click on image to go to a page from where you can watch video of the hearing. Sorry this is in Windows Media Player format only. Thanks to Augie of Journal of Natural Food and Healing for the link to this.
Here’s an excerpt from a March 11 post on The Art of Natural Living blog:
The buses left Rubicon before dawn. It was a drizzly, black morning with no moonlight to illuminate the remnants of snow stretching across the fields. Some of the riders had left their homes more than an hour earlier to arrive for our 5:15 meeting time.
We were beginning what would be a four hour bus ride to Eau Claire for a Wisconsin Legislative Hearing. Topic: the sale of raw (unpasteurized) milk on farms.
The testimony began at 10 AM with an explanation of the bill by its sponsors, followed by a counter-opinion from Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). The sponsors emphasized the value of free (informed) choice and the detractors focused on the inability to ensure the safety of raw milk.
Header picture from the Art of Natural Living blog
This was followed by public testimony from (literally) hundreds of people who had registered to speak. Notable comments included:
- Testimony from Dr Ted Beals, a retired pathologist from Michigan, who noted that although many of the quoted stats on milk dangers are valid, that raw milk is a fundamentally different product due to different farm management practices. If a farmer is selling raw milk to people they know by name, a higher level of care seems to arise (though some farms pasteurizing may also do well) and contamination is typically significantly lower.
- A college student told of her two brothers who had contracted campylobacter. When this was investigated, they had every risk factor, but the investigator dismissively said it would be attributed to raw milk. The speaker added that the whole family had consumed the milk, but only the affected brothers had been playing in the river—a risk factor that was ignored.
- A French woman who mentioned that raw milk can be obtained readily in Europe (including vending machines) but that it is considered an artisan product, not suitable for corporate production…”
Video below is by Cathy Raymond and was found on Kimberly Hartke’s blog post titled “Farmers sue Wisconsin DATCP” While this video is not directly part of the story below, it is related.
Journal of Natural Food and Healing post with link to the page referred to at start of this post.
The Bovine 