Raw Milk: The Fight for Food Rights and Personal Freedoms

For the last few weeks the issue of Raw Milk has surfaced in headlines all across Canada – some of the articles preach the benefits of a product which has sustained human kind for centuries but most (even with a ‘positive’ message) downplay sound research and hype incorrect statistics and biased research to discredit one of the oldest foods in the World. Most articles I’ve come across have an undertone of how dangerous Raw Milk is and how consumers in Canada should not even be allowed to have the choice to drink Raw Milk regardless if they actively seek out sources after properly researching the product.

I had the honor of attending the Raw Milk protest outside the New Westminster Law Courts on Monday, February 1, 2010 where one hundred members of the Home on the Range cow share program listened to Alice Jongerden, the farmer, Gordon Watson, a Raw Milk advocate, and Michael Schmidt who came from Ontario to participate in the rally after winning his own decade long battle in Ontario a week before. Men, women and children all gathered to listen and stood with signs emblazoned with ‘My World is Not Pasteurized’ and listing all the countries in the G8 which allow the sale of Raw Milk in one form or another (minus Canada). It occurred to me that I was surrounded by dozens of individuals like myself who were struggling against the bad press and attempting to take control of their own lives despite repeated attempts by the Government and affiliated Dairy Boards to halt the flow of Raw Milk.

The courtroom could not accommodate us all so we were herded into a waiting room to hear bits and pieces of news that was passed on by those stepping out and I had the pleasure of speaking to a few individuals and families who had taken time out of their busy schedules to support their right to choose. The consensus was clear that Raw Milk outweighed Pasteurized on many levels and the current battle for Raw between the shareholders and the Government only made everyone’s resolve stronger. It is not hard to see the tactics the Fraser Health Authority is taking to undermine the legal rights of the people and of the shareholders who are well within their rights to obtain Raw Milk. Not once has a person become ill (with evidence to substantiate the claim) from the Raw Milk from home on the range and the FHA knows it – their desperate bid to diffuse the claim that no evidence was provided to show the Milk’s danger was to state simply that the Government did not need to provide proof as Raw Milk is considered a health hazard in the revised Milk Act.

Many people may read the articles which are springing up across the internet and disregard their own stake in the situation that is unfolding. The fight for Raw Milk is not about safety – if it had the Supreme Court Justice of the Peace would have shut down operations effective immediately. This court battle effectively gives power of food choice to our Governments – the same government which has allowed for contaminated Maple Leaf meat products to find their way back onto the shelves, sodium filled baby foods to be sold by the thousands, products proven to cause obesity and cancer to be consumed en mass and our food supply to be manipulated by corporate agendas to ensure their responsibility to maximize profits for their shareholders is met. If the Government cannot allow educated individuals to access a food which they know is good for them under the guise of concern for health – we must ask why they allow carcinogens, sugar laden foods, alcohol, hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals and additives to exist in our culture when we all know how damaging they are to our health. Maybe the real concern here is profit, not health. This case seeks to halt the growing popularity of Raw Milk to protect the profits of Big Dairy and the Government. They have much more to lose if the people win their right to choose their food but not unless we do something to protect our rights and the rights of our future generations.