Author/journalist David E. Gumpert (The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America’s Emerging Battle Over Food Rights) appeared on The Power Hour with Joyce Riley last month to discuss the raw milk debate—raw milk: health food or health hazard? Is it a food safety issue, or a citizens’ rights issue? Have the FDA’s enforcement tactics been too heavy-handed? Are small farmers being unfairly targeted? And what does it all mean for you?

Here’s a partial transcript:

David Gumpert: I’m a writer, I’m a professional journalist. I have spent many years writing about small business and entrepreneurship. I’ve written a number of books about how to start your own business, and how to run a business, how to raise money for a business. I’ve been a reporter with the Wall Street Journal, I’ve been an editor with the Harvard Business Review. So I’ve had a writing career, I guess you could say, a journalistic career, and in terms of what got me to write the book—

What got me to write the book was some of the things you’ve just talked about earlier, in regard to the, some of the things that have been happening to small farmers. I saw things like undercover investigations of small farmers, I saw sting operations, I saw questionable lab testing. I saw a number of things going on being directed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. I saw this happening in late 2005, early 2006, and I said, you know, there’s something wrong here.

I should say that at that time I didn’t even know that people still drank unpasteurized milk. That part was a revelation to me. The more I learned, the more I investigated, the more convinced I became that these farmers were being done, dealt an injustice, and, uh, in many cases. And I also learned that, I met many people who told me about their experiences, having improved their health by drinking raw milk. Now, having said that, I should say there aren’t a real lot of studies to that effect, but as far as I’m concerned, people are having certain experiences, you have to respect that. And I respect those experiences, and I respect their right to have access to consume raw milk.

Watch Part 1 now:

Watch all four parts here.

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