When the full history of the raw milk revolution is completed, one incident that will stand out as a low point will be the Georgia raw milk “pour-out”. That was Oct. 19, when dozens of consumers gathered at the farm of Eric Wagoner in Georgia, and carried out the order of the Georgia Department of Agriculture that milk they purchased in South Carolina be destroyed.
When I wrote about the milk seizure Oct. 15, one major unknown was the role of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the entire sorry episode. Thanks to the existence of video of the event and the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund’s suit against the FDA challenging the legality of the interstate ban on raw milk, we now know much more than we did, and it turns out the FDA had an important role. The two sides are still arguing about how important it was, but at a minimum, we see that the FDA automatically gets a call when raw milk is involved.
The FDA felt compelled to release information about its role in the Georgia events because Eric Wagoner, manager of the food club that arranged the pickup and delivery of the milk in question, is a plaintiff in the suit against the FDA. The FDA is seeking dismissal of the suit, and part of its argument has been that it has not been enforcing the ban on interstate raw milk shipments on individual consumers transporting it across state lines for their own personal use; thus, it is seeking to explain that it had no active role in enforcing the ban against Wagoner.
What results is something of a he-said/she-said account.
According to the FDA’s account, a GDA investigator looking into allegations of illegal meat sales at an Athens, GA, farmers market, on Oct. 15, 2009, “noticed Eric Wagoner unloading gallon jugs of milk from coolers” on his truck and “inspected the milk jugs, and determined that they contained unpasteurized milk from South Carolina.”
The investigator “advised Mr. Wagoner it is illegal under Georgia law to sell unpasteurized milk for human consumption in the State of Georgia” and then embargoed the milk and “gave a Stop Sale notice to Mr. Wagoner and placed tags on each cooler.”
It was at this point that the deal for how the milk would be destroyed came about, and the FDA entered the scene. According to the FDA account, “Mr. Wagoner agreed to voluntarily destroy the Embargoed Milk. Because a place to destroy the Embargoed Milk could not be found, Mr. Wagoner asked that he be allowed to transport it to his home for destruction on the following Monday. This permission was granted by GDA.
“On Friday, October 16th, 2009, FDA received a telephone call from Peggy Gates, Director for the Dairy Division at GDA. Ms. Gates informed FDA that a meat compliance officer from GDA had placed an embargo on 110 gallons of raw milk intended for human consumption at the Athens Free Market. At no time on Friday or over the following weekend did anyone from FDA have contact with Mr. Wagoner, who had possession of the embargoed the raw milk. At no time on Friday or over the following weekend did anyone from FDA have any contact with anyone else associated with Mr. Wagoner or Athens Locally Grown.”
But there was much more than a telephone call. “On Monday, October 19, 2009, Ms. Gates and a GDA investigator drove to Mr. Wagoner’s residence. Marybeth Willis, a Regional Milk Specialist in FDA’s Southeast Regional Office, in Atlanta, Georgia, met Ms. Gates and her colleague at approximately 1:00 pm on October 19th, and the three then proceeded to Mr. Wagoner’s home.
“Ms. Willis accompanied the GDA officials to Mr. Wagoner’s residence to observe and collect information on behalf of FDA. After Ms. Gates, the GDA investigator, and Ms. Willis arrived at Mr. Wagoner’s residence, Mr. Wagoner voluntarily dumped the Embargoed Milk on the ground…At no time did Ms. Willis, or anyone else from FDA, order or otherwise direct Mr. Wagoner to destroy the Embargoed Milk or take any other action.
“While at Mr. Wagoner’s residence Ms. Willis answered questions that were directed to her by those congregated on Mr. Wagoner’s property. If asked about the requirements of federal law with respect to raw milk, Ms. Willis would have responded that federal regulations prohibit the delivery of raw milk into interstate commerce. Ms. Willis did not, however, issue any order or direction to anyone on this or any other basis.”
The FDA account suggests that Wagoner was cooperative, since he “did not challenge the embargo in court, as was his right under Georgia law.”
