Post by Deleted on May 27, 2007 15:36:32 GMT -5
Farmers want in-the-raw state law
Amish dairymen move against control over livestock, milk
local.lancasteronline.com/4/204854
By JON RUTTER, Staff writer
Sunday News
Published: May 27, 2007 12:09 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa - White milk is a legal gray area for Levi Miller.
The state cited him last year for selling the beverage unpasteurized and unlicensed from his Leacock Township dairy.
Other Amish farmers are in the same boat.
The controversy over so-called raw milk has long weighed on them. And the burden is growing, said Shelley J. Catina, a local attorney who has represented Miller pro bono.
The government is moving to tighten controls over livestock, a process that may one day include computerized identification for individual animals.
Some Plain-sect dairymen who are united under the banner CARE, or Communities Alliance for Responsible Eco-farming, view that as a threat to their small-farm way of life.
A group of farmers, including some CARE members, are hosting a meeting next month in Leacock, and state legislators are invited.
"There's really no issues that are off-limits," said state Rep. Bryan Cutler, R-100th District. "I'm more than willing to listen" to see if legislative solutions are appropriate.
Pennsylvania law requires farmers to obtain permits to sell raw milk to the public. Sales of raw milk commodities such as butter and soft cheese are prohibited.
CARE supporters want an exemption for self-regulated dairymen who market the beverage and products made from it to private subscribers.
"They're very organized on this," Catina said. "They want to change the law."
License to milk
Advocates of raw milk contend that it's more nutritious, and that pasteurization destroys important enzymes.
They've long locked horns with the government, which argues that pasteurization is essential for killing pathogens and ensuring public safety.
In August 2006, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture inspector Roy Malik charged Miller with selling raw milk without a permit.
The case remains open after several hearing postponements. Miller still owes $349.50 in fines and costs.
A hearing at the Intercourse office of Magisterial District Judge Isaac H. Stoltzfus has been set for Tuesday.
But Catina, who is starting a new job in Philadelphia, withdrew from the case last week, leading Miller to question whether there will be another delay.
The straw-hatted farmer interrupted work in his barn last week to outline his view of the situation.
"Milk isn't [only] raw milk," he said. It represents a way of life threatened by big business and government interference.
According to some Amish farmers, inspectors have applied milk sanitation regulations inconsistently by encouraging them to furnish test samples from their best cow only.
Under the law, farmers are supposed to submit samples from multiple animals.
Farmers do not want to "sneak around and lie," Catina said.
Nor, she said, do conservative Plain-sect dairymen, who drive horse-drawn buggies and maintain pre-industrial lifestyles, favor tracking herds by computer.
Livestock growers in the state began registering their farms with the National Animal Identification System last August, according to Ron Miller, coordinator of the effort in Pennsylvania.
Miller said the NAIS aims to help the government quarantine diseased animals more effectively.
Two years ago, he said, NAIS partnered with the Lancaster County Dairy Herd Improvement Association in a pilot identification program using ear tags that contained computer chips.
Identification is "the second step of the NAIS plan," he explained. The third is animal tracking.
All of it is voluntary, added Miller, who said officials expect the market to drive animal identification.
But the U.S. Department of Agriculture could make NAIS mandatory, according to Miller, who said Wisconsin and Indiana have already gone that route.
Nationwide, a quarter of the farms that raise livestock for commerce, trade or exhibition are now registered, Miller said.
In Wisconsin, according to a recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, many swine and dairy producers have declined to sign up for farm ID numbers.
Among them were individuals who considered NAIS an "insidious" government program and Amish farmers who cited religious reasons.
There is considerable precedent for exemptions based on religious freedom.
Because their doctrine does not allow them to take social welfare money, for example, the Amish are exempt from the Social Security system.
Cutler said he is cosponsoring a proposal by state Rep. Gordon Denlinger, R-99th District, to amend the state fire code, which prohibits facial hair on firefighters.
Many volunteer firefighters are Amish, whose religion dictates that married men wear beards.
The American Civil Liberties Union is prepared to back Amish farmers if they are being "compelled to use some sort of technology that offended their religious beliefs," said Mary Catherine Roper, a staff attorney with the group in Philadelphia.
"There's generally more than one way to do what you want to do," she added. "There's not just one way to ensure the safety of dairy products."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jon Rutter is a staff writer for the Sunday News. His e-mail address is jrutter@lnpnews.com.
