I was watching this fraud expert, Harry Markopolos, testifying last night on the national news, throwing out one of the funniest lines I’ve heard in a long time, to effect:
“If you flew the entire SEC staff to Boston, sat them in Fenway Park, they wouldn’t be able to find first base.”
Okay, it was dark humor. He was talking about how he spent nine years unsuccessfully trying to convince the Securities and Exchange Commission to pay attention to his warnings that Bernie Madoff wasn’t for real. (“I gave them a road map and a flash light…”)
Had his warnings been taken seriously at the time, the losses to investors via the Ponzi scheme might have been $7 billion rather than the $50 billion or more they turned into when Madoff finally confessed in December. (Had the markets not turned down so badly, Madoff would likely still be doing his thing, right under the SEC’s nose.) The rest of the news segment showed officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission mumbling nonsense in response to inquiries from members of Congress about how they could have screwed up so badly—not even allowing the minimum: that they didn’t take the warnings seriously because Madoff was so much a part of the established order
I had this vision as I watched the pathetic show of bureaucratic bumbling of a few years into the future. There is a massive outbreak of illness from some food contamination or another. And a Congressional committee is listening to Miguel or Dave Milano or Lynn McGaha or Blair McMorran or Mark McAfee explaining that it all could have been avoided had the U.S. Food and Drug Administration listened to their pleadings to not obsess about raw milk and pathogens and instead encourage consumers to build up their immunity via unpasteurized dairy products, fermented foods, and other foods with a probiotic benefit.
And the FDA officials are mumbling nonsense about why they not only ignored the warnings, but persecuted farmers and others producing and distributing the beneficial food. Left unsaid in their mumblings: they preferred to place their trust in agribusiness and Big Pharma.
Far far more dangerous than finding a pathogen in food is….wondering arround as a human being with a depressed immune system. What food may contain is not as predictable as knowing what kind of immune system you have….
Drink raw milk, raw Kefir, eat whole unprocessed foods and be assured of a very strong immune system.
Mark McAfee
If only Ron Paul had made his way to the Presidency…
http://www.ftcldf.org/news/news-01feb2009.htm
Now is the time to take action! It takes a bit to find all those who need contacting, but let’s make our voices heard for this bill!!
Jen B
This same theme or story is being played out in the raw dairy movement. There are many of us that have recovered from serious health problems by consuming raw dairy from clean grass fed cows and rejecting the SAD. We, just as Mr Markopolos, have spoken out but the regulators reject what we say while they approve the filthy confinement dairys.
Why does it take a catastrope for the truth to be revealed and accepted?
The problem with seeing the FDA/USDA campaign of rural cleansing as "bureaucratic bumbling" as is, apparently, the case with the SEC, is that it is so consciously and methodically and ruthlessly applied. So that it would appear that the FDA/USDA can not be accused of incompetence. Because they have very competently injured or destroyed competent leaders in the raw milk/raw foods movement with very little collateral damage in the press. They cannot therefore be accused of incompetence, but they certainly should be accused of corruption, since the prima facie circumstantial evidence is there for a money link with the milk cartel. Establishment politicians will never support underdog causes for fear of jeopardizing their own funding base. But they will go after a corrupt official in the name (at least secretly) of an underdog movement. Has anyone suggested that an investigation be opened on this front?
Paul Hubbard
Virginia Peninsula
Senator Harkin was asking important questions of a panel during the Peanut Salmonella outbreak hearings.
One mother of a Peanut Salmonella patient reported that her child had become infected by C- Diff along with the Salmonella.
Clostridium Difficele is a very common antibiotic induced infection. It is also highly antibiotic resistant and only occurs in the immune depressed after all the good gut flora is killed off by antibiotics.
Therapies suggested to counter C-Diff is a diet of probiotics and yogurt. A therapy of Lactobaccillus and Immunoglobulliins are also suggested. Can you choke out the words
"RAW MILK!!!"
