Community | October 07, 2011 | 33 comments

Farmers (and Consumers) Denied the Right to Consume Milk from Their Own Cows

source: http://www.anh-usa.org/denied-right-to-consume-milk-from-their-own-cows/

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MotherForTruth
Wisconsin judge goes further and rules that none of us—farmers or consumers—have the right to decide what we have for our own dinner. A state Action Alert!


Last week, Wisconsin judge Patrick J. Fiedler ruled against the property rights of cow owners and their right to consume raw milk from their own cows. Plaintiffs included Galyle Loiselle and Robert Karp, who boarded their cows at Mark and Petra Zinniker’s farm so that they could consume raw milk from them, and the Zinnikers. Here is what the judge said in his own words:


Plaintiffs [Loiselle, Karp, and the Zinnikers] do not have a fundamental right to own and use a dairy cow or a dairy herd;
Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow;
Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to board their cow at the farm of a farmer; [and]
Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of their choice.

It would certainly seem that the judge’s ruling violates constitutional rights to property, private contract, and bodily autonomy. After all, is there a more fundamental right than deciding what to eat? (Before this, we thought the FDA’s contempt for freedom of food choice was bad enough!)


Accordingly, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Patrick J. Fiedler’s decision is hereby nominated for our new Tyranny of the Year Award. Every once in a while we’ll nominate a decision or action for the award, and at the end of the year we’ll ask our readers to vote for the one they think is the year’s biggest tyrannical act. (We thank our friend, Dr. Jonathan V. Wright of the renowned Tahoma Clinic in Washington, for suggesting the award. If you have a decision or action you’d like to nominate, please send us your suggestions!)


Raw milk is natural and healthful; people are 35,000 times more likely to get sick from other FDA-protected foods than from raw milk. One of our ANH staff members recalls milking his cow as a child and drinking the fresh milk. Let’s not allow that to become illegal.


If you are a Wisconsin resident, please write to your state legislators today and ask them to support Wisconsin bill SB 108, which allows for sale of unpasteurized milk and milk products.
http://www.anh-usa.org/denied-right-to-consume-milk-from-their-own-cows/
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    Community,   Current Cultural Issues
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    Politics,  Wisconsin,  FDA,  Rights,  2 more
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33 comments // Farmers (and Consumers) Denied the Right to Consume Milk from Their Own Cows

  • lazloman
    • +1
      lazloman  

    • Who appointed this guy? He's not just wrong, he's in a whole different world. The government has no right to tell you what to put in or on your body. The Supreme Court ruled sometime around the turn of the last century that government can't do that. The ruling came about when people began to understand the nature of addiction and the knee jerk reaction was to make it illegal to consume certain drugs. When challenged, these laws were struck down. The net effect of all our modern legislation makes it essentially illegal to take drugs, but there are no laws (as far as I know) that simply say you can't take drugs. I should think that this applies to milk as well. I expect this to be overturned sometime soon.

    • 8 months ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • Leen61
    • +1
      Leen61  

    • Granted, this is a stupid decision. WI is known as the Dairy State and I'm against this. I don't think it's right to tell others what to eat or drink, either. But like the WI voters are going to know every decision that a judge is going to make once he gets on the bench. Blanket statements that point fingers at others have 4 fingers pointing back at them.

    • 8 months ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • Leen61
    • +1
      Leen61  
    • MotherForTruth:

      That is true, MotherForTruth. Court decisions are not a widely publicized thing anywhere. To blame voters for something like this is really a stretch and I know you didn't. How often do you vote for someone who later disappoints you? Not everyone from that state can be blamed for actions done that you don't expect.

    • 8 months ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • Leen61
  • treewolf39
  • trut
  • squarethecircle
  • MotherForTruth
  • alexandrek
  • MotherForTruth
  • CalgarC
  • MotherForTruth
  • charliesommers
  • CalgarC
  • cabinettags
    • 0
      cabinettags  

    • Pure,Un-homogenized, un-pastureized bull..it. Sorry, but a judge - any judge - is NOT going to tell me what I can or cannot eat/drink. This is my body, this is supposedly a free country, and I'll eat or drink what I damn well please.

    • 8 months ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • attilatheblond
  • MotherForTruth
  • Paratus
    • 0
      Paratus  

    • "Plaintiffs [Loiselle, Karp, and the Zinnikers] do not have a fundamental right to own and use a dairy cow or a dairy herd;
      Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow;
      Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to board their cow at the farm of a farmer; [and]
      Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of their choice."

