Here’s another callback for you longtime Fatheads. It’s from the end of a two-parter I wrote on the State of Illinois’ attempt last year to regulate raw milk producers out of business, “The Older Brother’s notes from the sausage factory floor…” At the end, after over a hundred people showed up to politely but loudly protest the state’s heavy-handed actions, I noted:
“I’ve heard from a couple of folks who think the regulators got an education on raw milk… Maybe the bureaucrats would change things up substantially. Maybe even remove impediments to raw milk while setting a few common-sense protocols, as it fits in with the buy local/real foods programs the state and others talk up.”
Feeling I had a better understanding of bureaucratic sausage-making than those good, honest people, I ended with…
“I’m guessing they’ll lay low for a few months or more, and then pass pretty much all of those rules as is, maybe without the 100 gallon limit. Or maybe they’ll bump the limit to 500 gallons. But they didn’t learn anything, and they’re there to pass those rules.
It’s what they do.”
… Well. Sorry to be right again, but really, it was an easy call.
Apparently, in the last week or so, the FDA-funded lickspittles at the Illinois Department of Public Health went ahead and promulgated new rules concerning raw milk because… well, because there were no rules and how can you just let people mind their own business without someone writing rules to give them permission to do their own business and regulations detailing how that business is to be minded.
This go-round, they’ve posted for comment regulations that will require anyone selling raw milk to gather the name, address, and phone number of anyone they sell raw milk to and turn it over to the state on request. They will also be prohibited from milking a cow with any dirt on its udder or belly, and be required to only milk cows in a building with floors and walls that can be cleaned. In other words, you can’t milk a cow outdoors, and you’ll have to build a building for several tens of thousands of dollars to do it in.
These are, of course, only a start. Once they get some regulations on the books, they can keep expanding them and “re-interpreting” them until they’ve driven all raw milk producers out of the market. Mission accomplished!
I wouldn’t have known about this as my local paper — the one in the state capital and the middle of ag country — didn’t actually mention any of this. It did, however, helpfully print a letter to the editor from one of the FDA’s useful idiots – the (prepare to be impressed) president of The Illinois State Medical Society. Here’s a few of what the medical establishment’s public mouthpiece seems to think are compelling arguments on why educated, intelligent, health-conscious people shouldn’t be allowed to choose to consume milk in the way it’s been consumed for the last 7,500 years or so…
As the Illinois Department of Public Health advances rules governing the sale of raw milk, the Illinois State Medical Society remains opposed to the sale and distribution of “raw” or unpasteurized milk in any form. Federal law prohibits dairies from distributing raw milk across state lines in final package form and about half of U.S. states prohibit the sale of raw milk completely.
Correct answer: So what?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other medical and health organizations, raw milk that is not pasteurized may contain a wide variety of harmful bacteria, including Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria and other bacteria, that can cause serious illness and, in extreme cases, death. And studies show that children, particularly, are most susceptible to illness due to consuming unpasteurized raw milk.
You mean, there might be germs in milk? Like just about any other food out there. Only as the statistics show, not so much. The nice thing about raw milk is that, unlike pasteurized milk, it also contains all kinds of good bacteria that, in addition to controlling the baddies mentioned, also brings both documented and anecdotal benefits. Probably in about another twenty years, the adherents to the type of medicine practiced by the Illinois State Medical Society will discover the wonders of the gut biome. (Don’t tell them now – you’ll ruin the surprise!)
Pasteurization, simply put, is heating milk to a high temperature and then rapidly cooling it to eliminate harmful bacteria, yet maintaining the milk’s freshness for an extended period of time. Even the Illinois Farm Bureau advocates that individuals drink pasteurized milk.
Wow. You mean, the industry group representing the commodity dairy producers who keep their livestock in confinement pens, inject them with hormones and antibiotics, then mix milk from thousands of cows from different producers, to be shipped hundreds of miles, think people should only drink pasteurized milk? The ones who also put artificial coloring and aspartame in their products?
Now, if you’re going to drink milk from one of these producers, you damned well better want it to be pasteurized. That has nothing to do with the environment of healthy dairy cows raised on pasture with sales going to people within driving distance, who can walk around those fields if they want to see what conditions their food is being produced in.
(Don’t worry about that aspartame thing though. The FDA of which the guardian of our health at the Illinois State Medical Society speaks is engaged in an effort, at the behest of these same producers, to allow aspartame to not be listed in the ingredients of your store-bought, “healthy” milk.)