The account concludes, “The embargo described above was carried out entirely by GDA under the authority of Georgia law.FDA played no role in the embargo of the Embargoed Milk and/or the discussions with Mr. Wagoner leading up to his decision to voluntarily destroy the Embargoed Milk.”
The FTCLDF takes issue with the FDA’s account in several respects, beginning with the circumstances of the discovery of the milk and the seizure: “What actually happened was GDA inspectors entered Mr. Wagoner’s private truck without requesting permission and began opening closed coolers located within, again without Mr. Wagoner’s permission. This happened while Mr. Wagoner was helping growers unload products that did not require refrigeration elsewhere in the building.”
It also challenges the GDA’s assertion that the milk was embargoed because of Georgia law. “To the contrary, Mr. Wagoner did not sell any raw milk in Georgia and the GDA inspectors told him that the FDA ban on interstate commerce was the reason for the embargo.”
While the FTCLDF admits the FDA didn’t have any contact with Wagoner during the weekend between the embargo and pour-out, it challenges the FDA’s assertion that its agent didn’t mention the ban on interstate sales of raw milk. “Ms. Willis was asked about the requirements of federal law and her response was that the raw milk must be destroyed. Ms. Willis also acquiesced in the GDA inspector’s comment that changing the law required congressional action.”
A few lessons learned from all this:
* Without video of the pour-out, which identified the FDA agent, FTCLDF would have had difficulty challenging the FDA’s original assertion that FDA wasn’t involved in the episode.
* The importance of demanding a search warrant and otherwise challenging the state’s action; Wagoner allowed his truck and coolers to be searched without a warrant, and then didn’t take court action challenging the pour-out orders.
* The GDA’s first instinct when presented with a case involving raw milk was to call the FDA. You can be sure that is the first instinct of other state regulators around the country as well.
It’s clear that in many of these actions, the FDA is calling the shots with state authorities–they contact the FDA to clear their actions or get orders for different ones. It’s up to farmers and consumers to not simply roll over.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1048082951001/how-green-is-your-reusable-shopping-bag
Green is Gross…raw milk is 51% more likely to make you sick, manure is the "ick in organic"…recyled plastic green grocery bags are bad…pastured eggs have more bacteria in them because pastured eggs are collected from pastures like easter eggs. What????? the….
Sick…corrupt, idiotic, not scientifically based, toxic, paid off, Monsanto, GMO, Fast Food…ultra- conservative white wonderbread crap. Nothing short of it. This is one of the reasons that America is obese, sick, diabetic, asthmatic, lactose intolerant….etc…etc….etc.
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Mark
The FDA holds the puppet strings….no question.
I have said for years…when dealing with cops and the FDA and any hard to prove incident that will be disputed, video is practically undenial and it engages the emotion of the event. It sets the tone, shows the hard facts and gives clues about the finer points of how everyone played their parts. Even who was there and who was not there. ( pretty critical stuff ).
Rodney King would never have had a case if not for video. Beating black men was a LA PD, CA CHP speciality until Video tape…changed all that.
RAW MILK will win its war partly on video and its position and place with the internet and YOU TUBE.
Keep those cameras ready and dollar for vote for Raw Milk!
Mark
Like Horizon's and Organic Valley's UHT "organic" milk that is put under extreme pressure in order to cook it up to 280F (remember, water boils at 212F at sea level, and milk is 85% water… you can't cook milk upto 280F at normal atmospheric pressures!)
Or the thermalized "raw milk" cheeses, where the processors simply set their pasteurizer to a few degrees below legal pasteurization temperatures so they can say it is made with "raw milk" (yeah right!!!)
Next-up in the fake "green" labelling is fluid "raw milk" made with micro-filtration membranes manufactuered by the ultra-rich ultra-conservative Koch Brothers:
http://www.kochmembrane.com/sep_mf.html
http://www.progressivedairy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6461:pd-poll-should-the-sale-of-raw-milk-be-legalized&catid=40:polls&Itemid=66
It appears that the dairymen have turned against the FDA and their own processors.
The dairymen drink raw milk themselves and have finnally started to do the math and realize that they are being lied too and royaly screwed by the processors and the FDA that loves and protects the processors.
