Legislative Update!🇺🇸
Taste the Liberty, the Raw Milk Bill must get past Senate Ag - we need your help!
Rep Kim Coates’ HB467, Taste the Liberty, will be in front of the Senate Agriculture Committee on Tuesday, May 21st, in Room C at 9:00 am.
Please send a message to the committee NOW and ask them to vote YES on HB467!
On April 25th, Representative Danny McCormick gave a dire warning to the supportive audience during the House Agriculture Committee hearing for HB467, Rep Coates’ raw milk bill.
“Don’t think it’s going to be easy. Lot of people in this business don’t like change.”
That’s exactly what we’re hearing as HB467 heads to Senate Agriculture Committee next week: the bill is DOA thanks in large part to State Agriculture Commissioner Dr Mike Strain who is adamantly opposed to the sale and consumption of raw milk. Strain’s comments during the April hearing indicate that Big Ag is as corrupted as Big Pharma. Strain even noted his hopes of an avian flu vaccine. (Insert HUGE eye roll.)
Watch a short, edited clip of Dr Strain’s comments to the House committee below.
Note the ambiguity of Strain’s comments on avian flu, like “it is generally believed that pasteurization will kill this virus,” “we think we can be very confident,” “we don’t know how they became infected,” “we hope it doesn’t move into other species.”
The intention, we believe, is to instill just enough doubt about raw milk while shoring up the abilities of “science” to, once again, save the day. (See the last four years.)
At this point, the onus is on “science” to prove it did not cause this recent outbreak of avian flu. (See below.)
As other states have introduced legislation to legalize the sale of raw milk, it is obvious that Strain’s talking points are informed by really bad “science,” and are a product of an industry desperate to remain in control of the market.
The excellent article below, Avian Flu and Raw Milk: A Common Sense Approach, by Mark McAfee of The Raw Milk Institute details how the concerns raised by those in the industry do not align with what we know about basic biology, notably maternal antibodies in mammalian milk.
Breaking News! There is a concern among dairymen and biosecurity experts about a multistate outbreak of avian flu that is affecting cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, and Idaho. Various Federal and state government agencies are using this cow illness outbreak as a stage to warn consumers against drinking raw milk.
According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cattle this illness causes decreased lactation and low appetite, but the cattle generally recover without dying. Cows who have contracted this illness have recovered “with little to no associated mortality,” according to the USDA.
The press and media information released by the USDA and others warns against drinking raw milk from affected cows. They further state that pasteurization protects consumers from the illness.
Raw Milk and Breastmilk are Very Similar
As a premed-trained dairy farmer who is a 12-year member of the UC Davis International Milk Genomics Consortium (IMGC), I have studied viral infections in cows and the immunologic and biomechanics of antibody creation. Based on what is known about antibodies and raw milk, there are deep flaws in the warnings about consuming raw milk related to avian flu.
Dr David Dallas PhD is an IMGC researcher who studies milk genomics. At the 2023 IMGC Symposium, Dr Dallas reported that raw milk from cows and goats is “qualitatively similar” to human breast milk. However, “quantitatively” bovine raw milk and human breast milk have “different levels” of various milk components.
This is why raw milk from cows and goats is so well-digested and compatible by human consumers. We can thus compare human mammals with bovine mammals in how mothers protect their babies.
Mammals Protect Their Young Through Antibodies in Raw Milk
In 2004, the state of California Veterinarian visited our dairy to perform tuberculosis testing of our cows. He told me something I will never forget: “Mammals protect their young.”
What he meant was that, in general, when a mother becomes infected by a virus or bacterial infection, she will produce antibodies in her raw milk that will provide her young with protection from the illness. This is part of why breastfed babies are known to have stronger immune systems than babies raised on formula. Antibodies in raw milk are one way that Nature assures the strength and survival of the next generation.
The CDC readily acknowledges that mothers should continue to breastfeed their infants because “flu is not spread to infants through breast milk.” They know that breastmilk contains “antibodies and other immunological factors that can help protect her infant from flu.” Similarly, studies performed at the UC Davis dairy lab during COVID found that exposing a cow to coronavirus resulted in antibodies to coronavirus in her raw milk.