And these commodity producers, having seen milk sales drop over 20% to the lowest levels in thirty years, are more than happy to advise the FDA, the USDA, the Medical Society, and any other economic illiterates, on how to best put small farmers — who are producing a healthy, ethical, vastly superior product at premium prices — out of business.
I’d say that if the good doctor’s medical expertise is in line with his depth of understanding exhibited in the areas of epidemiology and economics, it would explain why there are over 90,000 medical malpractice-related hospital deaths a year.
That’s an interesting number, because coincidentally, according to an excellent breakdown of the real numbers done by Chris Kesser here, that’s about the odds (1 in 94,000) of a person even getting ill from raw milk (not dead – just a reportable tummy ache). The odds of being hospitalized due to raw milk are around 1 in 6 million, or about three times less than dying in an airplane crash. As for dying, well that’s hard to calculate, since the last reportable deaths associated with raw milk were in the late 1990’s, and those were from homemade “bathtub” queso cheese, which was assuredly contaminated by the maker.
Now, back in 1985, both the worst case of food poisoning deaths (52) and the worst case of salmonella poisoning deaths (possibly up to 12) since the CDC began keeping records in 1970 resulted from consuming dairy products. However, both of those cases involved pasteurized milk. You know — the safe kind.
In fact, there has never been a death reported from just drinking raw milk. That’s according to the CDC. But it took a Freedom of Information Act request to get that out of them, cause it tends to mess with their mission, which is to produce press releases that say “Majority of dairy-related disease outbreaks linked to raw milk.”
Not that food can’t kill you. Since that last death associated with raw milk products, people have died from spinach, green onions, cantaloupe, peanuts, drinking water, apple juice, various types of meats, and again, pasteurized milk products, among others.
If the sundry State Medical Societies worked on “physician, heal thyself” and “first, do no harm” instead of acting as the PR wing for the FDA, CDC, USDA and other Big Ag-owned agencies, they could save countless lives. Up to 90,000 just for starts. That’s without even touching all the havoc and suffering they create helping out their other good buddies over at the pharmaceutical companies.
NOTE: If you live in Illinois, you’ve got until October 20th to let your elected representatives know that you’re not interested in less freedom, crappier food choices, and putting small farmers out of business. Remember, nothing gets a bureaucrat’s attention like a lawmaker who’s getting an earful from irritated (but polite, please) constituents two months before an election.
Cheers,
the Older Brother
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“If the sundry State Medical Societies worked on “physician, heal thyself” and “first, do no harm” instead of acting as the PR wing for the FDA, CDC, USDA and other Big Ag-owned agencies, they could save countless lives”.
But then where would the money come from? Get real.
Hey you’re lucky – I live in a state (Maryland) where raw milk is totally illegal. I’ve though about smuggling before (raw milk from PA) but haven’t tried it yet.
I live in Los Angeles and raw milk has been banned for several years. I used to drink it sparingly ($8) half gallon but I noticed I always felt better on it.
Remember, the weaker, sicker, broker and more frightened we are, the easier we can be controlled.
Raw milk is legal here in Ohio if you are part of a herdshare, but they’re so popular that it’s hard to find one with shares available, at least in our area. As a compromise, we purchase milk from a local dairy that graze their cattle in the warm weather and feed them hay and silage in the cold. It’s vat pasteurized (slowly brought up to temp, which is supposed to leave at least some of the good stuff intact), non-homogenized and never mixed with milk from other dairies. It is also insanely good.
“If the sundry State Medical Societies worked on “physician, heal thyself” and “first, do no harm” instead of acting as the PR wing for the FDA, CDC, USDA and other Big Ag-owned agencies, they could save countless lives”.
But then where would the money come from? Get real.
Well, the really big money still comes from Pharma.
This is more along the lines of “Q: Why don’t sharks don’t eat lawyers? — A: Professional respect.” Big Medicine has a vested interest in keeping all of the apparatus of Big Government intact, especially having sold the remnants of its soul to Obamacare. Otherwise, who will be there for them when they need midwives, independent nurse practitioners, naturopaths and others put out of business. Oops, I mean common sense rules to protect people. Heh, heh.
Then there’s the “we care so much about you” distraction effect:
“Um, we killed 90,000 people through preventable errors? Well, I suppose we should, uh, HEY, LOOK OVER THERE!! TIMMY’S GOT A TUMMY ACHE!! Sorry, I’m going to have to get back to you after I fix the raw milk epidemic.”