On page 32 and 33 of the Progessive Dairymans magazine ( issue #10 July 1, 2011 ), there is even a two page redress of raw milk and the FTCLDF national raw milk maps and 7 lengthly YES comments as apposed to 2 very short NO comments.
This is a sign of tidal change…..we are making a difference.
A couple of months ago I responded via email to an editorial printed in the Progressive Dairyman Magazine. Last week the editor asked me if he could print my comment…( a very respectful but honest assessment of why pasteurized milk markets are suffering ).
I said yes of course. This is absolute confirmation that things are changing.
When dairymen are continually screwed…and then screwed and then screwed somemore…there is a point at which the screwee says….. enough…. something is structurally wrong here. Why are the processors laughing all the way to the bank and enjoying all-time cheap milk pricing while I am losing the farm…. ????!!%$#@#@##*&*^%%$
Get Raw Milk! The raw milk revolution is expanding in very dangerous ways….yeh!!
I dearly hope John Sheehan gets the Progressive Dairyman. Maybe not….he is not so progressive.
Mark
I don't think it is sold OTC anymore. Should never be given if swallowed chemicals that cause burns on contact (bleach comes to mind) or medicines that can cause seizures. It can harm people with certain medical problems.
Gee Mark, fox news isn't too bright,, who puts a dripping chicken breast in any bag to drip all over everything? Duh. Wow, My sisters and I skimmed past that 51% chance of becoming sick from drinking raw milk over the last 7-8 yrs. To include OP milk in 2006.
I did pick up a quart of Horizons "organic" milk and ended up pouring it down the drain. It tasted burnt and had an awful aftertaste. I haven't been able to find nonhomoginized milk here in Virginia Beach.
After I told the inspectors, who were there looking for meat, that there was no meat on my truck *and* showing them exactly where the meat was, I went about my business of getting the distribution underway. I later found them in my truck, in my closed coolers, placing "stop sale" orders on all the milk. We (and the FTCLDF) tried to reason with them, but short of physically forcing it back from them, there was nothing I could do to get the milk in the hands of those who had purchased it.
This happened Thursday night, after the local courts had closed for the week. They scheduled the dumping for 9am Monday morning, at my home, before the courts opened again. I may have been able to get an injunction or something over the weekend, but as soon as the members left Thursday without their milk, the damage had been done.
Any challenge we were going to undertake was obviously going to have to be done after the fact. So, we chose to document everything that occurred, and made sure that we had several people filming the entire dumping. And as you say, it's thanks to that video that our case has been able to progress as it has. The FDA first claimed the dumping never occurred (calling my testimony "bizarre allegations"). Now they admit it did happen, but that they were not involved *and* that it was done by me voluntarily. You don't need to watch all 20 minutes on the YouTube video to see how absurd both of those claims are.
They really pay people to come up with this crap? Demeaning and insulting to women. Same as referring to anything female being hysterical….Pushing society backwards.
My main wish watching that video was that someone, just one person, would have taken their milk and announced that he or she was leaving the scene with their own food…and challenged the GDA and FDA to do something about it. But I think that as people begin to appreciate the tremendous repercussions of such events, we'll see that scene acted out in future raids.
David
Eric, you did well also by having the video rolling. You caught the FDA in a huge lie. next time…I think David has it on the nose…people need to physically take their own raw milk and make the FDA physically force it from their grasp. \
That will say it all. The FDA forcefully taking foods from the grasp of a tax paying American. We need that video…and lets hope that the FDA slips and spills the raw milk and it gets all over them…then they treat themselves as if they were involved with a bio-hazard spill by using a fire truck to wash down and decontaminate the scene and their contaminated body part etc…that is the even better footage. The more extreme the better.
This a grand melodrama…with the FDA as the clown and their jokes ain't funny.
Mark
"It's up to farmers and consumers to not simply roll over."
How true! I'm sorry for Eric Wagoner and the Georgia folks. They were simply blindsided. However, their experience offers valuable lessons to the rest of us, and I suspect that their actions would be different were the same incident to happen today. All of us are learning and adapting from each encounter, and the raw milk movement will continually re-emerge with more strength and unity than ever.
