Dave Milano made a telling observation in a comment following my previous post: The simple notion of basic human rights gets lost in tangles of misunderstanding, and as a result, States are given more power than they ought to have, or are tacitly or directly given freedom to exercise powers they were never expressly allowed.
We are seeing a classic example of the kind of power grab Milano describes going on in Illinois, where the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is trying to use its rule-making powers to so tightly restrict availability of raw milk that the food will essentially become unavailable. The regulatory agency is trying to grab power from the legislature, knowing that it would never pass the kind of law on raw milk that the public health regulators are trying to enact.
Right now, Illinois farmers can sell an unlimited amount of raw milk on the farm without a permit.
The IDPH wanted to turn its new rules into a fait accompli before public discussion occurred, but the agency was exposed by a dairy owner who got wind of the effort, being overseen by a dairy-industry-oriented group IDPH put together (known as the Raw Milk Steering Committee) to come up with the new restrictions. He alerted the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. It has been seeking to mobilize its members in Illinois to oppose the effort and get the whole smelly affair out into the open.
According to the FTCLDF, The proposed regulation would prohibit producers from selling more than 100 gallons a month; in addition, it would require raw dairy farmers to comply with Grade A standards, costing farmers thousands of dollars to upgrade their dairy facility. Further, the regulation would ban herdshare agreements, even though Illinois law recognizes dairy livestock boarding contracts as being legal.
What makes the power grab even more amazing is that it is coming even though there have been no cases of foodborne illnesses attributed to raw milk produced in Illinois going as far back as at least 1999, according to the FTCLDF.
Its hard to know exactly what is motivating the Illinois regulators. Are they trying to show their masters at the dairy companies and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that they can be as tough as their neighbors in Wisconsin and Minnesota? Or trying to secure additional FDA funding? Or maybe trying to curry favor with certain legislators receiving lots of Big Ag money?
One thing is for sure, this isnt just happening in a vacuum. Its part of the nationally directed effort to fight raw milk and food rights, and part of the pushback against efforts in 15 or so states to make raw milk more easily available.
Another part of the anti-raw-milk effort involves distorting the data on raw milk illnesses. The Weston A. Price Foundation has assessed data from the Centers for Disease Control–the data supposedly showing raw milk is 150 times more dangerous than pasteurized–to point out its flaws. The big one, of course, is that the data is based on outbreaks, not illnesses. Its illnesses, how many people are getting sick, that tell the real story and the CDC refuses to deal with the real story.
The only way the Illinois power grab is not going to happen is if enough people stand up and tell the regulators its not going to happen.
Opponents of the IDPH actions can begin by emailing Molly Lamb, the Division Chief of the IDPH Division of Food, Drugs and Dairies–molly.lamb@illinois.gov.
Then, opponents can attend the May 1 meeting of the Raw Milk Steering Committee in Bloomington, IL. Its being held from 10 a.m. to noon at the Illinois Farm Bureau Building, 1701 Towanda Ave., Bloomington.
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Today I took some advice from this blog: I complained about some questionable raw milk. Last Sunday, I purchased some raw milk with a use by date of April 5. When I first tried it, I thought it tasted a little off. By yesterday (Wed) it smelled pretty ripe. So I telephone the outlet where I obtained it, and suggested a conversation with the milk producer. (I have intentionally not mentioned the location of all this, since I dont want to cause a regulatory problem.) The outlet manager said she would follow through, and actually thanked me for my alert. I felt good about alerting all concerned about a potential problem.
***
Another milestone, achieved yesterday: I handed over the final proofs of my upcoming book to the publishers production team. The book is Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Food Rights: The Escalating Battle Over Who Controls What We Eat (being published by Chelsea Green Publishing Co.).
The book provides a behind-the-scenes view of the struggle over privately available food. I was able to gain access to extensive internal investigative documentation about the governments campaign against private food. Readers here will recognize a number of the people whom I follow, though the bulk of what I report on hasnt appeared here (or anywhere). I am honored that Virginia farmer Joel Salatin has written a moving forward. (He says, in part, “David Gumpert plucks out some of the most salient battles in this current food war and brings them to our awareness with the storytelling genius of a spy novel.”
It was only fitting, I suppose, that the last revision I did on Wednesday was of an end note. There are a lot more of them than I initially realized–I counted a few shy of 300.
The book is available for pre-order now from Amazon, at a 35 per cent discount; it should be shipping in early to mid June.
I was to meet with a number of people here in San Diego this weekend to begin a campaign of “food awareness”, but unfortunately I have to head to Phoenix, AZ unexpectedly. My nephew was killed in a horrific multi-vehicle accident outside of El Centro & we are going to my sister’s place in Phoenix to help with everything & to have a celebration of life memorial on Sunday. I can’t begin to imagine the devastating loss to my sister & my nephew’s siblings. My heart is so heavy for them at this time & I feel so helpless on what I can do for them, other than being there and loving and comforting them. It is moments like these when we look a life quite differently and yet be thankful for all the blessings that we do have.
Deborah, my heart goes out to you and your family.