Cheers
You know it’s really only 96% of lawyers that give the rest a bad name.
.
.
**rimshot**
The war on real food is getting more frightening by the day. Here in Washington state I don’t hear about it. The Pacific NW is pretty ferocious about local clean food and so far we’ve been left pretty much alone. But this article reminds me to not be complacent. I’m going to dig up whatever info may be out there on raw milk politics in my state and keep an eye on it.
Raw milk is legal for retail sale (with the appropriate warning label of course) as well as cow shares. I have two grocery stores within a mile of my house that sell raw goat and cow milk. There are two dairies that sell retail, Dungeness Valley up on the Olympic Peninsula and the REALLY local Spanish Sonrise in Yacolt. Both brands fly off the shelves. I am immensely grateful to be living in a state where raw milk is legal.
Amazingly in Oregon only herd shares are legal and since I live in Vancouver, folks from Portland come across the river to load up on the easily purchased retail milk here. I’ve twice caught someone red-handed 🙂 filling their shopping cart with gallons.
Hey you’re lucky – I live in a state (Maryland) where raw milk is totally illegal. I’ve though about smuggling before (raw milk from PA) but haven’t tried it yet.
Be careful. The government may not get particularly concerned about IRS bullying, BATF gun-running, illegal immigration, Al Qaeda, Medicare rip-offs, and other issues; but if you try to transport raw milk across state lines, you’ll bring down the full force of the U.S. Government, complete with jack-booted thugs and automatic weapons. Seriously. You’d be safer in a Pakistani wedding party.
The Older Brother
I live in Los Angeles and raw milk has been banned for several years. I used to drink it sparingly ($8) half gallon but I noticed I always felt better on it.
Remember, the weaker, sicker, broker and more frightened we are, the easier we can be controlled.
Raw milk is legal here in Ohio if you are part of a herdshare, but they’re so popular that it’s hard to find one with shares available, at least in our area. As a compromise, we purchase milk from a local dairy that graze their cattle in the warm weather and feed them hay and silage in the cold. It’s vat pasteurized (slowly brought up to temp, which is supposed to leave at least some of the good stuff intact), non-homogenized and never mixed with milk from other dairies. It is also insanely good.
I know that’s a “workaround” in some states. I believe the new regs that the IDPH are writing will now specifically prohibit herdshare arrangements.
The Older Brother
The war on real food is getting more frightening by the day. Here in Washington state I don’t hear about it. The Pacific NW is pretty ferocious about local clean food and so far we’ve been left pretty much alone. But this article reminds me to not be complacent. I’m going to dig up whatever info may be out there on raw milk politics in my state and keep an eye on it.
Raw milk is legal for retail sale (with the appropriate warning label of course) as well as cow shares. I have two grocery stores within a mile of my house that sell raw goat and cow milk. There are two dairies that sell retail, Dungeness Valley up on the Olympic Peninsula and the REALLY local Spanish Sonrise in Yacolt. Both brands fly off the shelves. I am immensely grateful to be living in a state where raw milk is legal.
Amazingly in Oregon only herd shares are legal and since I live in Vancouver, folks from Portland come across the river to load up on the easily purchased retail milk here. I’ve twice caught someone red-handed 🙂 filling their shopping cart with gallons.
States like Oregon really put the lie to our state’s Quislings when they claim that the federal law requires them to regulate raw milk.
Cheers
It is possible they are being technically correct (I’ll bet others on this thread know a lot more about the federal laws on this than I do.) In my state raw milk is not unregulated, just legal. Big difference. I read that Spanish Sonrise has monthly farm inspections. I’m betting that the inspectors don’t show up at the big pasteurized operations that often and I’m betting they aren’t anywhere as clean. Obviously the positive side of this is that these raw dairies are managing to be profitable under whatever strictures the government is placing on them. i pay 12 dollars a gallon for my milk and I’m happy to do it if it means these people can stay in business.
You know, speaking of farm visits (re: chicken harvest) I have been meaning to visit Spanish Sonrise and get to know those folks. One of my favorite things about being a locovoire and I have a Portlandia image to keep up at some level. 😉
Technically correct, yes. But they could’ve passed a regulation that said “any raw milk must have a label stating that the contents have not been pasteurized,” or some such, and called it a day. Not part of the agenda when the FDA is giving you a million dollars a year specifically to eradicate raw milk producers.
