing that sometimes, modern medicine has its place. I’m your host, Caroline Thompson.
Today’s episode asks a question you may never have thought to ask: How did raw milk become the villain?
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/chasing-eden-health-longevity-and-spirituality--6612749/support.
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Hello, and welcome to Chasing Eden, where we explore the
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paths to true wellness routed in nature, nourished by tradition,
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and guided by wisdom, while still recognizing that sometimes modern
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medicine has its place. I'm your host, Carolyn Thompson. Today's
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episode ask a question you may never have thought to ask.
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How did raw milk become the villain? For centuries, raw
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milk nourished families across cultures and continents. It was once
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celebrated as a wholesome, life giving food, but somewhere along
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the way the story changed radically. Now many view raw
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milk as dangerous. It's illegal in some states, and something
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to be avoided at all costs. We'll explore the history
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of raw milk in America and the world, how pasteurization
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took over, not purely for public health, but also for profit,
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and what new science says about a two milk and
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lactose intolerance. This is going to be fascinating, so let's
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dive in. For thousands of years, raw milk was a
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dietary staple for people all over the world. Ancient Egyptians
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prized it, nomadic tribes in Central Asia thrived on it,
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medieval Europeans drink it fresh, turned it into butter, cream, cheese,
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and kifer. It wasn't just food, it was a source
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of life, providing protein, fat, calcium, and probiotic bacteria. Before
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refrigeration and vitamin supplements existed. In the American colonies, milk
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came from cows grazing on pastures and sometimes sheep and goat.
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Families milk their animals daily, drink it raw, and use
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the surplus to make cheese or yogurt. It was nutrient dense,
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alive with beneficial enzymes like lactase, lipais and phosphofhaetaes, enzymes
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that help us digest and assimilate nutrients.
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In traditional societies, raw.
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Milk was valued for its ability to strengthen children, nourish pregnant.
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Mothers, and restore the sick.
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Farmers knew that the health of the milk depended entirely
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on the health of the animal. Pasture raised, clean and
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well cared for animals produced safe milk. For centuries, nobody
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considered it dangerous until in dustrialization changed how milk was
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produced and distributed. Pasteurization is named after French chemist Louis Pasteur,
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who in the eighteen sixty discovered that heating wine killed
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spoilage organisms.
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The method was later.
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Applied to milk, heating it to a specific temperature to
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kill bacteria. Now here's the turning point. In the late
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eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds, American cities grew rapidly.
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People moved away from farms into crowded industrial areas. Milk
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no longer came fresh from the family cow. It came
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from urban dairies, often tied to distilleries, where cows were
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fed left over grain mash, confined into filthy conditions, and
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milked in unsanitary barns. This milk often carried dangerous pathogens
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like tuberculosis, typhoid, and brusilosis, and made people sick. Instead
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of addressing the root problem poor animal care, overcrowding and contamination,
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the solution pushed by industry was pasturization. Pasteurization allowed big
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dairies to collect milk from many sources, store it longer,
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and ship it farther without spoilage.
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But it came at a cost.
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Heating milk destroyed delicate enzymes, reduced vitamin content, especially the
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vitamin C and B vitamins, and altered protein structures. From
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a health perspective, pasteurization was a band aid for bad farming.
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From a business perspective, it was gold. It meant milk
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could be centralized, standardized, and sold at scale, and the
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a new narrative was born. Raw milk is dangerous, pasteurized
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milk is safe. By the nineteen twenties, pasturization was ridden
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into law in many US cities. By the nineteen forties,
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it became the norm nationwide. And once that happened, small
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family dairies who sold clean, raw milk locally were pushed out,
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while industrial milk processors consolidated power. It's important to acknowledge
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that public health concerns were real in the early days
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of pasturization, but so were the financial incentives. Pasteurization allowed
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large companies to buy up milk from hundreds of farms,
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blend it, process it, and brand it. This centralized control
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cut out small producers and made milk just another industrial commodity.
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And here's the thing. Once pasturization became the law, it
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became illegal in many states to sell raw milk, even
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from healthy grass fed cows. Why not necessarily because every
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batch was dangerous, but because pastorization created a monopoly, only
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large licensed facilities could legally sell milk. Fast forward to
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today and you'll see the result. Most Americans have never
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tasted true raw milk. Marketing campaigns over decades have painted
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it as unsafe, even though people around the world from
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rural France to Kenya still consume it daily without fear
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as they have for centuries now. I don't know if
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you've ever heard of the a one versus A two
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milk story, So let's shift over to this discussion. Cow's
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milk contains beta caseine, a type of Most modern dairy
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cows in the US produce a one betak scene, but
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many heritage breeds like Jersey, Guernsey and some Asian and
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African breeds produce the a two betak sne. This is
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really important to know. It may seem trivial, but follow
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me here because this is important information. So why does
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this matter? A one beta k scene, due to a
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genetic mutation that arose thousands of years ago, produces a
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peptide during digestion called bc M seven or beta caso
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morphine seven. Research suggests that BCM seven may contribute to
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digestive comfort, inflammation, and symptoms often labeled as lactose intolerance.
