A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Revised extensively on 13 February 2015.
HB-245, Rep. Nancy Ballance’s bill to legalize the sale of raw milk (unpasteurized) in Montana, was approved by a 14– margin by the MT House’s human services committee late on the afternoon of 11 February. One Democrat, Tom Jacobson of Great Falls, and two Republicans, Albert Olszewski, MD, Kalispell, and Forrest Mandeville, Columbus, voted Nay.
The bill was amended slightly. The small herd exemption was reduced to seven cows, 15 goats, and 15 sheep. Raw milk producers were made responsible for all testing costs. Section 5, which placed all liability on the consumer, was struck, with liability being addressed in a required label:
This product, sold for personal use and not for resale, is fresh whole milk that has not been pasteurized. Neither this farm nor the milk sold by this farm has been inspected by the State of Montana. The consumer assumes liability for health issues that may result from the consumption of this product. [Flathead Memo’s highlighting.]
Inevitably, someone will become seriously ill from drinking raw milk — at which point lawyers will start making big money litigating that nebulous liability clause.
In the 2013 legislative session, a similar bill was whooped through the house 96–3, with only Republicans voting against it and Democrat Franke Wilmer excused. Seventy-three of those legislators serve in the current session, including the three naysayers (Rob Cook, Conrad; Christy Clark, Choteau; David “Doc” Moore, Missoula).
By treating this matter as a food freedom issue, not as a public health issue, by evincing a frighteningly insouciant attitude toward legalizing the sale of a beverage long known to be unsafe, and by rejecting long settled science and medical advice, Montana’s legislators are abdicating their responsibility as elected officials to protect the health of the community. It’s shameful, downright shameful.
Lowering the safety standards for milk is tantamount to lowering the safety standards for drinking water. By supporting HB-245, Democrats in the MT legislature are undermining their party’s bona fides as the political party with the health care positions that help people the most.