Not one PhD expert or uniformed FDA or CDC MD suggested probiotics or stengthening immune systems in the hearings or as a part of a better future. No one suggested prevention through nutrition or biodiverse foods to eliminate the origin of the problem to begin with. The problem is the expanding American depressed immune system crisis. This is happening because no one is looking at pathogens correctly. The GERM THEORY is killing Americans….Change the terrain you idiots. Food chemistry will tell you this. Change the chemistry and biology and you change the host terrain and no more problems….same thing in your gut. Claude Bernard was right…Pasteur was oh so wrong!!
No one is conscious in Washington. The only solutions suggested by the panel were numb skull politically correct drug dogma, food safety plans and universal HACCP plans and spending billions on non- sense. Nothing suggested to make the situation better by improving the immune health of the population so that the list of pathogens would shorten and immunity would strengthen. In fact every suggestion would grow the pathogen list ( development of new and stronger antibiotics and more highly sterilized foods ) and grow the number of Americans with a weaker immune system.
I am so glad these people are not pilots and fly aircraft….we would all be dead.
These lemmings have no ability to critically think or lead. Perhaps this is mother natures way of killing off the stupid ones. This is tragic….raw milk and raw milk Kefir are perfect simple solutions to this immune storm rising. It is no wonder we have an economic crisis.
Our government has a bigger crisis….no leadership or critical thinking. Just idiots following idiots over a cliff of their own greedy making.
Mark
http://arkansasnews.com/?p=24511
Sale of Raw Milk Bill Rejected
HB 1114 would have PERMITTED, ALLOWED or LICENSED a farmer to sell 100 gallons of raw milk per month, I do not know what the penalty would be for selling 101 gallons.
Dr Joe Bates a state deputy health officer stated " approving the bill could put the states ability to make sure food is safe at risk, raw milk can contain a number of pathogens including Salmonella" HMMM No melamine in Arkanasas or germy peanutbutter or white bread or diet soda? I wonder if Dr Joe has ever seen or smelled an approved confinement dairy. We are all reaping the rewards of the systems acceptence of Pasteur’s folly and its not good. IMHO
I’d like to follow up on the "idiots following idiots" part. My mother, not much of a believer in the intrinsic goodness of the human soul, very often used to say of appearances: dumb like a fox. Because our culture is very squeamish with the idea of evil, whenever anyone does not see the truth of a position (which is usually ours) we must immediately assume that they are dumb.
I suggest that these people are not dumb. Some are grievously mistaken. But not very many of them are dumb as you suggest. Although bureaucracy is dumb like an ox, individual bureaucrats, in order to achieve and maintain their positions of power, must be both wise and mercilessly, unfeelingly harmful as serpents. Wickedness is only dumb strategically, because, just like any other parasite, it eventually destroys its own host. But tactically, it is opportunistically brilliant. For example, how far in advance did they know that they had the Governors veto in their pocket in California, concerning your proposed legislation? I allege that they knew very far in advance. And I believe that their strategy was judiciously disciplined. They did not taunt your helplessness from the beginning by hinting at such a veto. They lured Sally Fallon – and you – into dissipating her and your energies, and the Legal Defense Fund to squander their meager resources and raised the vain expectations of hundreds of thousands of folks in sending innumerable petitions to the government.
And now there is nothing but disillusionment and defeat. And as icing on the cake, your own wife has ‘had it up to here’ with your political involvement (‘which is only going to get you thrown in jail’). Your wife is wise, but harmless as a dove. Yeah, they’re dumb. Dumb like a foxes.
I think the political confrontation strategy of the Weston Price Foundation (of which I am a chapter leader), is generally, dumb. You cannot go toe to toe with corruption and win. The only thing these politicians understand is jail time. And the only thing that a dumb bureaucracy will ever understand is that their political base has quietly, but very positively, shifted beneath them. Let’s do that, shall we?
Paul Hubbard
Virginia Peninsula
One of the things I learned in statistics class was that numbers can be manipulated and show what you want to show. Studies have a long history not answering all questions, just as companies have a long history of manipulation and out right lieing about results. The "good ole boys" standard is alive and well.
The regular media doesn’t truely report the facts. Look who owns them, look at who pays for ads with them, reporting the news follows the money. Word of mouth and the internet is the best bet at this time.