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In contrast, a two beta caseine does not release BCM
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seven and is digested more slowly and easily. Many people
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who believe they are lactose intolerant may actually be sensitive
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to a one beta caseine and not lactose itself. Interestingly,
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raw milk from A two cows also contains lactase per
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dase producing bacteria, which helps digest lactose naturally. This may
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explain why some people tolerate raw A two milk even
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if they can't drink pasteurized stobot milk. The takeaway well,
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the milk intolerance epidemic may be partly a genetic mismatch
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between humans and modern industrial dairy breeds, not an inherent
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flaw in milk as a food. Raw milk is still
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illegal for retail sale in many US states, though her
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share programs and direct farm sales are a way some
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people legally access it. Advocates say it safer today than
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in the past, especially when sourced from grass fed cows,
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clean barns, and local farms where freshness is guaranteed. Now.
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When my kids, when I was homeschooling them back in
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the late nineties early two thousands, I took them to
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a farm where the Infresno, the Fresno area in central California,
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where the farmer was selling raw milk, and I introduced
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my children to the raw milk industry and drinking raw milk.
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So that was a little trip we'd make a couple
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times a month and we'd go down to the little
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farm and buy the milk. And we could buy it
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locally as well, but I like to buy it directly
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from the farmer and I wanted and they were able
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to tour the farm, and he took us on a
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whole tour of his farm and it was really neat. Now,
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this poor guy, he struggled to sell to keep selling
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his milk and keep it stocked. He had some legal
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problems because California was giving him a hard time. At
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one point, I believe he was selling meat and they
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just put so many, so much red tape in his way.
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He had to stop selling his meat. So this is
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again another way that states and government can get in
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the way of our health. Now getting back to raw milk. Nutritionally,
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raw milk contains live enzymes, beneficial bacteria, and heat sensitive
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vitamins destroyed by pasturization. Some studies even suggest it may
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reduce allergies and asthma and children raised on farms. Even so,
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it's a personal choice. For those with immune concerns, pasteurized
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milk me feel safer for you. For others, raw milk
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from a trusted farm offers health benefits they find unmatched,
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and today, more than ever, it's becoming more important to
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support our local farmers. So if you do think raw
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milk is something you would like to try, do an
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internet search and see if you can't find a local
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farm and see if they won't give you tour around
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the farm. You can verify for yourself if they have cleaning,
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clean farm practices and if the cows are actually grazing
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on green grass. So here on Chasing Eden, we believe
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in blending the best of nature with the best of science.
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So pasteurization solved the nineteenth century urban problem, but it
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also stripped milk of living qualities that nourished humanity for centuries.
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So this isn't about rejecting all modern methods. It's about
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understanding context, history, and choice. Just as herbal medicine can
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co exist with conventional care, raw milk carefully sorts can
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co exist with pasteurized milk in the modern food system.
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By knowing the story, you can make an informed choice
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for yourself and your family. Thank you so much for
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joining me on this journey and story of raw milk,
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It's history, it's demonization, and the science hind a two milk.
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If this sparked curiosity, I encourage you to explore your
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local farms, learn about your state's law, and taste the
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difference yourself. Thank you so much for joining me here
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at Chasing edendt net. If you'd like to go to
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our website, that's our website, Chasing Edendt Net
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And subscribe to our podcast if you like what you heard,
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00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:24.720
128
00:10:25.159 --> 00:10:30.440
129
00:10:30.519 --> 00:10:35.600
130
00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:40.240
131
00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:44.759
132
00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:47.960
133
00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:51.200
134
00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:54.000
135
00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:56.919
136
00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:59.679
137
00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:01.639
138
00:11:01.639 --> 00:11:03.720
139
00:11:03.720 --> 00:11:08.279
140
00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:13.679
141
00:11:13.799 --> 00:11:19.799
142
00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:22.080
143
00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:26.399
144
00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:31.000
145
00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:35.240
146
00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:40.519
147
00:11:40.519 --> 00:11:44.080
148
00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:46.960
149
00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:50.440
150
00:11:50.440 --> 00:11:53.799
151
00:11:53.879 --> 00:11:56.200
152
00:11:56.559 --> 00:12:00.919
153
00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:04.399
154
00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:07.840
155
00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:11.000
156
00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:13.720
157
00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:16.240
158
00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:19.200