The CDC seems to think by not acknowledging the truth, people won’t find out the “real story”. To quote Carl Sagan “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”. IOW, hiding facts don’t make them go away. To people who are active in the raw milk fight, that most apparent (or should I say obvious) absence of evidence is a smoking gun. Does it then become an absence of legitimacy simply because the CDC refuses to accept pure facts? Their own pure facts, no less! They exist and an agency like the CDC must report them as facts, not distort them. That’s the most important issue which needs to come to light through the legal representation. The second most important issue is the herd share thing. Even where herd shares are said to be perfectly legal, the threat, by the state and gubment agencies, is to take the legality away. That act alone eliminates a whole lot of people, doesn’t it? I do believe that is their goal. Raw milk procurers had peace to a degree through those herd shares and the protection it offered to them in the past, but now we find it lacked any kind of permanence.
This is back door shenanigans, as usual.
May you all find strength in His love.
Dollars to donuts this is the last you’ll see of raw milk at this “outlet”. Just sayin’ . . .
Also, I don’t know how others feel about State vs agency regulation, but in my honest opinion I’d rather try to fight these issues at a State level, if we must fight with facts. As pointed out in your article, the CDC and many other regulatory agencies (of which there are unarguably vastly too many) won’t even acknowledge their own facts and findings. How can we deal with that without legal representation? We can’t. So for us peons in this mire, we can normally reach and talk to our State people, but getting beyond that is pretty much impossible. We can read books, we can write letters, we can send emails, we can make telephone calls to the Capitol – – ’til the cows come home – – but until we form some sort of coalition through our individual State, it won’t mean a thing. Yes sir, I’d much rather the State have the final say. A lot of people are probably going to disagree with me, but that’s how I see things. Keep things closer to home. For me, it’s a lot easier to attend a meeting or talk to someone in Pierre than it is to travel to WADC. I just don’t have the time, personally, for that sort of luxury to help the cause.
No doubt many also don’t have the funds either. Sleeping on the streets of DC could be hazardous in so many ways. May be something tptb counts on; Little to no funds, many have to work and being away from your job can cause you to loose it. The whole system is confusing, knowing who and where to go for complaints/information/assistance is like trying to figure out a maze. They certainly don’t make it easy. It is time consuming and costly. No reason for either unless, you are avoiding and/or have no intentions of doing what your job is there for.
D. Smith,
I can see your concern that I may have put the kibosh on raw milk at the outlet where I complained. I tend to doubt it, though. For one thing, I prefaced my complaint with some background about myself, that I am a regular raw milk drinker and I value this outlet offering it. I also offered suggestions for how the outlet manager might approach the farmer about a possible problem in the dairy’s production system. Finally, I know that raw milk is an important item to the members of the outlet. Without raw milk, it would lose its reason for being for lots of members.
As you suggest, in this kind of situation it is important not just to speak up, but to frame your information in a digestible way, as it were.
Some stores only carry items because the customer asks for it. In my area, you can ask until you’re blue in the face and nothing happens. And if it does happen, they carry it for about two / three months and then you never see it again, and upon asking about it the store staff will simply say it did not sell. Our grocery stores are not allowed to carry raw milk, so I don’t know how this sort of thing works where you live, but I’ve had this same type of event happen regarding things like Kerrygold butter and organic foods. The only reliable place for us to get things we want in my area is to buy at the food co-op, or occasionally at the health food stores. However, our health food stores are pushing vegetarianism and veganism, so they carry nothing in the way of dairy or eggs or meats at all. They carry shelves and shelves of vegetable oils though.
David, maybe the milk tasted “off” because the cattle are back on grass again?? Just thinkin’ . . .
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/us-meat-industry-renames-cuts-pork-chops-are-now-ribeyes-1C9213219
http://www.decodedscience.com/ractopamine-its-whats-for-dinner/26921
I don’t suppose anyone at the business end of things would ever dream of just looking at a butcher’s chart showing the different cuts of meat and using that for their guide? People know what a loin is. People know what a rib is. I doubt many people in Harlem or Liberty City know or care what a porterhouse is. Someone in the advertising industry will likely make a fortune before it’s discover this idea probably won’t go over very well. Someone, no doubt, with less than a scintilla of awareness of how real people shop for food.
I’m so glad I don’t buy meat in the stores. If you can even call that stuff meat.
http://www.sott.net/article/204328-Banned-in-160-Nations-Yet-US-FDA-Regards-it-as-Safe
http://www.ansc.purdue.edu/swine/swineday/sday02/19.pdf
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/tag/ractopamine/#.UWAH6VdPHCo <~names some of the govt people trying to stop the ban...
Consider this comment made by islander with respect to the above article,
We North Americans have enabled the industrilization of food that some of us here have come to deplore. We are the ones who wanted soft fluffy bread; we got Wonder Bread because we asked for it and we liked it. We wanted cheap food; we got it, in the form of mass production of monoculture crops harvested via labor-saving “cides”: pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides. More cheap food came from CAFOs, feedlots, assembly-line chicken processing. We wanted fast, convenient food, and the drive-throughs and take-outs appeared to answer the call with chemical “food.”