I’ve been saying for the last few years on this blog, education is the key.
"And the only thing that a dumb bureaucracy will ever understand is that their political base has quietly, but very positively, shifted beneath them. Let’s do that, shall we?"
How would you go about doing this?
And it gets even worse yesterday Andy Vollmer the SEC chief exec. council cited executive privilage for refusing to answer questions before the Senate Madoff hearings. Perhaps they had no answer whatsoever hence hide behind executive privilage.
In 42 BC Cicero stated " A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious but it cannot survive treason from within" However its is begining to appear that Cicero maybe wrong. How can we survive our present day fools? Very depressing.
What you consider dumb Mr. Hubbard, I consider courageous. The battle between the "Raw Milkers" and our corrupt government is a fight for freedom and our God given rights.
Name one civil rights battle that was ever won by passive surrender? The corporate milk industry and the bureaucracy that they have bought, will continue suppressing our right to consume foods that we see fit, while promoting the value of their mass produced slop. What do you think the odds are that a corrupt government bureaucracy will do jail time? I’d say worse odds than standing up to the corruption in order to stop it.
If someone courageous (like Mark McAfee) does NOT go toe to toe with corruption, the collective noose around our necks will continue to tighten.
Some fights have to be fought, even if you might not win. In this case, it is definitely one of those fights.
By the way Mr. Hubbard, attempting to shame Mark McAfee into passivity by using his wife in your argument is shameful.
Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say ‘what should be the reward of such sacrifices?’ Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! – Sam Adams
When I’m doing my research, however, I always try to look at the source. It’s been mentioned to look at the news and who is backing these large cyndicated shows, well the same thing goes for when I look at pro-raw things. There’s a couple of places I’ve seen that have a pro-raw agenda so wrapped up and intertwined with religious dogma that I (even as a christian) find myself uncomfortable.
David has mentioned before that this is very likely already an idealistic struggle, but I don’t want your ideals! I have my own thanks. What I want are testimonies, facts, history, motivations. Make your own conclusions from those, don’t just blindly believe in someone else’s dogma, construct your own.
I’m always searching for the motivation. The facts point to possible conspiracy, but I’m still not convinced there is a pointed war against small farmers. What there is, however, are large and unweildly transnational corporations whose only goal is to grow. They’re reaching carrying capacity and are looking for new areas to dominate. This puts pressure on small farms. The FDA is dedicated to helping the growth of Agriculture, this agenda grew out of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, when many MANY farmers were in desperate need of aid. It’s gone from a savior to an oppressor, but I still don’t believe it’s out to get us, it’s simply ‘working as intended’.
Of course, just saying that I don’t believe there’s any kind of mastermind conspiracy agenda and that the FDA is ‘working as intended’ doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s also very very WRONG.
Mark is very passionate about what he does. He’s not only defending his business, he’s defending his rights. While he sometimes seems to get too ‘preachy’ for my comfort, I admire his fervor. He’s a very important voice.
The FTCLDF, and WAPF… While fighting toe-to-toe with corruption may eventually turn out to be a futile and exhaustive effort, is also important. They serve a purpose, and that purpose is to give this issue as much light as they can, to fight even in the face of defeat. It’s not a purpose I can fulfill with my humble means. Can you? It’s still an important role, and I commend everyone involved.
David and his blog are important, he’s gotten very fired up as of late, but he is also encouraging discussion, and reporting on what facts he can find.
Even the commentors with regulator viewpoints are important. Without constant view of the opposing viewpoints, pro-raw people like myself (and I am speaking for myself) are in danger of becoming like sheep again. I don’t EVER want to believe what somebody tells me again. I want to remember that it’s important to actively seek out all opinions on an issue, even if they conflict with my own. It’s WRONG to reject someone’s belief just because it differs with your own. Ask yourself, WHY does it differ? Does this person know something you don’t? Do they have some insight you lack?
I read this blog and the comments so that I can learn.
So the FDA, and the regulators, and the corporate beaucrats… Stupid? No. Misguided? Close-minded? Absolutely, but we’re not going to get anyone to listen by beating them over the head with more dogma.
