Campaign for Real Milk Gets Unprecedented Public Hearing
by Kimberly Hartke, Weston A. Price Foundation Publicist
“Wisconsin has never seen anything like this,” enthuses Max Kane, raw milk proponent as he debriefs me on yesterday’s raw milk hearing in Eau Claire. House and Senate committees took public comments on the raw milk bills currently before both legislative bodies. Kane estimates that around 600-700 people showed up at the hearing. “The auditorium was packed and standing room only. Three other rooms with live video feeds of the proceedings filled up, and a fourth room had to be opened.”
While news reports like this one, Hundreds Pack Raw Milk Hearing, cite much lower attendance numbers, the state’s records show that 167 people registered to testify at the hearing, and 600 more registered at the event as supporters of the legislation, which brings the number of attendees close to 800.
Pete Kennedy, President of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, who was not at the hearing, said that Public Health officials, a Veterinarians Association and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection spokesmen were there, opposing the bill.
Brian Winnekins of ECOW Radio told me today that the Wisconsin Farmers Union, after a heated debate, at one of their recent meetings took a stand in favor of these raw milk bills. Darin Von Ruden, a dairy farmer and President of WFU actually testified at yesterday’s hearing. This is a significant endorsement. We have seen farmers groups in other states oppose farmers rights to engage in fresh milk sales, and even cowshare programs. Here is the press release announcing their support. Scott Schultz, who is Executive Director of the Farmers Union would like to see their membership grow, as a result of taking a stand for improving the quality of life for farmers. “As we grow, we will gain in influence. Please consider becoming a member,” Scott said.
Max Kane filmed the event, as did many TV stations (click on links to read their stories), WQOW, Channel 19, and Community Television covered the proceedings. Paul Schmidt of Wiseye.org filmed the entire proceeding, which began at 10:00am and was still going strong at 7:00pm. One farmer who was there until 7:00pm reported on an internet message board that at 7pm there were still 80 people waiting patiently for their turn to speak.
A highlight of the proceedings was when Ted Beals, M.D. spoke:
“A person has a greater risk of injury driving to pick up their milk, than reported for drinking raw milk every day of the year,” says Ted Beals, a retired University of Michigan pathologist.
Kathryn Pirtle, author of Performance Without Pain gave an eloquent testimony, according to Kane, and was asked several questions from the panel of legislators.
Apparently, numerous lawmakers on the panel spoke out for raw milk during their introductions, by telling their own personal stories of growing up on farm fresh milk. One assemblyman even admitted that he grew up eating raw meat and was none the worse for it, it never made him sick.
Some panelists were tough on the opponents of the bill. Max said, “One health official who repeatedly quoted FDA warnings about raw milk, was interrupted by an assemblyman on the panel, and told, “we are the ones who voted down the use of a dangerous chemical, that the FDA says is totally safe. That is where we stand on the FDA,” he chided the official, to thunderous audience applause.
Wisconsin State Senator, Dan Kapanke is currently a candidate running for U.S. Congress. According to a recent article in the Lacrosse Tribune, he is a proponent of the bill. Kapanke, says Kane, has been drinking raw milk 20 years, and it has never made him sick. Kapanke encourages people to get involved to defend their freedoms. I say, support this good man for higher office, see the Kapanke for Congress website for more details.
Comments on the bill ran 20 in favor to every one opposed. There was gut busting laughter several times during the proceedings, and at other times “order” was called with a banging gavel. Max Kane believes it was a monumental occasion and a huge victory for raw milk. “Our voices were heard, and that is what counts. I truly believe that the bill will pass, yet it is critical that we not drop the ball. Those of us who want this freedom, need to follow through and make sure these bills pass, without any changes to them,” Kane added.
You can get to know more about some of the Wisconsin Farmers who are being hurt by the Wisconsin government’s unwarranted interference in their trade on Cathy Raymond’s wonderful YouTube video interviews, now on this page of the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation website:
http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/wi-farmers.htm
Pete Kennedy says the next step is for these bills to be voted out of committee, to a floor vote.
If you attended the hearing, we would love you to comment on this blog and tell others what you thought about it.
Kimberly Hartke
Kimberly Hartke is a raw milk activist, and the publicist for the Campaign for Real Milk, which is a project of the nutrition education non-profit, Weston A. Price Foundation.
I really appreciate the way you share Nourishing Traditions information. You educate and don't preach. I always look forward to reading, learning and sharing your post.
3 Comments
This is a great article, Kim. I will see that this gets out to all the state Alliances for Raw Milk (ARMi) at http://wholefoodusa.org
.-= Augie´s last blog ..3-min Video: Room for 2000 Mad Mamas, Hungry Babies and Dads at Raw Milk Hearing =-.
I was there yesterday and it was indeed a moving and educational event. I have commented on the experience in my blog: artofnaturalliving.com
.-= I Wilkerson´s last blog ..Take Back Our Farms: The “March” on Eau Claire =-.
I was there and it was indeed a moving (‘mooving?’) experience. We were humbled by the stories of farmers who had based their livelihood on a practice (cow shares) that had been allowed for decades….only to see their lives shattered by a different interpretation of the program.
However, I think that to be truly effective we need to do a point by point countering of their main arguments.
1. that an ‘outbreak’ would decimate the dairy industry. I mentionned in my testimony (around 4 pm) that pasturized dairy had made people sick…but the industry hadn’t been decimated.
2. that the bacteria will make people sick. I’ve read of reports where the bad bacteria is usually eaten up by the good bacteria and that people rarely get sick.
However, I am only a layperson. We needed professionals to show studies that the above 2 points aren’t what they fear.
It was interesting to hear that it was a communication from Organic Valley that started the shut down of raw dairy/reinterpretation of the rules. Does anyone know the validity of this claim?
Max is right – we have to keep the momentum up. If the bill passes out of committee we have to get the point across to all the senators and representatives that freedom of choice matters and that the above 2 ‘fear’ points are not as fearful as they make it seem. The farm bureau will have their constituent farms calling every rep/senator in the state…we need to have good hard science in our favor and talk to these same people too.