In the holy war over raw milk, the lives of our children are at stake,
or so the faithful on either side of the battlefield assert. And, if you
had been at the Rawesome food buying club
on June 30, when Los Angeles police officers, agents from the Federal
Bureau of Investigations, Food & Drug Administration and at least
one Canadian agency knocked on the door, guns drawn, you might believe
the war was more literal than figurative. As one Rawesome member said,
"Why do you need guns?" when the enemy is, as far as anyone can tell,
millions of microbes too small for the human eye to see, and surely, for
the man-made bullet to destroy.
The FDA has long banned interstate sales of raw milk, and many states
restrict or prohibit the sale of raw milk entirely. Raw milk drinkers
and would-be sellers, who had previously purchased raw dairy products
through legal loopholes began fighting back in early 2010, filing suit against the FDA claiming that banning interstate sales is unconstitutional. The FDA responded in late April,
insisting that "plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain
any food they wish." The case is now pending while the crackdowns
continue.
The Raw Milk Debate