This is not an Onion headline, or a joke that John Oliver made about an uncovered town meeting that was attended by no one. This harrowing story about raw milk actually happened because…well, it happened in West Virginia.
Weeks ago, the state passed a bill that allowed residents of West Virginia to drink raw milk. One of the delegates brought some raw milk in to celebrate (of course), and after drinking the milk, several of the lawmakers ended up getting sick.
What’s even better about this story is that lawmakers who were champions of this bill (possibly because the raw milk got to their brains) have said that this is “a coincidence” and a stomach bug is going around oddly enough at the same time. Sure.
Some state health officials are investigating a claim saying that the public officials were given the raw milk illegally, like it’s weed or something.
“There’s definitely…some other colleagues that have similar symptoms that I’ve been experiencing,” Pat McGeehan (R- Hancock 01) said.
Some of the lawmakers drank the raw milk to celebrate the passage of the law allowing West Virginia citizens to drink raw milk legally, which probably led to them getting sick because why the hell would you drink raw milk in the first place even if it was illegal?
“I highly doubt raw milk had anything to do with (me getting sick), in my case,” McGeehan said.
That’s why you’re a state representative in West Virginia.
Several lawmakers have said that one of the bills sponsors, Scott Cadle (R – Mason, 13), brought in the death concoction and offered it around.
“[Cadle] caught me in the hallway, offered a cup to me, and you want to try to be a gentleman,” McGeehan said. “I had a small sip and walked away and tossed the rest of it.” So he’s not that dumb after all?
Some supporters of drinking raw milk have said that it actually contains more nutritional content and is more “ethical” than drinking pasteurized milk.
“I don’t think it’s any riskier than eating raw oysters or anything like that,” said McGeehan.
For the record, the CDC recommends not drinking raw milk because it is 150 times more likely to cause foodborne illness than normal milk, and can carry such fantastic diseases as e.coli, salmonella, and listeria, which all have seen reported cases spike in West Virginia, for some reason.
McGeehan has learned a valuable lesson during this episode.
“There definitely shouldn’t be a law against allowing people to do what they want within the framework of the rule of law,” McGeehan said. “Just be careful.”
Some words of wisdom for a man that signed off on a bill legalizing people to do something as stupid as spilling coffee on themselves then suing because “I didn’t know coffee was hot.” America!
[WSAZ3]
