Letter to Representative about Raw Milk, corporate control, and freedom.

The Honorable Evan Jenkins

United States House of Representatives
502 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative Jenkins:

I am sure you have followed the local legislation that was passed in West Virginia regarding herd‑sharing as a legal way of allowing unpasteurized dairy product distribution to consumers.  I am equally sure you are aware of the Governor Thompson’s veto neutralizing this legislation. The whole raw milk debate boils down to two basic questions:

Should the government be able to tell free citizens what they can choose to purchase and consume?

Should the corporate/industrial complex hold influence over the laws that control these choices?

 

A bipartisan group led by Congressman Thomas Massie (R–KY) and Chellie Pingree (D–ME) brought federal legislation forward last year addressing raw milk production and transportation freedom at the federal level. The two laws, the “Milk Freedom of Act of 2014” (HB 4307) and the “Interstate Milk Freedom Act of 2014” (HB4308) were written to remove federal impedance on the production sale and transport of unpasteurized dairy products.

I am writing to request your support of similar legislation-should you encounter it during your term of service as my congressional representative.  As one reviews the research available in regards to the risks and benefits of raw milk there is every indication that it is unhealthy and dangerous; however the research has been conducted by those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.  There have been bacterial infections and those are noted by the CDC, the FDA, and by studies paid for by the dairy industry.  There is money for lobbying and having “experts” fly to Washington DC and testify as to the public health concerns associated with unpasteurized dairy products. This money and negative propaganda is the industry’s method of maintaining control of the commodity and the consumer. 

Adult consumers can choose to drink alcohol, to use tobacco, to eat processed unhealthy fast food, yet they are prohibited from choosing to drink milk from a local farm. A local farm that is likely struggling to stay in business while the community around them drinks milk trucked in from a factory farm two hundred miles away.  The small producer cannot afford the equipment to pasteurize their products. The small producer can, however, provide a cleaner environment in which to milk, better forage, and less stress for their livestock- and in turn less medicated livestock.  Small farms are losing ground in our state, indeed in much of the country with factory based agriculture models becoming more the norm.  As this happens the quality and selection of our food is reduced and we are poorer for it.  Please support the cause of raw milk consumers and the dairy farms which produce and wish to legally distribute it.

Sincerely,

Russel Bragg
HC 74 Box 103
Hinton WV 25951