The Older Brother
For what it is worth, the Hippocratic oath does not say “First, do no harm.” :o)
All those regulations are needed so that military equipment surplus doesnt go to waste. Apparently, raw milk is so dangerous that a swat team is needed to raid stores selling it.
“OMG..HE’S GOT A MILK BOTTLE…AIM TO KILL!!”
For what it is worth, the Hippocratic oath does not say “First, do no harm.” :o)
Well, I didn’t say it did. That’s just the phrase part of the Hippocratic Oath is based on. From Wiki…
Primum non nocere is a Latin phrase that means “first, do no harm.” The phrase is sometimes recorded as primum nil nocere.
Non-maleficence, which is derived from the maxim, is one of the principal precepts of bioethics that all healthcare students are taught in school and is a fundamental principle throughout the world. Another way to state it is that, “given an existing problem, it may be better not to do something, or even to do nothing, than to risk causing more harm than good.” It reminds the health care provider that they must consider the possible harm that any intervention might do.
..which might be more accurately stated as “is a fundamental principle throughout the world that is routinely ignored, sometimes for political and financial purposes, but oftentimes out of arrogance.”
Cheers!
Sic semper tyrannis!
All those regulations are needed so that military equipment surplus doesnt go to waste. Apparently, raw milk is so dangerous that a swat team is needed to raid stores selling it.
“OMG..HE’S GOT A MILK BOTTLE…AIM TO KILL!!”
Already happening.
I’d like to have a regulation that any of these modern-day storm troopers — who seem to feel it’s quite the rush to put on all their badass military gear to storm Amish milk vendors, real food clubs, and the occasional group of angry protesters exercising their right to protest — upon completing an operation where they felt the need for equipment, be immediately conscripted and deployed to oh, say, Nigeria, Syria, or some similar hotspot. There’s always one available.
If they want to play soldier, let them get rest of the full experience. The part where there are actual honest-to-God dangerous motherf***ers trying to kill you. This could be over-ridden only by Executive Order of the president (hey, if there’s another one-in-ten-million bank robbery by thugs with automatic weapons, I got no problem with the tank).
Seems fair.
Cheers
Seems they want to play soldier with unlikely to be armed, peaceful civilians…or maybe theyre just “following orders”.. :I
But, agreed.
What is the purpose of the state’s collecting the names of those purchasing raw milk? I am willing to believe The State is capable of the simple harassment of consumers but even bureaucratic tools know hammerheads like me will buy raw milk just to annoy The State.
We had a house bill this past year to legalize raw milk sales in Georgia, but it did not go anywhere. Maybe next year?
At least we have a loophole: It is legal to sell raw milk here as long as it is labeled “For Pet Consumption.” The state attempted to require a dye to be added a few years ago, but “pet owners” were able to push back.
The name collection thing reminds me of old voters’ “literacy tests” on which already registered voters had to vouch for the applicant. They often got a visit late at night if the county was not fond of the applicant’s “character.”
What is the purpose of the state’s collecting the names of those purchasing raw milk? I am willing to believe The State is capable of the simple harassment of consumers but even bureaucratic tools know hammerheads like me will buy raw milk just to annoy The State.
The state’s cover story is that they need a means of notifying consumers if there’s a deadly raw milk food-borne outbreak (like the ones that have never happened). That’s why they collect your name, address, and phone number when you buy a bag of spinach at the megamart.
Oh wait, they don’t do that, do they?
The actual usage will be to scare some consumers, but mainly it can be used to harass the producer. “I see you didn’t write down the name of all three of the customers we observed here yesterday, Mrs. O’Leary. Awfully sorry, but that’s a $1,000 fine for non-compliance, and we’re going to have to contact all of your customers and tell them you’re violating Department of Public Health standards.”
They’ll get a few producers to quit just to avoid the hassle, and keep others from entering the market when they see all of the BS.
The Older Brother
Nothing gets me more angry than a bunch of busy bodies messing with other people’s livelihoods. Sometimes I wish I had a time machine so I could warn the founding fathers about big pharma and agriculture corps running our government.
We had a house bill this past year to legalize raw milk sales in Georgia, but it did not go anywhere. Maybe next year?
At least we have a loophole: It is legal to sell raw milk here as long as it is labeled “For Pet Consumption.” The state attempted to require a dye to be added a few years ago, but “pet owners” were able to push back.
The name collection thing reminds me of old voters’ “literacy tests” on which already registered voters had to vouch for the applicant. They often got a visit late at night if the county was not fond of the applicant’s “character.”
