Left-Right Coalition Introduces Two New Raw Milk Freedom Bills

By Heather Callaghan

This might not be a common scenario in your household, but it could be if you live near a state border and travel to a farm for fresh food and dairy.

You go to your farm source and pick up your rich-tasting nutrient dense white gold. Plus, all the non-tampered with veggies – straight from the ground. What a great buy! Drinking raw milk has given you strength and energy – you’ve never felt better or more grateful. You drive back home crossing the state line. You’ve just broken the law!

But the consequences fare much worse for the farmer who produced those goods. They are heavily watched, harassed and raided by various government agencies, including health departments sometimes accompanied by the cops.

Mark Mcaffe of Organic Pastures Dairy once posed this rhetorical question in response to the claim that interstate transfer bans were about public safety: How can a product considered safe in one state suddenly be toxic as soon as it crosses a state line?

U.S. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Chellie Pingree (D–ME) and an 18-member bipartisan coalition are sponsoring two bills in Congress to allow the interstate sales of raw milk and protect farmers from undo attacks from government agencies.

From FoodSafety News:

The Milk Freedom Act of 2014 (HR 4307) would provide relief to local farmers, small producers and others who “have been harassed, fined, and in some cases even prosecuted” for the “crime” of distributing unpasteurized milk, Massie says. It would prohibit the federal government from interfering with the interstate traffic of raw milk products. 

The Interstate Milk Freedom Act (HR 4308) would prevent the federal government from interfering with the trade of unpasteurized natural milk or milk products between the states where distribution or sale of such products is already legal.

Massie said:

Today, many people are paying more attention to the food they eat, what it contains, and how it is processed. Raw milk, which has been with us for thousands of years, is making a comeback among these discerning consumers. Personal choices as basic as ‘what we feed our families’ should not be limited by the federal government.

The bipartisan co-sponsors of the Milk Freedom Act of 2014 include: U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Jared Polis (D-CO), Tom McClintock (D-CA), Scott Rigell (R-VA), Walter Jones (R-NC), Paul Broun (R-GA), Steve Stockman (R-TX), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Justin Amash (R-MI)

Interstate Milk Freedom Act co-sponsors include Pingree, Polis, Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), McClintock, Rigell, Jones, Broun, Andy Harris (R-MD), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Morgan Griffith (R-VA), Ted Poe (R-TX), Marlin Stutzman (R-IN), Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), Stockman, Rohrabacher, Gohmert, Scott Perry (R-PA) and Raul Labrador, (R-ID).

Louisiana also introduced a new bill (House Bill 247) finally allowing farm-to-consumer sales of raw milk – strictly prohibited before.

Raw milk activist and author David Gumpert asks Will Raw Milk Advocates Be Ready For a Battle of the Body Bags in “Milk Freedom” Debate? He says: “I’m not sure Cong. Massie and his coalition of 18 other conservatives and liberals fully appreciate what they have gotten themselves into.”

Be prepared for the smear campaign of a lifetime and all the tricks big money can buy if you want to keep access to non-irradiated, living foods. Those tactics are fully weighed in David’s essential discussion of what we’re up against when more debate breaks out and it rains lobby money in Congress. Vegans and vegetarians – this affects you too – we need you! If people don’t speak up now, local food access could be swept under the constant tide of so called health officials and bureaucracy deploying Agenda 21 tactics. You are probably aware of the growing list of SWAT-style small farm raids (that list stops at 2011), but farmers markets are being targeted as well.

Whenever raw milk is on the legislative table, expect shrill cries from health campaigns and cherry-picked CDC warnings. People scoff at the idea of talking to legislators or talking at all, but consider this: Illinois nearly lost its ability to keep farm-to-consumer agreements, especially in the face of warnings from health officials who were unilaterally deciding that farmers couldn’t provide raw milk to a growing market.

Letters and phone calls to a legislator stopped it in its tracks. Alliance For Natural Health provide some easy ways to get in touch with Congress about these two bills.

Want to learn more? Some good talking points? See this eye-opening Harvard Raw Milk Debate (David Gumpert sits second-to-the-left):

Photo via Midlife Farmwife


Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food freedom activist. You can see her work at NaturalBlaze.com and ActivistPost.com. Like at Facebook.