A NY state school attorney is grilling and abusing parents who want to opt out of vaccinations for their children. While off topic, it sheds light on the attitude of the regulators and what we are up against.
http://wholefoodusa.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/new-york-sincerity-test-1-of-3/#more-632
If success is the greatest revenge, then a pathogen proof immune system is proof of ultimate wisdom and intellengence. We will outlive, out quality of life and outlove these inhumane sterilized followers of ignorance.
You teach… you teach… you teach!!!
Mark
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/business/07goatdrug.html?8au&emc=au
……….Ushering in a new era of both agricultural and pharmaceutical technology, the Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first pharmaceutical product made in the milk of genetically engineered animals…………………..
Chris L.
Anecdote: We’re on vacation where we can’t get raw milk. We brought 6 quarts of raw milk yogurt with us. After it ran out, my husband became sick for a week with diarrhea and bloatedness. He ate store-bought food, and dined out. [No peanuts involved.] I’m ok, still eating only meals cooked from the food we grew last summer and brought with us.
………………
I mostly agree with Paul Hubbard. The Powers That Be and their lackey bureaucrats take the long view. They are comfy with their money and perks, and have created strategies to wear us down and cause us to become discouraged and to burn out. They are relentless and will not ever admit that they are wrong, nor concede.
It makes sense that PCA would have been given a wink and a nod, passively permitted to send out their contaminated product, in order to create a ‘shock’ which would ‘inspire’ our germaphobe legislators to restrict, denature, and irradiate our food with pre-written bills handily available at a moment’s notice, designed to force small producers into bankruptcy. Only Big Ag would be able to afford compliance.
……………
What’s the need for the Svaalbard seed vault? Wouldn’t it make more sense to share the seeds all around and encourage local food production ………. considering the teetering world economy? Instead, they criminalize small-scale local growers and distribution. There can only be one reason for this. Those who control us can not be expected to be moved by citizen movements. They take their time, using the legal system to assert their dominance, letting us wear ourselves down. Since they could simply suppress us with their police state apparatus, why aren’t they? What kinds of germs are they creating in their labs?
Insight from Sheldon Wolin’s book: Inverted Totalitarianism
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030519/wolin/print
"For example, how far in advance did they know that they had the Governors veto in their pocket in California, concerning your proposed legislation? I allege that they knew very far in advance. And I believe that their strategy was judiciously disciplined."
I wonder about that having followed the legislation on the blogs and watched some of the testimony available for viewing online. Would it have made a difference if suggested amendments to the bill were considered? I think Amanda and maybe others wrote letters posted here about ways to improve the proposed legislation (and pointed out they were ignored). The letter below outlined ideas/concerns. Did that bill push the envelope too far? For example, instead of just addressing the "10 coliform" limit, it also removed the plate count standard and, relied heavily on "pathogen testing." For a couple weeks on this blog, folks have struggled with the limitations of pathogen testing in foods for the purpose of food safety. Bottom line: no reliable pathogen testing scheme exists for real-time use in a commercial raw dairy (government or private lab-based).
http://www.marlerblog.com/2008/08/articles/lawyer-oped/raw-milk-debate-continues-with-sb201/
While doing some googles looking back at that bill, also came across this interview. Someone brought up an appreciation of "different" points of view on how to approach food safety. Here’s one from a food safety person who’s posted here in the past:
Candidate for top FSIS job talks E. coli testing, irradiation, education
http://www.meatingplace.com/
Is there a reliable pathogen testing scheme for pasteurized milk dairies?Conventional dairy farming uses lots of toxic chemicals which end up in the milk.Do they have a testing scheme that can assure us that drinking that milk will not damage our gut microbes?If milk can be produced that does not contain the conventional dose of toxic chemicals,can someone with a well established community of gut microbes drink it without worrying about microbes that cause illness in those with the usual damaged microbial community?Bottom line: If a "pathogen" needs to be taken with a heavy dose of poison to cause illness,is it really a pathogen?