Good reminders about the importance of video! Keep up the good work, everyone.
It doest surprise me that dairy farmers would support the sale of raw milk. Hell, all the farmers I know drink raw milk and laugh at the idea that it needs to be pasteurized.
On a different note, Ive always avoided hand sanitizers in public buildings and insist that my children do likewise. I refuse to partake in this nonsensical madness.
http://www.stopagingnow.com/liveinthenow/article/do-antibacterial-soaps-really-work-the-answer-may-surprise-you
A comprehensive analysis done by the University of Michigan, on whether or not antibacterial soaps work better than plain soaps states, Soaps containing triclosan used in the community setting are no more effective than plain soap at preventing infectious illness symptoms, as well as reducing bacteria on the hands. The study goes on to conclude that using antibacterial products can actually make you sicker.
The above article also states, Mainstream medicine is founded on a faulty concept known as the germ theory of disease, which supposes that microorganisms (germs) are the cause of all infectious disease. But there is a gaping hole in this theory. The germ theory makes the assumption that a healthy human body is completely sterile, or germ-free. But we now know that a healthy human body is actually brimming with microorganisms, which are absolutely essential to digestion, nutrient assimilation and immune function. So to try to quarantine yourself from germs that your body has adapted to, and even depends upon, makes no sense.
Ken Conrad
How in the hell did Fox and Friends think that sterilized manure was good for soil, raw milk is 51% more likely to make you sick, recycled grocery bags are bad, pastured eggs are actually laid out in a pasture????
Fox News is the problem. They give the Microphone to every freak that FOOD INC and Processors and Fast Food can throw at them and then they support, recommend and eat the stuff like it is manna from intellectual heaven.
Are they dumb asses or what? Do they not look at the science of what makes life on earth happen….are these the same freaks that love Backmann??? we are in such deep trouble in this country. If this is how thinking people think….stop thinking and save us all. I have always stayed away from making political statements because they are divisive…..but this is not about politics. This is about keeping a fanatical, functional idiot from becoming president of the USA.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-10-craziest-michele-bachmann-quotes
Regardless of who wins elections, the most important thing is to build grassroots social movements for freedom, democracy, and social justice. I actually sometimes wonder if it is better to have totally out-of-touch wack-jobs like Bachman or Sarah Palin in office (or Scott Walker in Wisconsin) because they have no qualms about naked excersises of political power, which works wonders to mobolize huge numbers of people into action. The March 12th Farmer-Labor "Tractorcade" protest here in Madison, Wisconsin had more than 150,000 people — the largest political protest in Wisconsin history! It was led by many family dairy farmers who have worked for the legalization of raw milk over the years.
Or just look at what Bush managed to accomplish — the largest anti-war protests in world history took place in 2003 in response to the pending invasion of Iraq. On the other hand, Obama has managed to quell anti-war fervor, while continuing many of the same policies of Bush.
The only downfall of these social movements is when they get co-opted into electoral campaigns like the anti-war movement was co-opted into John Kerry's in 2004, or how (it seems) that the raw milk movement is being co-opted into Ron Paul's today (or the Wisconsin movement being co-opted into recall elections.)
Grassroots! Focus on the grassroots!
FYI Fox news does not like Ron Paul, many commentators get in a dig against him whenever they can.
The very idea that we need to elect a politician to do the job for us is problematic. Instead we must realize our own *collective* power to do the job ourselves.
I really do think that the California Milk Advisory Board ( the MOOOOTOPIA and GOT MILK? and the Tom Cruz Milk Mustache people ) just drank the lemonade and swallowed hard this time.
Their most recent milk consumption boosting campaign is really lost. It can be found someplace near the PMS drugs and the anti-depressants, behind the Star Trek videos on the isle near the Pscho-Music and Thriller movies, with themes from your favorite trance inducing gambling casino back ground music.
If you think navigating the dairy case is confusing try this escape from reality into a worm hole that tries to sell DEAD WHITE CEREAL LIBRICANT.
http://www.everythingidoiswrong.org/#/
I am at a loss for what prompted this crazy stunt….It is my guess that if you fill a room with people that drink soy milk and pay them millions of dollars this is what you get.
