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Lawmaker Insists His Raw Milk Isn't What Made Colleagues Sick

West Virginia officials are investigating
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 10, 2016 7:15 AM CST
Lawmaker Insists His Raw Milk Isn't What Made Colleagues Sick
Coincidence, or was the milk to blame?   (AP Photo/Rob Carr, File)

Some West Virginia lawmakers are dealing with a tough double-whammy: Not only are they recovering from a nasty flu-like illness, they're bearing the brunt of some serious Internet ridicule. A headline at Consumerist sums up why: "WV Lawmakers Legalize Raw Milk, Drink Raw Milk, Get Mysterious Stomach Bug." It seems that after the governor signed a law loosening restrictions on unpasteurized milk, one lawmaker brought in some from a local dairy to celebrate and handed out samples, reports the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Next thing you know, lawmakers were being felled by vomiting, fever, and diarrhea. The lawmaker who brought in the milk, Scott Cadle, insists it's a coincidence, maintaining that some kind of bug was already going around.

"There’s nobody up there that got sick off that milk," says Cadle, who had to stay home from work on Monday. "It’s just bad timing, I guess." Another lawmaker who fell ill after taking a "small sip" to be polite thinks Cadle is right. "I highly doubt raw milk had anything to do with it," he tells WSAZ. Nevertheless, state health officials are investigating after getting an anonymous tip asserting that the milk is to blame and that Cadle may have violated the new law by distributing it in the House chamber as he did, reports ABC News. "It's important to note that a lot of the information out there is alleged," says one health official. "It's important to conduct an investigation to figure out exactly the facts." (Maybe coconut milk is the way to go for the squeamish?)

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