Decision will determine 'whether government controls the
people'
Posted: June 22, 2010
10:44 pm Eastern
By Bob
Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
 |
A legal brief filed in a federal
court dispute over the purchase and use of raw milk contends the
court ultimately will determine "whether the people control the government, or whether the government
controls the people."
"The decision of this court will either ensure that people have
fundamental rights endowed to them by their Creator, or that the people
have no rights except those that are conferred upon them by government,"
attorneys for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund
have argued in their newest brief, which opposes the government's
demand that the case be dismissed.
"Our research shows that this nation has a long history of
consuming raw dairy products and
that FDA's prohibition against taking raw dairy for human consumption
across state lines runs counter to that national history," said fund
President Pete Kennedy.
The brief argues, contrary to allegations by the FDA, everyone has
the right to travel across state lines with raw dairy products in their
possession, everyone has the right to consume the foods of their choice,
that parents have the right to feed their children the foods of their
choice, and that all have the right to be responsible for their own
health.
"We believe we are breaking new ground in this case," said Gary Cox, the fund's general counsel.
"Yet in a way, we are really asking the court to expressly recognize
what our Founding Fathers implied in the Declaration
of Independence and in the Constitution."
The Farm-to-Consumer organization brought the lawsuit earlier this year to overturn the federal
ban that prohibits raw milk for human consumption in interstate
commerce. The lawsuit alleges the federal rules on the issue are
unconstitutional and outside the FDA's statutory authority as applied to
members of the group.
The brief cites the damages that have been sustained by those who
choose a natural food – raw milk
– rather than the processed and packaged product produced by huge
corporations that sits on store shelves.
One plaintiff in the case is Georgia resident Eric Wagoner, who
was ordered by an FDA employee in a confrontation just months ago to
dump out milk obtained in South Carolina and brought to him in Georgia.
More than 100 gallons of milk soaked into the Georgia dirt:
More of the episode was caught here:
The legal argument contends Wagoner was deprived of his own
property when the raw milk was destroyed.
In
the government's earlier motion to dismiss, its lawyers argued
Americans have no fundamental right to choose what food they can have.
"There is no 'deeply rooted' historical tradition of unfettered
access to foods of all kinds," states the document signed by U.S.
Attorney Stephanie Rose, assistant Martha Fagg and Roger Gural, trial
attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice.
"Plaintiffs' assertion of a 'fundamental right to their own
bodily and physical health, which includes what foods they do and do not
choose to consume for themselves and their families' is similarly
unavailing because plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain
any food they wish," the government has argued.
The new brief from the Farm-to-Consumer organization contends
government over the years has infringed on many God-given rights, such
as slavery and the ban on interracial marriage.
"Currently,
unfortunately, government is telling its citizens that they do not have
the right to travel across state lines with raw dairy products in their
possession; that individuals do not have the right to a healthy body;
and that parents do not have the right to feed themselves and their
families the foods of their choice. This notion is paternalistic and
treats its citizens as wards of the state who are incapable of making
decisions for themselves," the Farm-to-Consumer brief states.
"This case is about liberty and freedom and presents an issue of
first impression in the federal courts that addresses this current form
of oppression. Plaintiffs represent the tipping point of a food rights
movement that involves knowing one's source of food; becoming
responsible for what foods go into one's body; becoming responsible for
one's health; ensuring that one's family and children grow up healthy
with an excellent immune system; and engaging in conduct with similar
like minded individuals to promote and healthier and happier America."
The focal point is a set of FDA regulations that largely ban
consumers from buying raw milk and taking it across states lines, even
for their own consumption.
"FDA's regulatory program has no application to a private group
of citizens who have opted out of the industrial food system and choose
to consume raw dairy products provided to them directly by a farmer,
with no commingling or processing, in direct, private transactions," the
brief states.
WND
has reported several times on fed crackdowns on producers of raw milk
for friends and neighbors, including the recent case when agents
arrived to inspect a private property belonging to Dan Allgyer in
Pennsylvania at 5 a.m.
The
incident was followed by a report a few days later of a proposal in
Congress that critics say would do for the nation's food supply what the
new health-care reform law has done for health-care resources.
"S.
510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, may be the most
dangerous bill in the history of the U.S.," asserted Steve Green on the Food
Freedom blog. "It is to our food what the bailout was to our
economy, only we can live without money."
The plan is sponsored by U.S.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who explains the legislation "is a
critical step toward equipping the FDA with the authorities and funding
it needs to regulate what is now a global marketplace for food, drugs,
devices and cosmetics."
His website explains, "The legislation requires foreign and
domestic food facilities to have safety plans in place to prevent food
hazards before they occur, increases the frequency of inspections.
Additionally, it provides strong, flexible enforcement tools, including
mandatory recall."
The proposal cleared the U.S. House last year but has been
languishing in the Senate because of a full calendar of legislation. It
creates a long list of new requirements for food-producing entities to
meet the demands of the secretary of
agriculture. It is expected to be the subject of discussion in
coming days.