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Hello, this is Ron Paul with your weekly update for May 16th.
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?
Thanks for calling this update. A new update is placed on this number, 888-322-1414, every
Monday, the written text of which can be found on my website www.house.gov/paul under the
heading "Texas Straight Talk". Thanks for calling.