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A federal lawmaker introduced a bill that will allow more women to access whole and reduced fat milk.
U.S. Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Howard, lead sponsorship of the Give Milk Act.
The bill will allow all participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) to access whole and reduced fat milk.
"Over the last decade milk has been unfairly demonized as we have lost an entire generation of milk drinkers," Thompson said.
Milk, an indispensable source of nutrients --including calcium, iodine, and vitamins A and D--helps children to grow healthy.
The Give Milk bill will make it easier for expectant mothers and mothers of young children to access milk for their families, providing infants, children, and mothers the nutrients they need during key developmental stages, Thompson said.
Among the area's Thompson serves is a part of greater Williamsport along with Clinton County.
Last year, while in Jersey Shore, Thompson spoke about the demonization of milk and its many by-products and how that is harmful to farmers.
He also spoke about the loss of family dairy farms due to placing too much emphasis on green energy technology and blamed many Democrat colleagues in Congress for falsely label farmers as one of the higher contributors to pollution due to cows producing methane gas.
A team at Penn State received a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study reduction in research of 70 dairy farms' methane emissions by using what the agency calls climate-smart practices. The goal is to provide measurable reductions in methane emissions from cows. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
The reductions can be used as carbon credits in the products the farms produce. The credits could be used by companies or retailers purchasing the products as a means to meet their climate goals.
According to Dr. Katherine Zipp, an associate professor of environmental and resource economics at Penn State, there is market potential for this.
"Consumers have shown that they're willing to pay for carbon offsets," she told National Public Radio in a StateImpact.com report.