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TreeHugger
Book Review: The Raw Milk Revolution
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 12.16.09
Thomas Jefferson said "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." But in the modern age, it is the flow of money, rather than blood, which mainly determines the outcome of questions of freedom versus bureaucracy. David E. Gumpert raises the curtain on the workings of state and federal agencies responding to what seems a simple question: should American citizens be allowed the personal freedom to choose to drink raw milk?
It seems like the founding fathers would make easy work of that one: an individual makes a fully informed decision, choosing to accept certain risks in return for what they believe to be yet greater benefits, which can in no way do harm to any other person. Is that not the very definition of individual liberty? What Gumpert reveals will make you question the very premise upon which the United States of America is founded.
A Compelling Story
Isn't it curious that at this juncture in our culture's evolution, we collectively believe Twinkies, Lucky Charms and Coca-Cola are safe foods, but compost-grown organic tomatoes and raw milk are not?
--from the forward, by Joel Salatin
I entered this book expecting a treatise whose pages would be turned only by a compelling curiosity on the issue of raw milk. Instead, I found 228 pages packed with interesting and personal stories, knit together by an overarching philosophical question: can individual choice survive when the agents of government raise their sights against a minority practicing their beliefs?
David E. Gumpert's journalistic credentials include work for BusinessWeek.com, the Wall Street Journal and the Harvard Business Review. He has followed the evolution of the Raw Milk Revolution up close and personally on his website The Complete Patient. His professionalism and depth of knowledge permit him to bring the facts and explanations regarding raw milk in America to light with no hysteria and little hype.
Read the whole article here.
SuperEco
10 November 2009
green books campaign: the raw milk revolution
This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.
What do government regulators have against raw milk?
The Raw Milk Revolution is an exploration of this and other relevant questions in a time when the entire industrialized food system is coming into question.
Based on his blog, The Complete Patient, David Gumpert provides a reasonable, balanced, and straightforward account of the pros and cons of raw milk consumption and the legal constraints placed on its production.
The book provides historic context of the dairy industry, from about the time of the Industrial Revolution to more recent regulatory history regarding food safety. It balances past events with the current trend toward consuming raw dairy, explaining both the purported risks and benefits of the product that comes unadulterated from the cow (or goat or sheep).
Read the whole article here.
Farmbrarian
The Raw Milk Revolution by David Gumpert
Interest in raw milk has been growing steadily as of late, and along with it has come pressure from state and federal regulatory agencies on suppliers to stop providing the controversial food. In The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America’s Emerging Battle Over Food Rights, business journalist David Gumpert examines the legal bout over unpasteurized milk that has taken place over the last several years.
Concern begins with a small group of people getting sick and testing positive for the famous e.coli strain 0157:H7. Next, state officials deem that the occasionally life-threatening bacteria were contracted by drinking raw milk. (Gumpert shows just how inconclusive these findings can be, however.) Newspapers run headlines about raw milk nearly taking the life of someone’s child, and whether justified or not, the farmer is run out of business and a fear of the drink is established. The legal precedents being set in examples like this one are literally changing the rights of raw milk consumers and producers as you read this.
Read the whole article here.
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