Posted on 11/22/2013 9:11:54 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
There is no free speech when it comes to advertising raw milk products in Oregon. In fact, those who violate this law may face possible jail time.
Most states in the country have significant restrictions on the sale of raw milk, and at first glance, Oregon's seem like some of the less extreme ones. Sales are outright illegal in 20 states, and though Oregon does not allow the retail sale of raw milk, it does allow small organic dairies – with three cows or fewer, only two of which can be lactating at any given time – to sell their product directly to consumers. The catch, however, is that these dairies are prohibited from advertising their product.
Christine Anderson filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in the hopes of changing that. She owns and runs Cast Iron Farm, a two cow dairy and has taken great pains to ensure the process creates the highest quality, safest milk possible, combining modern and traditional methods. The government's concern is that raw milk may carry harmful bacteria like salmonella and E. coli, but such hazards are usually a product of human milk processing, not the cow, itself. Anderson's process minimizes these risks.
Last year, the Oregon Department of Agriculture told Anderson she must remove the milk prices from her website, and as part of this, she has been unable to advertise sales when she has a surplus of milk and is forced to waste much of it, feeding it to her pigs. She also felt compelled to remove information about her milking, bottling and testing methods from her website, because they could also be construed as advertising. The irony of this, as her attorney has noted, is that this actually keeps consumers from accessing information which could help them make safer raw milk choices.
There are a growing number of Americans who consider raw milk to be much healthier than that which is pasteurized.
The pasteurization process destroys proteins, enzymes and probiotics which many consider integral to digestive health. Digestive health has been increasingly linked to overall health, with allergies, infections and even autoimmune disease being connected to digestive issues.
Another issue facing smaller farms is that big corporations like Monsanto and the milk lobby have millions of dollars to advertise their products. They control the public narrative and have the power of the mass media to essentially eliminate smaller competitors.
However, the public is waking up and are concerned about pasteurized milk products that may contain growth hormones. Many countries have already outlawed the artificial hormone rBGH used to inject milk cows in order to maximize production. Starbucks, Chipotle, and Ben and Jerry's state that their dairy products are rBGH-free. Concerns over chemicals, hormones, and drugs in pasteurized milk has helped raw milk sales. The trend to buy local and natural foods continues to be a popular trend in the U.S.
Those in rural communities are fighting draconian laws and regulations imposed by politicians who are influenced by special interests and lobbyists. Farmers like Anderson are filing lawsuits while others are using jury nullification to stand up for their Constitutional rights.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "a Hennepin County jury found Alvin Schlangen not guilty of three misdemeanor counts of selling unpasteurized milk, operating without a food license and handling adulterated or misbranded food." Each count carried a maximum sentence of three months' imprisonment.
More on Jury Nullification
Nanny State PING!
Thanks for the ping!
A big mixed bag.
It seems crazy to not allowed to sell “raw milk” or to advertise it.
But then come the pseudoscience about how good it is or how pasteurized milk is not healthy. And then the lefty big corporation paranoia.
This crap HAS to stop!!
Do we no longer have Any rights or is Monsanto running our health?
Why did Monsanto get a special protection act from Ozero?
What the hell is wrong with raw milk?
It used to be a Choice… now it’s a crime?
What is up with THat?
It was weird in Oregon, almost 10 years ago, I gave my 9 month old raw goat’s milk...they sold it part of the year at the hippy dippy health food store, and I had to drive almost 3 three hours round trip the other time of the year. But they didn’t sell raw cow’s milk. Now they sell neither as far as I last saw on a trip...but in California you can get both raw cow and goat’s milk at the hippier dippier health food stores (but it’s a pretty penny, and it doesn’t stay on the shelves long.) Before we could get the raw goat’s milk at the store, we used to drive about 45 minutes each way and sign that we were purchasing “pet quality” milk. That released the farmer from liability from human consumption. So many hoops for no reason except government interference.
Pasturized milk is what screws your system up so you cant drink raw milk i grew up on raw milk in my cereal in my coffee we hardly ever had store bought milk food cooked with raw milk is better and tastier and real cream in your coffee gives it a great flavor to bad kids now will never know raw milk without pesticides and chemicals in it !
They really are missing something great !
Will we patriots have to wear yellow American flags on our lapels?
While it was not a regular staple, I can remember my folks buying raw milk from a small farmer about a mile away from us in rural KS. He was also the source for eggs. Since I made it through my formative years in the 50s & 60s with no discernible digestive issues from these dangerous products, I’m going to hazard a guess that this is more about government “control” than actual health “protection.”
It was nice growing up in somewhat free country...too bad we lost it as Ben Franklin worried would happen. I also realize it was a slow and deliberate process with multiple historical points that preceded my time on this Earth.
We lost it because:
1.) people think the law is on their side
2.) people are too afraid to bring out the guns
3.) people don’t care
I’m fully in favor of outlawing raw milk and severe punishment for law breakers. Similar laws should be extended to farmers markets that sell unwashed vegetables.
Children have been known to eat raw potatoes with the dirt still on. To eat tomatoes and other vegetables while natures little pests have been allowed to sit on, crap on and fornicated on. No wonder our children are sick all the time.
Don’t get me started on the right wing extremists that eat dead animal flesh. Those poor loving creatures deserve to live as much as we do.
Of course I’m being sarcastic. The left is driving me crazy with their lunacy.
My mother would tell stories of how she milked the cows, crap would fall from the udder into the pale, she’d strain it through cheese cloth, they’d all drink it. Grampa lived to be 95, my Mom 91.
Today we could not do that for our desire for perfect sanitary conditions has weakened our immune systems.
my grandfather in NY drank almost nothing but raw milk as long as he was able to drive. He would visit a friends farm, draw the milk from the cooling tank. He had worked in a pasturization plant in NYC as a young man. There his job was to open and close two valves, one cold water, the other steam, to keep the pasturization tank at a specific temperature through the night.
He would draw a gallon of milk from the raw side at the start of his shift for food and drink. There was a bathroom down the hall, but the drain in the floor was more convenient.
I miss my grandfather.
The fed gov authority to regulate interstate commerce was expanded to intrastate commerce, because people could travel between states, and selling Oregon milk in Oregon to a denizen of NYC was thought to be interstate commerce.
The classic sace was Wickard vs. Filburn. Filburn was growing wheat, and feeding it to his own horses, and was found to be engaging in interstate commerce by doing so to not purchase wheat which had moved in interstate commerce.
It is not so much about control as about large dairy corporations having the government shut down their competition. Rather like Armour had the government shut down local butchers.
A lot of our immune system is provided by the parasites we carry around with us. By improving the quality of your parasites, you improve your immune system.
That is why nursing homes tend to have the old folks there die after about a year. The staff are required to keep them clean, and the beneficial parasites are lost, leaving the old folks subject to disease.
Visitors can recharge their parasite load.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.