Capitol Report: Raw milk ‘freedom riders’ set to defy FDA
Raw milk fans plan to defy federal law Thursday by purchasing
raw milk in Wisconsin and traveling across the state line to
Chicago to distribute it.
“There is a federal law that says you can’t bring raw milk over
state lines and distribute it for human consumption,” says Max
Kane, a raw milk supporter and activist from Viroqua. “We plan to
challenge that law.”
The event, in which participants will transport 100 gallons of
raw milk to waiting customers at Chicago’s Independence Park, is
the second of its kind to be held in just over a month’s time by
the Farm Food
Freedom Coalition.
The organization was formed in August by four women, from
California and Washington, D.C., after a string of raids on food
cooperatives that included raw-milk suppliers in California and
Pennsylvania.
The first so-called Raw Milk Freedom Riders event was held Nov.
1 in Maryland. Like the event planned from Wisconsin to Chicago, it
involved a large group of mothers transporting raw milk illegally
across state lines. The action is prohibited by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration.
The FDA subsequently released a lengthy statement detailing the
health risks associated with drinking raw milk, citing the fact
that unpasteurized milk may contain pathogenic bacteria like
listeria, campylobacter, salmonella and E. coli.
The statement also reiterated the FDA’s position that, although
transporting raw milk across state lines is illegal, it did not
plan to prosecute anyone found to be participating in such an
action.
“With respect to the interstate sale and distribution of raw
milk, the FDA has never taken, nor does it intend to take,
enforcement action against an individual who purchased and
transported raw milk across state lines solely for his or her own
personal consumption,” read the statement.
But the food freedom riders say their rallies are prompted by
the failure of the FDA to address in its statement what actions, if
any, it plans to take in the future against what it calls “agents,”
or those found transporting raw milk across state lines to sell to
others.
“It leaves the door wide open for them to prosecute agents down
the road,” says Liz Reitzig, co-founder of the Farm Food Freedom
Coalition, who participated in the Maryland event and plans to
participate in the Wisconsin to Chicago ride on Dec. 8. “They are
leaving the door open on another way to cut off the supply of
milk.”
The actions of the Raw Milk Freedom Riders are the latest
chapter in Wisconsin’s debate over allowing raw milk sales.
In May 2010, former Gov. Jim Doyle abruptly changed course and
vetoed a bill, approved by the Democratic-controlled Legislature,
which would have allowed raw milk sales on a trial basis.
Raw-milk supporters, who had staged numerous rallies at the
Capitol, http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt_and_politics/raw-milk-fans-say-wisconsin-s-dairy-industry-is-too/article_d1daccd0-66eb-11df-a1fe-001cc4c002e0.html”
claimed Doyle caved under pressure from the state’s $26.5
billion conventional dairy industry in vetoing the bill.
Subsequently, a number of known raw milk sellers, including Sauk
County dairy farmer
Vernon Hershberger, were visited by law enforcement and DATCP
agents and forced to shut down their raw milk sales.
As it now stands, only “incidental” raw milk sales are allowed
in Wisconsin. That means farmers can sell raw milk to their
employees or in small quantities to people who stop by their farms,
says Donna Gilson, a spokeswoman with the state Department of
Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
“The fact that they are criminalizing us for providing this
product to our families does not make anyone else any safer,”
Reitzig says.
This site is hosted by (click on the graphic for more information)
Return raw milk to Home Page
If you want to increase your site popularity and gain thousands of visitors = check out these sites:
