On April 20th, after a
year-long undercover sting operation, armed federal agents acting on behalf
of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raided the business of
Pennsylvanian Amish farmer Dan Allgyer to prevent him from selling his
unpasteurized milk to willing, fully-informed customers in Maryland. Federal
agents wasted a whole year and who knows how many of our tax dollars posing
as customers in order to catch Allgyer committing the "crime" of
selling his milk. He was not tricking people into buying it, he was not
forcing people to purchase it, and there had been no complaints about his
product. These were completely voluntary transactions, but ones that our
nanny-state federal government did not approve of, and so they shut down his
business. The arrogance of the FDA and so many other federal agencies is
simply appalling. These types of police state raids on peaceful businessmen,
so reminiscent of our tyrannical federal drug war, have no place in a free
society.
The FDA claims its regulatory
powers over food safety give it the authority to ban the interstate sales of
raw milk, but this is an unconstitutional misapplication of the commerce
clause for legislative ends. As we have seen, if the executive branch feels
hamstrung by the fact that our framers placed lawmaking authority in the
Legislative Branch, they simply make their own laws and call them
"regulations." We all know how the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) uses such bogus regulation authority to harass, hinder, and shut down
countless other legitimate businesses. Sadly, Congress has been far too lax
for far too long as the executive branch continues to encroach on its areas
of responsibility and thereby undermines our system of government.
Most Americans understand that
if you don't want to drink unpasteurized milk you simply do not buy it. But
the federal government solution is pre-dawn raids which destroy the
livelihoods of honest, hardworking families in this time of continued
economic hardship.
I am outraged by this raid and
the many others like it, and that is why last week I introduced HR 1830, a
bill to allow the shipment and distribution of unpasteurized milk and milk
products for human consumption across state lines. This legislation removes
the unconstitutional restraint on farmers who wish to sell or otherwise
distribute, and people who wish to consume, unpasteurized milk and milk
products.
Many Americans have done their
own research and come to the conclusion that unpasteurized milk is healthier
than pasteurized milk. These Americans have the right to consume these
products without having the federal government second-guess their judgment or
thwart their wishes. If there are legitimate concerns about the safety of
unpasteurized milk, those concerns should be addressed at the state and local
level.
I am hoping my colleagues in
the House will join me in promoting individual rights, the original intent of
the Constitution, and federalism by cosponsoring this legislation to allow
the interstate shipment of unpasteurized milk and milk products for human
consumption.
If we are not even free
anymore to decide something as basic as what we wish to eat or drink, how
much freedom do we really have left?