Let’s not forget how technology empowered the fishing industry to scour the seas until we achieved virtual extinction of wild (mercury-laden) seafood and have reverted to aquaculture, where we stuff the fish with GMO-based soy pellets and artificial colors. We wanted cheap food. Be careful what you ask for. There are still farmers like me who produce a surplus of organic veggies, fruit and livestock. We are few but our numbers are growing. Seek us out. We will feed you. Better still, find the means to produce your own. All it takes is intention.
A big thanks goes out to all of you for your kinds words and sympathy with this loss in my family. It is deeply appreciated. My nephew’s memorial will be tomorrow in Phoenix, AZ.
http://survivalsherpa.wordpress.com/
The blog’s server is just in the process of being moved, so if you experience some issues gaining access, know that is the likely reason.
When I posted the original link it contained the same wording as this one:
http://survivalsherpa.wordpress.com/2013/04/06/frankenchickens-sustainable-poultry-and-food-freedom/
I don’t know if the host server for David’s blog parses links or what, but that link above should get you to the chicken article itself.
@ Sylvia: I truly don’t think most people put much thought into foods today. They just buy it and eat it, never knowing what’s really in it and that’s sad. Boxed foods should raise a red flag for everyone, even the most unaware, because they should know real food doesn’t come in a box from a factory. I read an article over the weekend about the expectations of americans regarding food – if they’re in Hong Kong they expect a chicken nugget to taste just like it does when they order it in Seattle. Uniformity in food is what led to phake phoods, no doubt about it. But it appears the companies were only doing what the people wanted. I guess once that gravy train gets rolling, companies don’t want to make “healthy” changes.
http://www.helladelicious.com/our-food/food-security/2013/04/fresh-milk-food-politics-overview/
Ora, thanks for the link. I was sorry I couldn’t attend. It’s nice to have this detailed report of the talks, and the sense of commitment from those in attendance.
The most exciting thing I heard was something Nadine shared. The EU Codex scientists have developed and published a consensus food risk assessment for a broad range of foods. Raw milk for human consumption is rated as a low risk or very low risk food, including use as a food for children and pregnant women !!!! Read that again!!! Children and pregnant women…
This broad peer reviewed published and well vetted data is in stark contrast to the FDA horror story of raw milk !!! John Sheehan…start packing your desk and your bags. Your lies are done!! I have the articles but not in link form yet. When I get this together, it will be shared right here.
The data shows virtually no illness from listeria for pregnant moms. The FDA has been spreading the Listeria raw milk lie for years, even though the CDC has no data to support the FDA lie. The FDA lies anyway. It is pasteurized milk and cheeses that kill with listeria!!
All this lying just hit a serious lie detector speed trap and all of EU and their scientists….all in unison now say, raw milk is a good and a low risk food for kids and pregnant moms.
This data and this powerful assessment is a sentinel benchmark event. i can not wait to use this information in the .courts, in the legislatures, in the schools, on the radio, on TV and in each and every Share the Secret raw milk presentation I make all over the California and the USA and even Canada.
This is huge and we need to share and teach it every one. You Teach, You Teach, You Teach!!!
Did I say….the FDA sucks? Just wanted to say it one more time.
When ever anyone says that FDA science is good, I remind them of Celebrex, Avandia, Viox and the 250,000 deaths that lay at the feet of the FDA and their greed based Food Inc revolving door structure.
“Feel free to send this to your local newspapers, radio stations, etc. Also, many of you are involved in campaigns to liberalize raw milk laws in your state. The information below should be helpful in countering arguments that raw milk is unsafe.”
http://www.westonaprice.org/press/flawed-government-report-thwarts-state-raw-milk-initiatives
http://www.cornucopia.org/2013/04/ark-lawmakers-approve-sale-of-unpasteurized-milk/
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/04/arkansas-gov-mike-beebee-expected-to-sign-raw-milk-bill/#.UW_sd8pPHCo
[quote from article]:
” . . . it surprised the millions of admirers of TED, whose conferences attract wide attention to new, cutting-edge ideas, when that organization decided to practice semi-censorship.
The flap is over two videos of TEDx talks delivered in the UK in January that were summarily removed from TEDx’s YouTube channel (TEDx is the brand name for conferences outside the main TED events that are allowed to use the TED trademark, such as TEDxBoston or TEDxBaghdad — so far, about 5,000 such events have used the name). This amounts only to semi-censorship because the videos were reposted on TED’s blog site. Yet the reputations of the two presenters, Rupert Sheldrake and Graham Hancock, were besmirched. In a letter to all the TEDx organizers, Chris Anderson, the head of TED, proposed certain “red flag” topics, among them health hoaxes and the medicinal value of food but also the general area of pseudoscience. The response has been decidedly negative — scientists don’t like the suppression of free thinking — and among the thousands of comments aired on the Internet, one pointed out that Sheldrake and Hancock spoke at a TEDx conference explicitly dedicated to ideas that challenge mainstream thinking.”
[end quote]
Here’s the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/dear-ted-is-it-bad-scienc_b_3104049.html