Amish dairymen move against control over livestock, milk
local.lancasteronline.com/4/204854
By JON RUTTER, Staff writer
Sunday News
Published: May 27, 2007 12:09 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa - White milk is a legal gray area for Levi Miller.
The state cited him last year for selling the beverage unpasteurized and unlicensed from his Leacock Township dairy.
Other Amish farmers are in the same boat.
The controversy over so-called raw milk has long weighed on them. And the burden is growing, said Shelley J. Catina, a local attorney who has represented Miller pro bono.
The government is moving to tighten controls over livestock, a process that may one day include computerized identification for individual animals.
Some Plain-sect dairymen who are united under the banner CARE, or Communities Alliance for Responsible Eco-farming, view that as a threat to their small-farm way of life.
A group of farmers, including some CARE members, are hosting a meeting next month in Leacock, and state legislators are invited.
"There's really no issues that are off-limits," said state Rep. Bryan Cutler, R-100th District. "I'm more than willing to listen" to see if legislative solutions are appropriate.
Pennsylvania law requires farmers to obtain permits to sell raw milk to the public. Sales of raw milk commodities such as butter and soft cheese are prohibited.
CARE supporters want an exemption for self-regulated dairymen who market the beverage and products made from it to private subscribers.
"They're very organized on this," Catina said. "They want to change the law."
License to milk
Advocates of raw milk contend that it's more nutritious, and that pasteurization destroys important enzymes.
They've long locked horns with the government, which argues that pasteurization is essential for killing pathogens and ensuring public safety.
In August 2006, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture inspector Roy Malik charged Miller with selling raw milk without a permit.
The case remains open after several hearing postponements. Miller still owes $349.50 in fines and costs.
A hearing at the Intercourse office of Magisterial District Judge Isaac H. Stoltzfus has been set for Tuesday.
But Catina, who is starting a new job in Philadelphia, withdrew from the case last week, leading Miller to question whether there will be another delay.
The straw-hatted farmer interrupted work in his barn last week to outline his view of the situation.
"Milk isn't [only] raw milk," he said. It represents a way of life threatened by big business and government interference.
According to some Amish farmers, inspectors have applied milk sanitation regulations inconsistently by encouraging them to furnish test samples from their best cow only.
Under the law, farmers are supposed to submit samples from multiple animals.
Farmers do not want to "sneak around and lie," Catina said.
Nor, she said, do conservative Plain-sect dairymen, who drive horse-drawn buggies and maintain pre-industrial lifestyles, favor tracking herds by computer.
Livestock growers in the state began registering their farms with the National Animal Identification System last August, according to Ron Miller, coordinator of the effort in Pennsylvania.
Miller said the NAIS aims to help the government quarantine diseased animals more effectively.
Two years ago, he said, NAIS partnered with the Lancaster County Dairy Herd Improvement Association in a pilot identification program using ear tags that contained computer chips.
Identification is "the second step of the NAIS plan," he explained. The third is animal tracking.
All of it is voluntary, added Miller, who said officials expect the market to drive animal identification.
But the U.S. Department of Agriculture could make NAIS mandatory, according to Miller, who said Wisconsin and Indiana have already gone that route.
Nationwide, a quarter of the farms that raise livestock for commerce, trade or exhibition are now registered, Miller said.
In Wisconsin, according to a recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, many swine and dairy producers have declined to sign up for farm ID numbers.
Among them were individuals who considered NAIS an "insidious" government program and Amish farmers who cited religious reasons.
There is considerable precedent for exemptions based on religious freedom.
Because their doctrine does not allow them to take social welfare money, for example, the Amish are exempt from the Social Security system.
Cutler said he is cosponsoring a proposal by state Rep. Gordon Denlinger, R-99th District, to amend the state fire code, which prohibits facial hair on firefighters.
Many volunteer firefighters are Amish, whose religion dictates that married men wear beards.
The American Civil Liberties Union is prepared to back Amish farmers if they are being "compelled to use some sort of technology that offended their religious beliefs," said Mary Catherine Roper, a staff attorney with the group in Philadelphia.
"There's generally more than one way to do what you want to do," she added. "There's not just one way to ensure the safety of dairy products."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jon Rutter is a staff writer for the Sunday News. His e-mail address is jrutter@lnpnews.com.