Pathogen testing is just another game like pasteurization that the milk monopoly would like to suck us into playing.They hold all the cards,we cannot win at that game.For many people,choosing what to eat is a matter of assessing risks and choosing the food that they decide is less risky.The least risk is to start cautiously to eliminate toxic anti-microbial food from your diet,add probiotics to your diet and begin to rebuild your natural immune system from the inside out.The most risk is to continue to destroy your natural immune system with toxic chemical foods that contain no living microbes at all.
…………….
Continuing from where I left off a couple of comments above:
Here’s a more recent article about ‘Inverted Totalitarianism’: http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20090202_its_not_going_to_be_ok/
It’s well worth the read, for figuring out what’s happening and what we must do to assert our right to eat the food of our choice, in the face of a relentless fascist behemoth: finance, industry and the military-industrial-security-complex have already taken over our government, and they are gradually tightening the noose. The only rational explanation for forcing us to eat denatured food is to kill us off.
Forget resisting the government. Our energy must be directed towards forming our own community networks and growing our own food. Failing to do so, in the vain hope that government will change heart and ‘let us’, will assure our demise.
Transition Towns: http://www.energybulletin.net/node/41091
"Is there a reliable pathogen testing scheme for pasteurized milk dairies?"
No. There also isn’t one for peanut butter, beef, spinach, or any other food product. The best they can do is use pathogen tests to verify food safety approaches…then cross their heart and pray – in the absence of other lab methods – like coliforms and plate counts – by time the positive pathogen tests come back from the lab, the company is SOOL. I only addressed raw milk pathogen testing in the comment because Paul brought up some legislation that promoted strongly pathogen testing in lieu of sanitation testing and standards. There is a huge missing component in all of this discussion: common sense.
Lacedo – thank for fixing my link.
One test I would like to see done on food would be to introduce a bit of the food into a sample from a healthy community of gut micro-organisms and see if it does any damage to the micro-organisms.In order for an introduced organism to survive and grow there has to be an opening,or an opening has to be created at the time the organism is introduced.Without the assistance of antimicrobial chemicals in our food,"pathogens" would not be able to gain a foothold.
The trouble with pathogen testing is that to a digestive system that is damaged and out of balance the list of potential "pathogens" is unending and each one requires a separate test.
I know a lot of people are putting unpasteurized milk on extruded breakfast cereals(corn flakes,cheerios etc.).The cereal may be made with organically grown grains and even sweetened with organic sugar,but what does the extrusion process do to the cereal?And what sort of damage does the cereal do to our gut bacteria?
http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/dirty-secrets.html
"The Rat Experiments
Let me tell you about two studies which were not published. The first was described by Paul Stitt who wrote about an experiment conducted by a cereal company in which four sets of rats were given special diets. One group received plain whole wheat, water and synthetic vitamins and minerals. A second group received puffed wheat (an extruded cereal), water and the same nutrient solution. A third set was given only water. A fourth set was given nothing but water and chemical nutrients. The rats that received the whole wheat lived over a year on this diet. The rats that got nothing but water and vitamins lived about two months. The animals on water alone lived about a month. But the company’s own laboratory study showed that the rats given the vitamins, water and all the puffed wheat they wanted died within two weeks—they died before the rats that got no food at all. It wasn’t a matter of the rats dying of malnutrition. Autopsy revealed dysfunction of the pancreas, liver and kidneys and degeneration of the nerves of the spine, all signs of insulin shock.
Results like these suggested that there was something actually very toxic in the puffed wheat itself! Proteins are very similar to certain toxins in molecular structure, and the pressure of the puffing process may produce chemical changes, which turn a nutritious grain into a poisonous substance.
