National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association(NICFA)

ICFA Members Testify at California Raw Milk Hearings

Liz Reitzig:
Senator Florez, Senator Maldonado and members of the committee, thank you for holding this hearing and for your commitment to the people of California. My name is Liz Reitzeg. And I am the president of the Maryland Independent Consumers and Farmers Association. I represent the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association.

We are America�s sustainable farmers and the millions of Americans who depend on them. The entire country is watching the state of California right now as California works to preserve the rights of all Californians and Americans by maintaining the maximum level of freedom for all individuals.

You have the unique opportunity to not only create and support legislation but to delve into the far reaching benefits of fresh milk sales for yourself and your life. I hope that you take the opportunity to listen openly to this issue and look at the profound advantages to having this food available and what these advantages will mean to the well-being of the people of California and the larger scale rewards to the country and planet.

You have heard testimony, and will hear more, about the safety and benefits of fresh milk. The economic and environmental benefits are noteworthy as well. With a high demand for fresh milk the market can demand prices many times higher than conventional milk fetches. These reasonable high prices provide sustainability for small farms and keep acreage and farming. Further, demand for fresh milk grows exponentially and this consumer base seeks only high quality fresh milk from grass fed animals.

National awareness of the benefits and pursuit of fresh milk is gaining momentum across the country. A bill has been introduced in Congress to recognize the rights of states to transport fresh milk from states where it is legal to other states where it is legal. This is a smallexample of the effect of the burgeoning grassroots movement towards local sustainable food sources.

The people of California have the inherent right to access this life-giving, health promoting nutrient dense food. We ask you to recognize these rights also and pass legislation sustaining these freedoms.

We support such legislation as it is a step towards recognizing consumers� rights to purchase the food that they choose for their families. This is a constitutional, God given right.

On a more important level than the health benefits of fresh milk is the issue of non-representative government in the form on unelected agency personnel denying our freedoms. The Preamble of the California State Constitution states that the people of California, grateful to almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure and perpetrate its blessings, do establish this constitution. Section I of the Constitution further clarifies that the people of California are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights. Among these are; enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing and protecting property and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness and privacy. The Constitution, the State�s word of law, protects Californians� lawfully recognized and God given right to consume the foods they choose for themselves and their families.

As elected legislators, it is your responsibility to ensure the rights and freedoms of all Californians. By supporting the freedom of consumers to purchase and farmers to sell, you protect the individual freedoms that we all hold in such high regard. As Thomas Jefferson stated, �I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society, but the people themselves and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.� We are the American tradition of heritage, sustainable farming and the American consumers who support local sustainable food.

Thank you for your efforts in restoring our freedoms to continue farming and feeding our families and communities.

Read:

Liz Reitzig Testimony - VICFA

Sally Fallon Testimony - President Weston A. Price Foundation

Dr. Robert Irons Testimony - Nutritional Immunologist - MOICFA

Dr. Ted Beals Testimony - Pathologist

Pro-Consumer

"All individuals have the God-given, inalienable right to procure the food of their choice, from the source of their choice."

Pro Farmer

A farmer's livelihood depends on his/her ability to cater to consumer's demands without unfair government restrictions.

Pro Freedom

"... Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." ~Declaration of Independence

Anti-NAIS

NAIS imposes on all livestock and animal owners a high-tech, high-cost livestock backtrack system requiring:

Registration of any premises where even one animal, a chicken, pet donkey, etc� is kept, in a database accessible to many agencies and foreign governments.
Radio Frequency ID (RFID) microchipping or tagging of every animal.
Reporting and recording each animal�s movements within 24 hours, under threat of severe penalty, including confiscation of animals and fines of $1000 per day, per infraction.