World News Korner

Some Libertarians are so anti-government that they are willing to risk their health on non-pasteurized milk.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:

An alliance of food activists and anti-regulation libertarians is battling to legalize raw, unpasteurized milk, despite warnings from health officials about the rising toll of illnesses affecting adults and children alike.

As the popularity of raw milk has grown, so too have associated outbreaks. They have nearly doubled over the past five years, with eight out of 10 cases occurring in states that have legalized sales of the unpasteurized product, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Public health officials have also documented how pathogens in raw milk have produced kidney failure in more than a dozen cases and paralysis in at least two.

But distrust of government and a thirst for the milk have helped fuel the movement to do away with federal and state restrictions despite the warnings. In states where raw milk remains banned, black and “gray” markets have emerged for enthusiasts seeking “moonshine milk” in the belief that bacteria-killing heat from pasteurization also kills powerful enzymes and eliminates other properties that can cure allergies, asthma and even autism.

During this legislative session, 40 bills have been introduced in 23 state capitals, all seeking to legalize unpasteurized milk within state borders.

It is illegal for raw milk dairy farmers to sell and transport their product across state lines — a ban the FDA is charged with enforcing. But every day, thousands of gallon-sized glass jars filled with raw milk move from state to state, arriving at consumers’ front doors through co-ops, buyers clubs and from friends and relatives who sometimes pack the milk in dry ice and ship it via FedEx.

Consumers pay as much as $12 a gallon for raw milk from cows and goats.

Yeah what's a little paralysis and a few stomach parasites when you can stick it to the government?

Gee and to think that Lois Pasteur spent all of those years working to keep milk from killing people, only to have his efforts rejected by a bunch of self destructive idiots who think that anything the government touches immediately takes away their freedom on contact.

Source