Americans’ circle of freedom is constantly shrinking, and in a nation founded on the principle that freedoms should be boundless and virtually limitless.
The raw milk industry is a perfect example of how nanny state government, overly influenced by Big Food, conspires to impose its will on the people while curbing freedom of choice.
As reported by Off the Grid News, a large food industry trade organization is leading opposition to the legalization of raw milk sales and the easing of restrictions for such sales throughout the United States.
Corporations influencing the government to restrict freedom
The International Dairy Foods Association, or IDFA, is pushing lawmakers around the nation to keep in place current restrictions on the sale of raw milk and not to relax them in deference to Americans who are trying their best to protect their freedom.
“Loosening the regulations surrounding raw milk … would be a step in the wrong direction,” the IDFA wrote in a letter concerning a specific bill in Virginia. “While choice is an important value, it should not pre-empt consumers’ well-being. Legalizing the state-wide sale of raw milk and milk products is an unnecessary risk to consumer safety.”
Actually, it’s more of a “risk” to Big Food’s profit margin, since most Americans are capable of weighing risks and benefits and then making up their own minds.
The letter went on to insist “consumption of raw milk is a demonstrated public health risk.”
“The link between raw milk and foodborne illness has been well-documented in the scientific literature, with evidence spanning nearly 100 years,” the letter added.
Not all states are hostile to food choice; 12 states permit the sale of raw milk in stores, while another 17 permit it only on farms. Another four allow it via cow-sharing, Off the Grid News reported, citing information from Food Business News, a trade publication.
In a recent interview with Food Business News, the IDFA’s vice president for regulatory and scientific affairs, Cary Frye, defended the organization’s stance against raw milk.
“Raw milk from cows, sheep or goats can have harmful bacteria that affect the health of anyone who drinks it or eats foods made from raw milk,” Frye said. “The dangerous bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria found in raw milk are responsible for causing numerous foodborne illnesses and are especially dangerous to people with weakened immune systems, older adults, pregnant women and children.”
She went on to claim that “science has clearly debunked” the “myths about the benefits of raw milk.”
The IDFA, the National Milk Producers Federation, American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics all oppose the sale of raw milk.
Supporters, of course, say otherwise. They note that milk from grass-fed cows packs more nutrients, helps protect against allergic reactions and boosts the immune system.
In 2010 Natural News editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger and author of the new book Food Forensics, set to be released July 26, wrote that on the federal level, government agencies like the Food and Drug Administration are also in the business of limiting Americans’ food choices.
“The FDA essentially believes that nobody has the right to choose what to eat or drink. You are only ‘allowed’ to eat or drink what the FDA gives you permission to. There is no inherent right or God-given right to consume any foods from nature without the FDA’s consent,” Adams wrote.
But, he notes, in some states where the sale of raw milk is permitted by state governments, there are ways around FDA interference.
“Raw milk’s track record of safety is phenomenal, and all legitimate studies indicate that it’s actually less prone to harbor harmful bacteria than the pasteurized stuff (which is all dead, modified milk anyway),” he wrote.
Others agree. Medical researcher Dr. Ted Beals, MD, has said that you are 35,000 times more likely to get sick from other foods than you are from raw milk.
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