Capitol Ideas: Raw milk fight could return

DES MOINES - There seems nothing more American than finding a way around the law.

After all, one man's loophole is another's liberty.

That seems to be the approach a couple of some small government, freedom-loving Republicans who are trying a new approach to allowing people who like to drink raw milk to get their fix legally.

House Republican Reps. Greg Heartsill of Chariton and Darrell Branhagen of Decorah aren't trying to legalize the sale of raw milk - that is, milk in its natural, unpasteurized state. Previous attempts to change Iowa's prohibition against raw milk sales have failed. Repeatedly.

Former Judiciary Committee Chairman Rich Anderson, R-Clarinda, used to jokingly refer to raw milk legalization as the 'murder by milk” bill.

Iowa House Ag Committee Chairman Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, remembers proposals to legalize raw milk sales didn't fare any better when he chaired the Economic Growth Committee.

So Branhagen and Heartsill are proposing House File 210 that would allow 'herdshares.” Iowans could buy a share in one or several cows or goats, for example. That would give them access to milk from their own cow or herd of cows.

Simply put, why buy the milk when you own the cow?

'Herdshares” are legal in North Dakota, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Tennessee and Wyoming.

It's a niche market, Heartsill said. In fact, only 3 percent of the population drinks at least one glass of raw milk a week, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It reports the increase in raw milk's popularity has been accompanied by a jump in incidents attributed to it from three a year to an annual average of 13 incidents that led to nearly 1,000 illnesses and 73 hospitalizations. The greatest jump was in outbreaks of severe diarrhea.

Some people drink raw milk for the taste. Heartsill, who along with his wife, Angie, owns milking goats, chooses it for the absence of hormones.

Branhagen drank raw milk while growing up on a rural Decorah farm and said he's backing the bill because of the local food movement in his northeast Iowa district.

'I want to see smaller and more organic farming opened up to local products locally,” Branhagen said.

He isn't for relaxing food and safety inspections in commercial food processing, 'but if my next-door neighbor is selling me raw milk, I know where my food is coming from and I should be able to take steps to protect myself.”

Not everyone sees it that way. Agricultural groups - the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Cattlemen's Association and Dairy Industry Association - as well as the Association of Business and Industry, State Association of Counties and Medical Society are all opposed.

Given those odds, a libertarian goat herd owner and Decorah's 'hippie Republican” may not stand a chance.

And from a practical standpoint, the raw milk glass is half empty because Ag Committee Chairman Grassley is unlikely to take up the bill out of concern for the dairy industry's reputation. If someone gets sick from consuming raw milk - even if the milk is from a cow in which that person has an ownership interest - Iowa's entire dairy industry would suffer, Grassley said.