Organic dairy farmer Francis Thicke promotes House File 394, the Iowa raw milk bill

Monday, March 28, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: raw milk, Iowa, health news

(NaturalNews) Iowa is one of only 11 states that prohibits any form of raw milk sales to the public. In fact, Iowa has one of the most oppressive anti-raw milk political climates in the US. But a new bill being spearheaded by former candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Francis Thicke could change all that. If passed, House File 394 will allow direct-from-the-farm sales of raw milk to Iowans.

Many NaturalNews readers may remember Francis Thicke's bid for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture back in October when he lost to longtime Big Ag-lackey Bill Northey. Thicke's platform aimed to strengthen Iowa's economy by promoting small-scale and sustainable farming methods, phasing out the industrial agricultural practices that serve big business rather than the people of Iowa, and promoting food freedom ((https://www.naturalnews.com/030206_Francis_Th...).

One of Thicke's primary food freedom goals has been to restore the freedom to buy and sell raw milk in the state of Iowa. After all, legalizing raw milk sets a greater precedent of upholding freedom of food choice in general. So naturally, Thicke has been behind House File 394, which the Economic Growth/Rebuild Iowa Committee recently voted in favor of, and subsequently recommended for passage by the legislature.

"People want it (raw milk), and it's a matter of principal actually ... giving people the freedom to that opportunity to buy what they want to buy," Thicke is quoted as saying in Blog for Iowa. "(The bill) only would allow sales directly from farmers to consumers ... the general public would not have access to it unless they sought it out."

But just like what has happened in several other states that have tried to pass new or expanded raw milk bills, industry lobbyists have come out in full force against the proposal. According to Blog for Iowa, 36 industry lobbyists representing industrial agriculture, government, medical groups, and even retailers, have signed on to fight the bill. Their baseless arguments range from the typical pseudo-science about the inherent "dangers" of raw milk, to fears that potential illness outbreaks could affect pasteurized milk sales.

Other states with pending raw milk legislation as of this writing include Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming (http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/raw-milk-bills...).

Sources for this story include:

http://www.blogforiowa.com/blog/_archives/20...