Saturday, August 28, 2010

Raw Milk - Your Choice or Government's Choice?

http://thebovine.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/the-war-over-raw-milk-heats-up-dr-mercola-examines-the-symptoms/#comment-5599
There's a lot to like about raw milk - grass fed cattle milk provides a uniquely nutritious element to the SAD.  Raw milk is not subject to super high temperatures for pasteurization, and anecdotal evidence indicates that primitive cultures who used grass fed raw dairy were often extraordinarily healthy.
Excerpts from the link below follow:
"Right now the “war” between the FDA and consumers looking to secure their right to purchase and drink raw milk is reaching a peak.
Earlier this year, the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) filed a lawsuit against the FDA over their raw milk ban, claiming it is unconstitutional. The FDA’s rebuttal contained the following extremely concerning and outrageous statements, which make it very clear they believe you have no right to unprocessed food:
“There is no absolute right to consume or feed children any particular food.”
“There is no ‘deeply rooted’ historical tradition of unfettered access to foods of all kinds.”
“Plaintiffs’ assertion of a ‘fundamental right to their own bodily and physical health, which includes what foods they do and do not choose to consume for themselves and their families’ is similarly unavailing because plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish.”
The FDA’s brief goes on to state that “even if such a right did exist, it would not render the FDA’s regulations unconstitutional because prohibiting the interstate sale and distribution of unpasteurized milk promotes bodily and physical health.”
“There is no fundamental right to freedom of contract.”
If you go by these assertions, it means the FDA has the authority to prohibit any food of their choosing and make it a crime for you to seek it out. If, one day, the FDA deems tomatoes, broccoli or cashews capable of causing you harm (which is just as ludicrous as their assertions that raw milk is harmful), they could therefore enact such a ban and legally enforce it….”

In my view, the FDA is overstepping its bounds.  
I certainly agree with this:
"Daily Finance reports:
“On occasion, people do get sick from drinking raw milk. But the number of people sickened by raw milk compared to other foods does not seem to warrant the FDA’s focused, expensive campaign …
No government regulations of interstate commerce in peanuts, kale, or cantaloupes have been suggested, despite the much greater number of people sickened by consuming these foods. Sushi, a raw food that provides a greater opportunity for illness than raw milk, is legal in all 50 states, too.”
Daily Finance July 20, 2010"

I like Joel Salatin's idea, as heard on this terrific podcast with Jimmy Moore, that we should add a bill to the constitution which identifies the constitutional right to buy food from whomever a citizen would choose to.
http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/1040/joel-salatin-asks-why-isnt-healthy-natural-food-legal-episode-298/

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