Web Letters: Milk Wars

The actions of the FDA and the New York State Agricultural agents are yet another example of creeping government intrusion into the lives of Americans. What makes it even worse? Protecting market share at the cost of our freedom to make our own choices.

I want less government control of my life and more freedom. Let consumers and farmers come to their own conclusions.

Robert Monahan

Newton, MA

David Gumpert's is one of the few articles I've seen that discusses this national milk war with clarity and insight.

The government's focus on "safety" is their deliberate attempt at obfuscation and distraction. How else to explain such huge governmental resources directed at a food that causes .00004214 percent of food-borne illness in the US each year?

No, it's something much larger: it's a war between the square-foot model of dairying and the pasture-fed model. If the citizenry calls its square-foot model to the higher standards of the pasture-fed one, Big Dairy can never succeed at meeting those higher standards.

As Big Government protects Big Pharma, so too, does it protect Big Dairy. That's the core of this issue, not safety.

Jill Ebbott

Brookline, MA

Nice article. It's completely accurate. There are many wars being waged by several state agencies and the battle lines have been drawn; proponents of raw milk on the one side and the federal, state and local governmental agencies who want to shut down these raw milk operations.

Under the guise of "public health" the USDA and the FDA come down strong on raw milk producers, yet let escape the parties responsible for contaminated spinach in California that caused illness, the producers of the pasteurized milk in Massachussetts that caused deaths and the makers of drugs that have caused nineteen deaths so far because of a supplier in China. Not to mention they continue to allow the widespread distribution of cigarettes, alcohol and other products (nuts, for example) that can cause death to those who are allergic to them. Amazing that such hypocrisy exists.

People have the fundamental, God-given right to produce and consume the foods of their choice, and the government does not have any authority to take that right away. Indeed, we are fighting another revolution against an oppressive government.

Join the farm-to-consumer legal defense fund to help fight against this oppression.

Gary Cox

Columbus, Ohio