Amish Buggies

by Daniel Sayani
The New American

The federal government, in using its illegitimate and unconstitutional authority to regulate various industries — such as food, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and other commodities — has raised the ire of producers and advocates of raw milk consumption, including Amish communities throughout the American heartland.

Raw milk — that which is unpasteurized and unhomogenized — was the only kind consumed by humans until Louis Pasteur invented the pasteurization process in 1864. When the Progressive Movement of the 1920s intruded into food production, the federal government outlawed all raw milk under the guise that the government has the innate responsibility to promote public health. Ever since, the federal agents have enforced laws advocating mandatory pasteurization, allegedly to ensure that milk is free of listeria, salmonella, and e. coli. Other U.S. health agencies — including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — have strongly recommended that the public not consume raw milk or raw milk products.

In 1987, interstate commerce of unpasteurized dairy products was limited via federal legislation, and under the Obama administration, the FDA has also begun a policy of using federal taxpayer funds to finance anti-raw milk campaigns throughout various states.

Constitutionalists oppose any federal regulation of food products, believing that individuals should have the choice to consume whatever products they wish, free of governmental penalties, retaliation, and coercion. To quote Karen DeCoster, blogging on lewrockwell.com:

The government’s war on raw milk is not only a war on freedom, but it is also a jihad against that old-fashioned (and very obsolete) notion that your health is your responsibility. The state does not want its subjects to be self-sufficient, self-educated, and gaining power through knowledge. Because knowledge is power — the power to question conventional wisdom and reject conformity is a blessed thing for individuals and society, but it is a menace to the authoritarians and conformists.

The federal crackdown on raw milk also fails to consider alternative views on matters of food science and health. Advocates of raw milk consumption point to evidence that the FDA’s campaign against these products is motivated by the enormous lobbying power and influence of various American dairy industry lobbyists, who, in the interest of profit margins, generally produce pasteurized milk, and seek to damage the integrity of the free market by weakening their competition. Those who choose to consume raw milk have every constitutional right to sell, consume, and purchase their products of choice, and they argue that raw milk is not only perfectly safe — due to modern, hygienic means of production — but has comparatively greater nutritive benefits, such as the presence of acidophilus, “good” bacteria found to be beneficial for digestive health. And of course, many people prefer the flavor of raw dairy products, as is their constitutional right.

Notwithstanding these arguments, the federal government has of late been increasingly draconian in its law enforcement tactics against raw milk farmers and producers. Most recently, in April, a year-long sting operation came to fruition when federal investigators targeted the Amish-run Rainbow Acres Farm in Pennsylvania.

Read the Full Article Here: http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/7878-the-federal-governments-war-against-raw-milk

The Raw Milk Revolution
Behind America’s Emerging Battle Over Food Rights
by David E. Gumpert

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