Another unpublished experiment was carried out in the 1960s. Researchers at University of Michigan were given 18 laboratory rats. They were divided into three groups: one group received corn flakes and water; a second group was given the cardboard box that the corn flakes came in and water; the control group received rat chow and water. The rats in the control group remained in good health throughout the experiment. The rats eating the box became lethargic and eventually died of malnutrition. But the rats receiving the corn flakes and water died before the rats that were eating the box! (The last corn flake rat died the day the first box rat died.) But before death, the corn flake rats developed schizophrenic behavior, threw fits, bit each other and finally went into convulsions. The startling conclusion of this study is that there was more nourishment in the box than there was in the corn flakes. "
Lacedo said: Our energy must be directed towards forming our own community networks and growing our own food. Failing to do so, in the vain hope that government will change heart and ‘let us’, will assure our demise. I agree. Sometimes it does appear that we live in a kind of Vichy America, a country, once proud and free that has been, in a very short time, invaded by a loose consortium of corporate powers. But the main problem with such a metaphor is that I am in co-dependency with such powers; that is, I have participated in the fall of my own government. Except for purely tactical concerns, there is no sense in attempting to reform a government that has already been dragged captive to Babylon. But even when we were free, you still couldnt legislate morality upon others, or virtue within ourselves.
I propose a declaration of independence. When we look out at our own tortured political landscape whether it be the National Animal Identification System attempting to register all the potential trouble-making family farms, or Monsanto forcing suicide seeds upon our farmers, or the USDA taking away milk from our children, or the FDA mandating that we inoculate ourselves with a soup of big pharma chemicals we do so not in fear and anger. I propose that we look upon this wicked, Orwellian tyranny as something which our own inner co-dependencies have created, and even now maintain.
Is it not my apathy and self-pity and doubt which empowers this construct of helpless dependence? If my unrepresentative Vichy government were, one night, to forget to lock my cell, would I open it and escape? And if I escaped, would I have any sort of plan about how my new-found freedom were to be used? There is no point asking, even fighting for freedom if I am still a prisoner within my own soul. Independence begins in a place that you cant find on any political map. It begins in a place endowed by our creator with political impregnability. It is the place of conscience, courage and conviction. It is here that I must first throw off the tyranny of co-dependency with the construct of wickedness within our present political distress. Here is where a new declaration of independence must begin.
Paul Hubbard
Virginia Peninsula
I found this article on raw milk sold in Europe. It appears they have warning labels stating the milk needs to be home-pasteurized within 24 hours before using.
http://thebovine.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/fresh-from-the-cow-sweet-risky-raw-milk/
cp
I am curious. How does the scientific community know that any of the processed foods are safe for consumption? How do they know what the short term and long term effects are? Do you know of any more studies? I vaguely recall those rat studies you posted. Im glad Im not a cereal eater. I wonder why those werent published? (said with tongue in cheek) Ive read many studies on medications, if you dont research them, you can be easily miss led.
I agree, when the body is not in balance, the opportunistic organisms can invade/mutate. Healthy immune system wards off most invaders.
Lacedo,
I believe those that do grow their own food will be healthier. Other than those who were affected by the Dust Bowel, werent the farmers better fed with their own crops than the city dwellers during the Great Depression? I think that those who did have farms, and had issues with malnutrition, it was from a lack of knowledge of what good nutrition was.
Mr. Hubbard,
Co-dependencies? Maintain? Perhaps I am not understanding your meaning? I depend on electricity, and indoor plumbing (outhouses are not something I care for). I think many on this board and in America itself, are seeking healthier ways of living and eating. The change is small yet slowly growing. In a sense that is striking back at TPTB, for which they are retaliating. As this small movement grows it will eventually push TPTB back. People seem to feed on fear, currently the contaminations can go either way. Educating people is truly the key. They may not remember exactly what is said, they will remember the gist of it and the memory will stay in their minds. Word of mouth works wonders. People are pushing away and declaring their independence from TPTB. One step at a time.
The NAIS, monsanto, harassment of the small farmers, adulterations to our food system, infusing poisons onto the population will eventually backfire on TPTB. Fear and anger? Disgust, disillusionment may be better words.
Example: There was a long discussion on a homeschooling group I belong to about Manna Warehouse. Someone eventually asked if we could just get back to discussing homeschooling, and back to everyday life. Those people do not understand that in their everyday life, they consume things that are very bad for them. Until the stores shut down, or they themselves are in the hospital, and they are suddenly unable to purchase healthy food, the small farmer next door is just a nuisance when their animals get out or when they spread manure. Too many ugly pick-ups parked in the ‘burbs and that sort of thing.
