West Virginia public health officials have scolded Delegate Scott Cadle, R-Mason, for passing out samples of raw milk at the state Capitol to celebrate a new law that loosened raw milk regulations, but the state lawmaker won't face any fines.
The raw milk episode sparked national media attention earlier this month after several West Virginia legislators and their staff members came down with a nasty intestinal virus. Some of them consumed the unpasteurized milk. Cadle has insisted that nobody got sick from the milk, saying a stomach bug already had been circulating through the House of Delegates.
The state Bureau of Public Health is still investigating whether the raw milk caused a disease outbreak, but the agency recently issued Cadle a warning letter saying he broke state law.
"While it's clear you violated West Virginia law by offering raw milk to the public, the bureau recognizes that this is your first offense," said state Environmental Health Services Director Walter Ivey in a letter to Cadle.
The letter continues: "Therefore, we do not intend to monetarily penalize you for the violation, but ask that you refrain from offering raw milk for consumption to the public regardless of whether the milk offered is without charge or for sale."
During interviews with state health officials, Cadle admitted he obtained two gallons of raw milk from a Mason County dairy on March 2 and drove the milk in glass jars to his office at the state Capitol. Cadle kept the milk cold on ice in a cooler.
The following day, the Republican lawmaker announced in the House chamber that he had raw milk and invited fellow legislators to come to his office to try it, according to Ivey's letter.
House members, legislative staffers and other people drank about a gallon of raw milk from Styrofoam cups. The rest was flushed down a toilet. At least one legislator got sick soon after.
"Our investigation also determined that several other individuals became ill around the same time that they chose to consume the raw milk," Ivey said.
At the time, several legislators who got the stomach bug said they did not sample the raw milk, the Gazette-Mail previously reported.
The raw milk bill did not legalize the sale of raw milk. Instead, the legislation allows "herd-sharing" agreements, where people buy a share in a cow or other milk-producing animal and use that animal's raw milk. Anyone who enters such an agreement must sign a statement acknowledging the risks of raw milk, specifically that it may contain bacteria like Listeria, salmonella and E. coli.
Tomblin vetoed a similar raw milk bill last year over public health concerns, but signed this year's bill because it allows the state Department of Health and Human Resources to make rules for herd-sharing and raw milk.
Cadle could have faced a $50 to $500 fine for distributing raw milk to the public.
"Please be advised that your failure to comply with applicable state law in the future with regard to the offer and distribution of raw milk [may] result in an enforcement action by this office," Ivey wrote to Cadle.
Cadle did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
State officials said that their investigation into whether lawmakers and others got sick from Cadle's raw milk could take several more weeks.
Reach Eric Eyre at
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