These studies were a further confirmation of what doctors and the owners of Alta Dena dairy knew way back in the 1960’s: cows that have been exposed to illnesses create antibodies to the illnesses which are then passed through their raw milk. Decades ago, Alta Dena dairy would purposely make immune milk for certain consumers and doctors by intentionally exposing cows to specific illnesses. This raw milk was used to help heal sick people. Now the FDA does not allow this practice and threatens anyone who uses it with criminal charges. They consider it to be equivalent to creating a new drug without oversight, which is a crime in the USA under the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act.
Further back in history, it was observed that the milk maidens of the 1700-1800s did not catch smallpox because of their exposure to cowpox by being around dairy animals and drinking raw milk.
Common Sense Approach to Avian Flu in Cattle
The warnings against raw milk related to avian flu are clearly fearmongering. The FDA acknowledges that “there is limited information available about the transmission of bird flu in raw, unpasteurized milk.” Then they go on to use the same fearmongering tactics they’ve been using for decades against raw milk, despite the fact that there is now ample evidence that raw milk can be carefully produced as a low-risk food.
Conscientious raw milk producers already monitor their herds for illness and ensure that raw milk from unhealthy animals is not used for direct human consumption. Additionally, biosecurity measures such as maintaining a closed herd and quarantining any new animals are implemented.
These are common sense measures that are already recommended by the Raw Milk Institute and used by diligent raw milk farmers. We have no reason to suspect that any further measures are necessary in the current Avian flu outbreak in cattle. Mammalian milk is uniquely designed to protect and strengthen the immune system, and those systems will continue on as new threats arise.
Find this article and more information about raw milk at the Raw Milk Institute.
Contact the Senate Ag Committee and tell them you support the sale of raw milk in Louisiana!
Now for an update on other bills awaiting a vote in the senate. . .
We shared in the previous substack that SB1333, the WHO bill by Rep Thomas Pressly, passed the House, 69-22, but another win on Tuesday was HB46 by Rep Kathy Edmonston passing favorably out of Senate Education Committee! This bill will prohibit schools from requiring covid vaccination for school attendance. The next stop for this bill is the Senate floor!
Many thanks to Senator Valarie Hodges for her kind remarks following the vote on HB46!
The Senate has a plethora of health freedom bills waiting to be heard. We shared earlier this week that HB47, HB357, and HB908 were scheduled for a Senate floor vote - well, they are still sitting on the Senate agenda, but have not received a vote yet. If you haven’t yet, contact your state senator and ask for a YES vote on these bills.
HB47 by Rep Edmonston is scheduled to receive a vote on the Senate floor soon! This bill would simply require ALL schools to inform parents and students of the existing vaccine exemption law - a law that has been in place for decades!
Send a message to your state senator and ask them to vote for HB47!
HB357 by Rep Amedee would prevent a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) from being a legal bank deposit account in Louisiana. HB357 is scheduled to receive a Senate floor soon!
Send a message to your state senator and ask them to vote for HB357!
HB908 by Rep Beryl Amedee will prevent schools from discriminating against students who have submitted an exemption for vaccination requirements. As we noted in a previous article, then Attorney General Jeff Landry weighed in on this issue in November 2021, writing a memorandum on RS 17:170 in which he stated:
“While La. R.S. 17:170 does not prohibit schools from imposing other safety measures that they believe to be necessary to preserve the health of students, faculty, and staff, and no statute or regulation specifically authorizes masking and testing protocols, any such additional safety measures should be applied in a nondiscriminatory and non-punitive fashion. As Judge Terry Doughty with the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana held recently, policies that are so punitive that they defeat the right itself will not withstand scrutiny.”
Contact your state senator NOW and ask them to vote YES on HB908!
The legislative session is underway once again!! We could really use your help filling up our gas tanks as we make the treck to Baton Rouge to fight for your health freedom!
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