Colorado news article

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http://www.fortmorgantimes.com/Stories/0,1413,164%7E8315%7E2802147,00.html

Capitol connection Raw milk

By STATE REP. GREG BROPHY

I must maintain my anonymity while writing this.

I'm afraid that I have been breaking the law. Actually my wife has, because she

has purchased {SECTION}raw milk. (The italics signify that I am whispering to

you so that no one else will hear.)

How was I supposed to know that it was illegal to buy what I drank while growing

up? I only found out while researching the statutes in preparation for this

year's SB05-055, the raw milk bill. Breaking this law could result in a $10 to

$100 fine and up to 60 days in jail!

Who knew?

The legislation was necessary because some industrious dairy farmers found a

loophole in order to sell raw milk. They sell shares of their dairy cows; a

typical cow may have thirty owners. If a person owns a share of the cow they go

to the farm and pick up a gallon of raw milk every week. They also pay for the

boarding and care of the cow. No word on whether they own part of the Brooklyn

Bridge too. Senate Bill 55 legalizes this arrangement between the dairy farmer

and the shareowners.

It works for goats too.

At first I thought that the legislation was a terrible waste of time, but the

rest of the dairy industry was concerned about the proliferation of this cow

share arrangement.

The milk you buy in the store has been pasteurized, so it is absolutely safe. It

is possible, however, that bacteria in raw milk could make a person gravely ill.

Tuberculosis can be transferred in raw milk, for example. The dairy industry is

rightly concerned that a person who was sick because of raw milk would be

reported by the media as having been inflicted by drinking milk. That would be a

disaster. Remember what happened with Alar on apples?

The Senate held the bill up until a compromise could be reached with the dairy

industry. Their concerns were valid, but I have a hard time telling a farmer

that he can't drink or eat something that is produced on his own farm, or for

that matter sell it to a willing buyer.

Anyone want to buy a watermelon?

The bill passed unanimously out of the House Ag committee and passed the House

60-4.

State Representative Greg Brophy (R-Wray) is serving his second term for House

District 63. To read more or listen to audio clips, visit www.gregbrophy.net <

http://www.gregbrophy.net/> and follow the links to the press page. After the

legislative session is over, Rep. Brophy returns to his farm.

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Denver Westword: westword.com

http://www.westword.com/issues/2005-04-07/dining/bite.html

Food fight: All dedicated gastronauts interested in the history of food -- both

overt and covert -- should grab a copy of the just-released Last Chance to Eat:

The Fate of Taste in a Fast Food World, by Mallet. ( . . . ) Mallet talks

about everything from mad cow disease to how badly most civilized butters suck

to the hypocrisy of the FDA in working to ban raw milk and cave-ripened cheese

around the world at the behest of the American diary industry while labeling

" generally recognized as safe " the sodium-tri-polyphosphate (an active

ingredient in industrial carpet cleaners and paint strippers) used to preserve

and bulk out scallops. She's fearless in her condemnations and shameless in her

loves, and has put together a book that should rightly take its place alongside

The Jungle, Fast Food Nation and all the other food-fight classics.