“Recently the Food and Drug Administration conducted a yearlong sting operation targeting Rainbow Acres Farms in Pennsylvania,” he added. “As a result of this action, Rainbow Acres’ customers will no longer be able to purchase unpasteurized milk from this small Amish farm.”

{mosads}Paul argued that many believe unpasteurized milk is healthier for them, and said they should have a right to consume it “without having the federal government second-guess their judgment about what products best promote health.” Health and safety issues such as these should be handled at the state and local level, he said.

Paul’s milk bill is H.R. 1830, and is similar to bills he has introduced in past years.

Paul’s hemp bill, H.R. 1831, would require the federal government to respect state laws that allow industrial hemp to be cultivated. Current federal law requires hemp sold in the U.S. to be imported, not grown in America, and Paul said this prevents U.S. farmers from participating in this market.

Paul said industrial hemp is included in the technical definition of marijuana, but he said hemp has a very low concentration of the psychoactive chemical found in marijuana.

“It is unfortunate that the federal government has stood in the way of American farmers competing in the global industrial hemp market. Indeed, the founders of our nation, some of whom grew hemp, would surely find that federal restrictions on farmers growing a safe and profitable crop on their own land are inconsistent with the constitutional guarantee of a limited, restrained federal government.”