I don’t think our society is anywhere close to such a breaking point. People in another group I’m in think we’re on the brink, and some of them are preparing in a survivalist sort of way. But I watched a rerun of "The Waltons," a couple of nights ago. People improvise when change is slow enough. We aren’t on the brink of disaster at all. I agree that we potentially could be, but are we really? I guess when it happens, we will know. Until then, just a little more profit is to be gained by some.
No, people really don’t care. The only ones who CARE are the ones who stand to make a profit from caring. The rest of us just shift around so they can steal as little of our money as possible, to get by and do what we like (and need) to do. Like eat our own food and retain the ability feed our communities when such a thing is needed.
I can’t help but notice that the ID (infectious disease) doctors have been a little over busy this holiday season and ever since. I haven’t heard ANYTHING locally about peanut butter in-house, but I sure have seen a LOT of diarrhea and abdominal issues. I suspect it isn’t just peanut butter. There is something else going on, and I’m just waiting for the first news story to hit the press. But I wonder if it will. People aren’t allowed to die in dialysis – it hurts the statistics. They can die after they leave the door. Likewise, I wonder if certain infections that happen, don’t ever happen on paper.
Sorry, Mark, but I "wonder around" a lot.
That New York Times article depressed me. Sure, antithrombin goats are kept "safe." Meanwhile, spider milk goats produce milk that is "safe to drink," if it ever does cross contaminate the goat milk supply. Those are goats that make milk that spider silk fiber can be derived from. Do YOU know where your goats came from? How many pharmaceutical companies are pharming, anyhow??? Monsanto sure as heck didn’t care when its pollen contaminated our corn and rice resources. When there is money to be made, who cares?
Like the healthcare industry, we have a "bandaid" system. Fix it after-the-fact. That is the way it is going to be. Those of us who want to remain in existance just have to shift around under the reg’s; and a Mark McAfee or two might survive this dance, if they are tough enough. I’m sure there is a statistic somewhere that says prothrombin is more beneficial to more people than raw milk, and we farmers will just have to pay the price. Like all the other prices we pay.
Someday, the flops will come out – 40 years later after millions die in concentration camps. (I’m NOT talking about cows – I’m relating the secrets of corporations to Nazi Germany’s disrespect for human life, and disregard for responsibility). The regime will then be forced to release the files, and then we will know and have our answers. Before then, I doubt we will know, for sure, just how much manure is being processed.
Those spending millions on research, meanwhile ignore the millions dying of starvation in this world, illude themselves that they are improving humanity somehow, all the while being inhuman. Or all too human, depending on your philosophy. Is a little antithrombin worth that?
I’ve seen these raw milk vending machines in Italy and elsewhere, and have heard that the pasteurization instructions were a compromise with public health officials. I like the idea of cooking instructions with some kind of "reason why." For example, to destroy harmful pathogens and something about risk groups. The consumer can then choose to follow the instructions or ignore them.
http://www.whytraveltofrance.com/2008/08/20/organic-raw-milk-vending-machines/
miguel,
As FYI…I’m not a big fan of looking at 1 or 2 isolated feeding studies though and making broad conclusions… It is my understanding that processed , fortified cereals are the primary source of key nutrients in children in this country (not saying that is good or bad, just that they are widely consumed and there are not widespread reports of acute effects like those described in the rat studies). IMHO, the main health problem that may be linked to this type of cereal diet is obesity, and all the other problems that go along with it (diabetes, heart disease, psychological effects, etc.). This is perhaps a sensitive (personal) question to the group as a whole, but I am curious if folks and their children that follow the "nutrient-dense" diet including raw dairy have lower rates of obesity?
Nevertheless, I agree with you about the importance of a healthy gut. I’m not a "cancer" expert by any means (and believe most cancers are due to genetic predisposition), but it makes sense that traditional diets including fermented foods/probiotics could have a "protective" effect, and there is an increasing number of studies in the literature to support this theory.