      The wife and I were having a glass of wine this evening and I showed it to her. We were speechless at the stupidity of this "ruling". What the heck give this idiot the right to tell me, or anyone else, that we do not have these 'fundamental rights". B.s. we certainly do. We were just talking about some livestock additions while out for a run. We will probably get a cow and practice some of these "fundamental rights" we don't have.
      What a crock.

    • 8 months ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • letsliveinpeace
  • bailey78
    • +1
      bailey78  
    • Image

    • I was raised on fresh cow milk I spent the first two hours of every morning milking a cow till I was fifteen. Thats when my dad traded the cow for a truck. I really miss those days. Besides this should never be illegal Nor should it be looked at as wrong

    • 8 months ago
  • CitizenHill
  • bailey78
  • Paratus
  • charliesommers
  • Richard_Wyatt
  • Paratus
  • lazloman
  • crabbyoldguy
    • +1
      crabbyoldguy  
    • Image

    • ELKHORN — It will be up to a Dane County judge to decide what to do with an East Troy farm whose owners are part of a lawsuit against a state agency over raw milk sales.

      Mark and Petra Zinniker, N7399 Bowers Road, had their farm shut down last September after state agriculture officials said more than 30 people from Walworth, Waukesha and Racine counties were diagnosed with a bacterial infection from consuming raw milk traced to the farm.

      Now, the Zinnikers are suing the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection over the right to sell raw milk under a cow-share program, which the farmers were doing at the time the farm was shut down.

      Under a cow-share program, one or more individuals owns the animals but have no ownership of the farm. Some supporters of raw milk consumption say the arrangement should make it legal for them to have raw milk because Wisconsin statutes allow farmers and their families to consume their own raw milk—they just can't sell it.

      On Thursday, Walworth County Judge John Race ruled the case would be moved to Dane County, which already has a pending case with similar circumstances.

      The Dane County case also deals with sales of raw milk, was filed against DATCP and has similar plaintiffs.

      Assistant Attorney General Robert Hunter asked the judge to move legal proceedings to Dane County because “it would promote judicial efficiency for these issues to be considered and decided by a single court.”

      Also listed in the Zinniker lawsuit are Gayle Loiselle and Robert Karp of Dousman. They purchased a cow from the Zinnikers under the cow-share program, according to court documents. Attorneys for the farmers say the plaintiffs should be able to own cows, contract with the Zinnikers to board the cows and consume raw milk from the cows.

      “I am a cow owner with a right to an interest in obtaining products from my property,” Loiselle wrote in an affidavit. “I am not a consumer or member of the public.”

      But officials on the other side of the argument say selling raw milk is illegal in Wisconsin, even under a cow-share program.

      Wisconsin statutes require individuals to be bona fide owners with a "real financial stake" to get raw milk from a farm, said Donna Gilson, a DATCP spokeswoman.

      Gov. Jim Doyle recently vetoed a bill that would have allowed limited sales of raw milk. At the time, the governor cited concerns over health issues and the possibility that an outbreak of disease from drinking unpasteurized milk could affect the state's dairy industry.

      This is the second time Race ruled on the Zinniker case.

      Last December, the judge approved a plea agreement after the Walworth County District Attorney’s office filed 24 citations, carrying a total maximum penalty of $24,000 against Zinniker Farm.

      As part of the agreement, the Zinnikers admitted the violations but the case was held open and they were not be fined. If Mark and Petra Zinniker are again caught selling raw milk, they could be fined the maximum—$24,000—and would lose their license to sell milk, according to the agreement.

      The case against the Zinnikers was filed after agriculture officials found that 35 people from Walworth, Waukesha and Racine counties were diagnosed with a bacterial infection that causes diarrhea, cramping and vomiting.

      All said they had consumed raw milk, and 30 said they got it from Zinniker Farm. Twenty-one victims were under the age of 18, and one was hospitalized. Twenty-seven of the victims were in Walworth and Waukesha counties.

      Tests by state officials showed the bacteria from 25 of the patients had a DNA fingerprint matched to bacteria found in feces from cows at the Zinniker farm.

      http://gazettextra.com/news/2010/jun/11/raw-milk-case-moving-dane-county/?print

    • 8 months ago
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