Raw Milk Bills Proliferate Amid Health Concerns

0:00It's April 29, Canada News Today starts now, AI-powered and ready. Raw milk fans are ramping up efforts to make it easier to buy across the country, even with fresh outbreaks hitting kids hard. Right now, more than three dozen bills are popping up in state legislatures to loosen rules on unpasteurized milk. Farmers report demands so high they can't keep up, but health experts are sounding alarms over germs like E. coli. Just this year, at least five outbreaks linked to raw milk have struck, including one from California cheddar cheese that sicken nine people, half of, them children under five. Bills like these have hit 18 states from both red and blue ones, with over 40 proposals to expand sales or streamline access. There's even a bipartisan push in Congress to let raw milk move freely between states where it's already legal. Milk health folks point to decades of data, showing raw milk dangers, over 200 outbreaks from 1998 to 2018 alone, sickening more than 2,600 people and hospitalizing 225.

1:06Kids face the biggest risks because their immune systems aren't fully developed and they drink a lot of milk, but adults get hit bad too. Supporters argue for smart rules, like regular vet checks and lab tests on farms, comparing it to weed legalization where demand leads to safer. Oversight, dairy operations already do weekly germ screenings to cut hazards. As these bills move forward, the tug of war between choice and safety heats up, leaving families to weigh the hype against real health threats in their next grocery run.