I kind of remember hearing about the “pet food” exemption before. Lots of dogs & cats seemed dependent on cheese and milk. Those kind of loopholes only work as long as the state has an attitude of benign neglect, which the Illinois slugs decidedly do not have.
Cheers
I actually never tried raw milk before (but have had raw milk cheeses). This post motivated me to pick up a gallon this morning. My “pets” are pleased!
Welcome to the underground!
The Older Brother
Yeah I live in GA too. I buy 2 gallons of whole milk for my “pets” every week. Our wonderful government did manage to block the sale of raw cream though, and I heard that they’re trying to force more regulations down our throats soon.
Yep. The job of regulators is to make regulations. Period.
Cheers
Nothing gets me more angry than a bunch of busy bodies messing with other people’s livelihoods. Sometimes I wish I had a time machine so I could warn the founding fathers about big pharma and agriculture corps running our government.
The founding fathers knew. They hoped that having an agrarian, christian, well-educated citizenry could protect their bold experiment in limited government and individual liberty from the creeping oppression of all-out democracy. Hence Benjamin Franklin’s reply when a lady asked what new type of government they had formed — “a republic, madam — if you can keep it.”
A noble experiment which sadly disproved the hypothesis.
Cheers!
It hasn’t disproved it yet–and that experiment has produced the highest degree of wealth and human ease that has ever existed.
Wrong tense. The experiment did produce the highest degree of wealth and human ease that ever existed. As the elements of limited government and individual liberty have faded, our overseers have amassed over 100 trillion dollars of future obligations (the “17 trillion dollar national debt” is only a bookkeeping figure), while their buddies and insiders have amassed incredible amounts of wealth and power. We’re not the richest nation in the world. We’re the most broke. We just still have more “stuff” than everyone else.
Where and to the extent innovation and freedom have not been strangled, progress and wealth continues to manifest, but we are living in a “dead man walking” empire. It won’t necessarily be unpleasant, and it may take decades to complete, but we’ve passed the last off ramp.
Specifically though, the experiment wasn’t about whether wealth would be created. They weren’t trying to make us all rich — they wanted to keep us all free.
The experiment was whether the guarantees of liberty and limited government of a republic — a nation of laws, not men — could maintain itself via a system of democratically elected lawmakers, a relatively weak executive elected via an electoral college, and an appointed Supreme Court whose responsibility would be to preserve the Constitution and the rule of law it represented.
The fact that I have to hope the government will give me permission to buy a gallon of milk from a farmer is a small but definitive example demonstrating that the conclusion is an emphatic “no.”
The Older Brother
“The fact that I have to hope the government will give me permission to buy a gallon of milk from a farmer is a small but definitive example demonstrating that the conclusion is an emphatic “no.”
Superb!
Some of the framers were wise to the future. There’s that famous Jefferson quote about government naturally growing. Either way, whether they anticipated it or not, even their brilliant design could not override human nature. It didn’t take long for us to get soft and start thinking like morons. “Give me free stuff, because I need it. My president is awesome and should be able to do more.” Etc.
And, not to be cynical, but many of the founders owned slaves, in patent contradiction of the self-evidence of their own words. It’s not like they were halo-bearing saints or insuperably wise (not straw manning you, just pointing out a fact that I think we libertarian folk frequently forget).
That $100 trillion+ will not be paid, obviously. The fireworks won’t be pretty, and people will be pissed, but an economic cataclysm is hardly an inevitability. Folks will scream and retch as they face the uncomfortable reality that they do not get to live in luxury at others’ expense. And once they see that they can’t squeeze any juice from the orange, they’ll move on with their lives.
Oh dear, Pollyana!! (Oh, sorry, it’s Bret?) Folks will not scream and retch — they will steal and kill! Visit any inner city neighborhood (that has not yet tried to ‘gentrify’) and you’ll see that if they can’t squeeze juice from your metaphorical orange — they’ll squeeze it FROM YOU!!
“…move on with their lives”?! NOT gonna happen for the majority!
Please, by all means, GET cynical! (Or, you can call it realistic, if cynical hurts…) {frown}
To be fair to the founders, in states like Virginia (home of Jefferson and Washington) it was illegal to free a slave. While a young legislator in Virginia, Jefferson introduced a bill to legalize freeing one’s own slaves and got his clock cleaned. It nearly ended his political career. He reluctantly concluded that the slavery issue was what we’d now call a “third rail” — don’t touch it, or you die politically.