If I was a CA dairyman I would be really pissed. Not to mention the degrading treatment of PMS and women in general. I think this last escapade will blow up when the CA dairywomen get their collective panties in a knot and go PMS on the CMAB.
Mark
Why does capitalism hate women so much?
MW
This should sink any credibility they have in your eyes. LMAO tptb say a lot of bogus crap, twist words to suit them and/or their agendas. They condone and push toxic crap on consumers all the time.
Raw milk farms, which tend to have more heritage breeds and older genetic lines, are likely to slant towards A2 milk, meaning less caso-morphines.
Just a shot in the dark here…
http://www.a2milk.com/
The studies did correllate calcium levels with some PMS relief but it never ever spoke of Pastuerized Milk as a source of calcium. cause it is not a source of beneficial or available calcium. SB 201 hearings in 2008 in Sacramento showed this to be true. Raw milk did show all sorts of increased Calcium benefits and increases in bone density, but not pasteurized milk!!
This is a pretty big assumption by the CMAB. In fact I think it is a bold faced lie.
Available calcium from skim pasteurized milk with none of its Phosphatase enzymes active and everything else reduced to nutritional ashes…is a nutritional waste.
I think that some PMS womens group should challenge this marketing and make the CMAB show that calcium from pasteurized milk is actually associated with benefits to PMS sufferers.
…..women are going to get gas cramps like everyone else from pasteurized milk and shoot someone…..the jury will aquit because PMS has been excused as a reasonable cause for homocide and temporary insanity especially when coupled with severe gas cramps from lactose intolerance ( excuse me…pasteurization intolerance ).
This is a really crazy world….lies beget more lies and then gas cramps ( unrelated to PMS ) and insanity.
One last thing…..Guy bashing sucks also.
Mark
Mark – not just Fox News – but other lamestream media has it wrong, they are just SHEEPLE too!
First off raw milk advocates should never ever ever act like they are guilty…..even if they are ignoring statutes. Pouring out the milk added insult to injury. Not sure of the motivation behind it….but if the 'video' furthers the cause then maybe it can be viewed as 'beneficial'. I hope this scene is never replayed again….sad day for the movement…it reflects weakness, submission and acquiescence….and can embolden the authorities even more.
What should have happened…with a weekend to really plan it out, was to have orchestrated a scene where the people (even some of them) who owned the milk went up and took it, in spite of the health authorities. That would have been a video worth watching….it would have sent the REAL message we are trying to get out. People want their milk, and nothing can be done to stop them. It would have been hard for the authorities to come down on Eric, if the stage had been set properly. Not sure who Eric was talking to that weekend….but he sure didn't get 'good' advice on how to handle Monday.
Now I don't know Eric, or am familiar with his situation…but coming down on him serves no real purpose. Hopefully new contingencies have been worked out…that is if the milk is still flowing into Georgia…and never again will any raw milk proponent have to kow-tow like we witness on this video. Looking back with regret keeps one from looking forward with purpose…..looking back at it with purpose makes for a better future.
We must match and surpass the aggression of the authorities…..when they choose to bully us. We must let them know, at every chance we get, that our resolve is stronger than theirs… it's the only way we can prevail.
I applaud David's efforts to encourage consumers to stand up. This is no longer an FDA vs farmer fight. We know where the real battle is – food rights and freedom of choice. Farmers should not have to fight for us. Lets ask consumers to stand in front of their farmers and demand the FDA answer to consumers.
Is there any legal way to force states to disclose how much and what kind of influence FDA has on their policies?
-Blair
Perhaps, as with many of the popular public figures trotted out by trolls attempting to discredit paleo and/or low-carb diets, you are looking at people who have already lost considerable weight. Not that you'd have much chance of recognizing such distinctions and contexts, given the blatant underlying assumptions in your supposedly innocent question.
I believe the person on the right in the video before it begins playing (in the jean jacket, glasses, auburn hair) is Marybeth Willis, the FDA agent.
David