The Owen Sound Sun Times has had enough of raw milk evangelist Michael Schmidt.
The Ontario paper correctly observes that the Ontario government does not have the capacity to ensure that unpasteurized milk is safe to distribute and Michael Schmidt does not have the right to pick and choose which laws he wishes to obey.
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Schmidt’s raw-milk operation may be the most sparkling-clean in all of Ontario. His methods of storage and transport may be beyond reproach. His milk cows may be grass-fed, free-range, pest-free and of above average intelligence. For all we know they may produce wonderful abstract-expressionist paintings in their off hours.
That does not change the fact that drinking raw milk brings with it a heightened risk of salmonella, E. coli and Listeriosis. Nor does it change the fact that pasteurization saves lives.
Anyone who doesn’t believe this should ask someone old enough to remember the days before pasteurization was introduced.
If selling raw milk were legal, it would in short order become a big business. The Ontario government, knowing the statistical risks of raw-milk distribution, would be legally and morally responsible for ensuring that no one got sick as a result.
That is a chance no responsible, reasonable government can or will take.
Therefore, Schmidt’s crusade will fail. It should fail.
One man, however impassioned, cannot set health policy for all Ontarians, in the face of medical evidence that doing so would put people at risk.