Washington supposedly never sold any of his slaves for fear their next massah might mistreat them.
Not saints, perhaps, but not exactly Simon Legrees either.
Best response to these so-called medical “authorities” is to open Atlas Shrugged, find the section about the State Science Institute smearing of Rearden Metal, copy it, and mail it to them with a post-it note saying “do you realize that you are a living caricature?”
You do understand that Ayn Rand was a novelist, right? You could also compare raw milk to a magic potion prepared at Hogwarts with equal persuasiveness.
Best response to these so-called medical “authorities” is to open Atlas Shrugged, find the section about the State Science Institute smearing of Rearden Metal, copy it, and mail it to them with a post-it note saying “do you realize that you are a living caricature?”
Too subtle for them.
Cheers
You do understand that Ayn Rand was a novelist, right? You could also compare raw milk to a magic potion prepared at Hogwarts with equal persuasiveness.
Well, it seems to me that if you’re going to point out to someone that they have become a caricature, a work of fiction would be a legitimate point of reference.
Are you familiar with the section of the novel that JS is referring to? It’s where the government-run, allegedly unbiased & science-based “State Science Institute” — which had been, as inevitable, turned into a political tool of the legacy industries — issued a report full of doublespeak, innuendo, and conclusions completely at odds with the facts; slamming a superior product that was threatening the incumbents in the marketplace . Pretty dead on, I’d say.
Also, as I noted, completely beyond the capacity of elected officials and appointed bureaucrats to recognize themselves. It’s an integral trait of the anointed.
Cheers
Throwing out a word like ‘novelist’ or ‘fiction’ does not render such an example useless. Fiction is often how we share perspectives–many a time it is a superior format, because it is neither so dry nor so pretentious as nonfiction.
1984 was a novel, and it is extremely relevant to current events.
Older Brother– While there are still a few days left, you can pass on a link where to go, etc. (Btw, I was at the same forum/meeting in Bloomington you were 18 months ago. Sausage making at the finest!)
http://www.idph.state.il.us/rulesregs/proposedrules.htm#FirstNotice
Then follow this–
1) Click the link!
2) Scroll down to “Grade A Pasteurized Milk and Milk Products.”
– click “Submit Comments”
– enter the following *Administrative Rule Name – “Grade A Pasteurized Milk and Milk Products”
3) Under ‘Administrative Rule’ cite:
– Rule Title # — 77
– Rule Part # — 775
4) Under Illinois Register Cite:
– Vol No — 38
– Page No — 18346
– Date Published – 9/5/2014
Please submit comments on personal testimony, freedom of choice, economic impact, and that there is no evidence of raw milk being a threat to public health (not a single recorded death related to raw milk in Illinois. Even water has a worse record!!)
Responses close Oct 20th.
If the gov’t restricts access, then I go underground with my family supplier. So be it. Governing is by the consent of the governed in some form, and they “ain’t gettin’ it!”
Older Brother– While there are still a few days left, you can pass on a link where to go, etc. (Btw, I was at the same forum/meeting in Bloomington you were 18 months ago. Sausage making at the finest!)
http://www.idph.state.il.us/rulesregs/proposedrules.htm#FirstNotice
Then follow this–
1) Click the link!
2) Scroll down to “Grade A Pasteurized Milk and Milk Products.”
– click “Submit Comments”
– enter the following *Administrative Rule Name – “Grade A Pasteurized Milk and Milk Products”
3) Under ‘Administrative Rule’ cite:
– Rule Title # — 77
– Rule Part # — 775
4) Under Illinois Register Cite:
– Vol No — 38
– Page No — 18346
– Date Published – 9/5/2014
Please submit comments on personal testimony, freedom of choice, economic impact, and that there is no evidence of raw milk being a threat to public health (not a single recorded death related to raw milk in Illinois. Even water has a worse record!!)
Responses close Oct 20th.
If the gov’t restricts access, then I go underground with my family supplier. So be it. Governing is by the consent of the governed in some form, and they “ain’t gettin’ it!”
Thanks for the details. Anyone with an interest should indeed please comment.
There’s going to be a lot of folks who go underground. Unfortunately, that works just as well for the Bigs as the business-killing regulations. It keeps competing voices from being heard; it allows for the occasional bust/perp walk media event; and whenever any food poisoning occurs in the vicinity of raw milk, they’ve got a voiceless bogeyman to foist it off on.
The Older Brother