Election Results Could Have Positive Impact in Raw Milk Wars

As the raw milk wars being fought around the country increasingly permeate the public consciousness, the issue could attract some positive political attention in the aftermath of yesterday’s voting. The first place this might happen is in Ohio, which takes one of the hardest lines against raw milk, but has just elected a Democrat, Ted Strickland, as governor for the first time in 16 years.

The new governor means almost certainly that the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) will have a new director to replace Fred Dailey (in photo above left), who has held the post since 1991, and has aggressively sought to stamp out all means of distributing raw milk. As the Beatles put it, "Got to admit it’s getting better…couldn’t get much worse."

Two pieces of proposed legislation (one and two) in Ohio that would legalize the distribution of raw milk directly from farms to consumers, such as through herd-share programs, have been stalled, in significant measure because of Dailey’s opposition. "Science has established the potential hazards with the consumption of raw milk," he stated in testimony last May. "You can legalize raw milk sales, but you can’t sanitize it with legislation…There may be thousands of Ohioans who believe if raw milk is legal, then it’s safe. Such a perception could lead many Ohioans to unknowingly consume raw milk and become sick."

Aside from "science," Dailey also expressed concern about "biosecurity." Legalization of raw milk distribution directly from farms  could make "the farms more vulnerable to security breeches, bulk tank tampering, and the transfer of diseases from one farm to another."

We won’t know for a while who will replace Dailey’s group at ODA, but quite possibly the new bureaucrats will look for ways to make things happen in a positive and safe way rather than ensure they don’t happen at all.