However, a law that went into effect July 1 allows the milk to be hand-bottled. That means farms don't have to lay out large investments in bottling equipment -- a requirement that would eliminate milk sales as a potential revenue source for many small operations.

As long as compliance costs are low, Washington's raw-milk code could actually help build the market for the product. While I think that consumers are their own best health inspectors -- I wouldn't buy raw milk from a farm I hadn't inspected myself, or whose operator didn't have a top-notch reputation in his or her community -- many people don't feel comfortable consuming something as potentially dangerous as raw milk without government oversight.

(There is of course a bitter irony here: The government has long shown itself to be more responsive to corporate dictates than public-health concerns. To cite just one example: The FDA continues to countenance the use of hydrogenated oil, despite decades of evidence of its deadly effects.)

Direct-marketed raw milk is a potential boon to dairy farms that have languished for years under the heel of rising costs and stagnant prices for their goods. Consolidation in the dairy-processing industry means that in most places, a single buyer exists for a farm's milk output. By selling direct to consumers, farmers have more leverage to get a decent price.

Produced in small quantities by rigorous farmers, raw milk's much-feared health dangers seem way overblown.