A demand for raw milk clearly exists in this country, and the FDA is charged with ensuring the safety of this product. You’d think they’d be trying to work with farmers to help them comply with regulatory safety requirements. But they apparently have another agenda.
David Gumpert has been following the story of raw milk since 2006, and he makes clear that some people do get sick from drinking raw milk. But people get sick from many foods. Consumers of raw milk claim that it has tremendously improved their health. Does the risk of illness from raw milk consumption outweigh the benefits?
What is clear from this interview is that the government agencies overseeing food production aren’t interested in improving the safety of raw milk. In fact, they’re determined to completely outlaw it. And how they treat dairy farmers is criminal.
While you may not drink raw milk yourself, it’s important to understand that this is a “proxy” issue in food freedom rights. If you stand back and do nothing while the federal and state governments persecute and criminalize those who work hard to provide clean, raw milk to those who want it, then pretty soon your food choices might include only irradiated, pasteurized, GMO, cloned, Round-up Ready, shelf-stable, dead “food” from China and filthy Amerikan farms where animals are fed garbage and treated cruelly.
The government needs to be put back in its place of serving the people instead of ignoring them and harassing and jailing those who produce healthy food. The small farm is in danger of being swallowed up in the interests of corporate greed. When you stand up for raw milk, you stand up for consumer choice. This is a battle–one we cannot afford to lose.
Interview
Click to listen to interview or right-click to download MP3 file
Bio
David E. Gumpert is a journalist who specializes in covering the intersection of health and business. His popular blog, The Complete Patient, has chronicled the increasingly unsettling battles over raw milk. He has authored or coauthored seven books on various aspects of entrepreneurship and business and previously been a reporter and editor with the Wall Street Journal, Inc. magazine, and the Harvard Business Review. He is the author of The Raw Milk Revolution.
Links in Interview
Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund
Study: Inverse association of farm milk consumption with asthma and allergy in rural and suburban populations across Europe.
Interview with raw milk advocate Max Kane
Interview with Rob Taylor on Constitutional food freedom
{ 0 comments… add one now }
{ 1 trackback }