I have been working on some Raw Milk issues lately, dealing with press perspectives on it–mostly bad, largely uninformed scare-mongering–and how we can cut a path through the red-tape of over-regulation and ignorance for greater access of something which is supposed to be legal in my state.

However, the horror stories from other states keep coming. Hushed news items about the triumph of police over illegal activities, and protest pieces about attacks on and abuse of Raw Milk producers in other states where it is legal to produce and sell Raw Milk. I would expect these attacks in narrow-minded states where it is illegal to drink fresh, unpasteurized, unprocessed, unindustrialized milk. The forces there want everyone to drink a homogenized, de-natured, ultra-processed product which may as well have come from a cess-pit as a nurturing creature.  For so it seems that Milk has been removed from the natural and made into some sort of squeaky-clean water replacement  that must be processed and altered in order to be a healthy, natural product.  It is as if somehow nature cannot be allowed near anything we consume.

Along with this paranoia about the product, it seems to me good Farmers are being made to be criminals for doing their best to provide their customers with a healthy, wholesome products which the customers themselves are requesting. There have been many raids on farms and arrests of farmers, launched by power-hungry government functionaries who are trumping up charges, being inventive with the laws and draconian with their enforcement. It seems that attacks on Raw Milk are on the rise, as is the complete ignorance of the issues. Elsewhere, I have suggested that consumers who want to eat real food, live a life of informed choices, and who do not want to be told what to eat or have their diets controlled by a nanny state, should be allowed to sign a waiver releasing the farmer or farmers’ collective from harm, fully acknowledging the risks and benefits of their choices. We need a consumer/farmer/local foods/healthy dining manifesto which will carry some authority allowing local food customers and producers to cut through the red-tape and bureaucratic nightmare.

What are these functionaries protecting us from? With misguided statements to the effect that raw milk will cause “miscarriage…swollen neck glands and blood stream infection” a largely ignorant public will be frightened into demanding that the poison and poisoners be eliminated, regulated, punished, for the protection and welfare of society at large. What these poltroons don’t realize is that such a statement could be made–more correctly–about pasteurized milk as well, and any number of prescription and over the counter drugs which these same people trust as safe everyday. The sooner such a skewed reality ends, the better. Is Raw Milk 100% safe? No. Most things aren’t. But properly produced Raw Milk from a pastured herd has a higher rate of being safe than most industrialized, pasteurized, so-called “safe” milk. The sooner people are provided with correct information so they can choose for themselves and the sooner the goon squads stop attacking farmers and treating them like they are drug lords, the better for us all. Farmers need to be allowed to produce the crops and products customers want. They need to be given the space and freedom to produce safe, sustainable products and the backing from their agriculture departments to keep these products quality the highest they can be.

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