Gwen,
My daughter is on her 4th day experiencing these issues. Her boat just returned last week from a 3-4 week cruise. No telling what the navy fed her. She claims she hasn’t had any peanut butter, she has never cared for it. She had said that many from the ship are having the same problems, lasting 5-7 days usually. She is stationed at Norfolk,Va.
by Kimberly Hartke and Pete Kennedy
Article is a call to action in support of Ron Pauls bill HR 778 to repeal the ban on the sale of raw dairy for human consumption in interstate comerce.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Free-Our-Farmers-Let-the-by-Kimberly-Hartke-090206-353.html
Due the severe drop in price of milk and the increased cost of feed to conventional dairy farmers the nations dairy herds are being reduced. All the nations dairy farmers are under seige. Why? The free market can not be blamed because we have no free market.
Researchers were trying to find the cause of a worldwide decline in amphibian populations. Using Leopard Frogs as subjects, they investigated more than 240 plausible predictors of trematode [a parasitic worm] abundance in frogs. Study findings pointed to worrisome synergisms between two commonly-used agro-chemicals, phosphorus, used in chemical fertilizers, and the herbacide atrazine. Interestingly, the researchers discovered that phosphates tended to increase the abundance of snails, which act as an intermediate trematode host. Even more interesting is that atrazine "suppressed the frogs’ immune systems."
This research describes one of the undoubtedly countless ways that chemicals applied to our soils can destroy the normal diversity of microbial, and secondarily, macrobiological, communities. (It is worth noting also that, according one of the researchers, Like canaries used to gauge the safety of air in coal mines, amphibians are thought to be ‘canaries’ in our freshwater environments, and reductions in their health can warn that subsequent species declines might be in store.)
Can you explain how a genetic predisposition results in cancer? what is the process?
In general I don’t like the genetic predisposition explanation of any disease,because it blames the disease on something that we cannot change,something we are born with.We just have to resign ourselves to accepting the conventional treatment and the sad outcome of that treatment.To believe that we have control over our health is a much more positive attitude and I have great respect for those people I know who have taken responsibility for their own health and have recovered from diseases like cancer.
I too would be interested in hearing Lykkes explanation of genetic predisposition as it applies to diseases such as cancer.
It is my belief that no one human being is alike with each having acquired innate genetic qualities. For this reason our bodys response to disruptive toxic environmental influences whether man made or natural will vary.
The disease process is an extremely complex one that we can at best marvel at in our search for greater knowledge. Our mistake rest with the assumption that our knowledge of this process is sufficiently adequate to impose it on others, and that we can actually declarer war on and control the so called organisms that are deemed responsible for disease. The latters way of thinking demonstrates little respect for the symbiotic relationship that God established between all life forms.
Ken Conrad
*I’m wondering if we should require a consumer physical & stool sample before they’re allowed to buy a herdshare.*
I think this is a great idea. The high hurdle of expense and inconvenience would certainly separate the true-believers from the rest. It would ensure that people were really taking responsibility for their own health. If this idea could be worked out, the regulators would have little to regulate – because, IMHO, the incidence of illness would likely drop to ZIP.
Do you suppose a deal might be worked out with the lab you mentioned?
Do you suppose the regulators might go along with something this sane? Nahh.
Your original comment above concerning E.coli 0157:H7 and OPDC milk leaves the clear impression that E.coli 0157:H7 has INDEED BEEN FOUND in OPDC milk.
Now you are saying only that it COULD have been found in that milk (if it had been tested every single day) which is a very different thing.
Given that there have been hundreds of E.coli 0157:H7 tests done on OP milk and NONE of them have come back positive, I (and many others) can accept the clear trend that OPDC milk is safe (by State of California standards) to drink and that consumers should have little to fear from drinking it.
Again, please back up your original assertion or clearly retract it.
Youve made a case that HUS can arise from consuming E.coli 0157:H7 tainted foods but other commenters have pointed out that the few times that HUS appears, there also usually are additional factors that need to be considered like the inappropriate prescribed use of antibiotics, for instance.
An easier target to hit would be any of a number of foods / phoods from companies that have much worse track records.