As he enters the fourth week of a hunger strike, Michael Schmidt’s life still hangs in the balance. This from Jon Duschinsky, a Canadian organizer:
Michael Schmidt“Spent an awe-inspiring afternoon with Michael & Elisa and other campaigners today. He’s doing well. Tired, but well. We taped a little videomessage for all his supporters which should be online tomorrow and there are a LOAD of things in the pipeline for this week. Watch this space – we’re hard at work and will have more to share later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks all and keep up the fight!”
No matter how the Michael Schmidt affair ends, it will no doubt mark an important turning point in the food rights movement. And that is exactly as Schmidt would want it.
Here are five of its accomplishments thus far:
1. It has educated thousands of people about the realities of food rights–that we aren’t necessarily the final arbiters of what goes into our bodies, and that public health and elected authorities aren’t interested in correcting the situation. If a dairy farmer with hundreds of eager consumer share owners can’t get a single individual in a position of authority to engage him on safety issues in 17 years of trying, you know something is wrong. And if, after starving himself, those same individuals are still unwilling to talk, well, you begin to realize how high they see the stakes. You understand that Schmidt could have spent several lifetimes just hanging around being polite seeking out someone to speak with him.
2. It has radicalized thousands. Once you realize the authorities are willing to let people die to maintain the existing system, your perspective changes. You don’t have to look very far to see how upset people have become about the Michael Schmidt sacrifice. Mark McAfee pointed out in a comment on this blog how he had lost his appetite. I had a similar reaction. One woman on the “Support Michael Schmidt” Facebook page stated: “All of this is making me so emotionally exhausted! But, I am NOT complaining, what Michael and his family are going through must be unimaginable!”
3. It has elevated the issue of food rights to a new level. No longer will food rights simply be about accessing raw milk. Increasingly, it will be seen for what it is–the right of each individual to decide what foods should go into their bodies…and which should not. For a long time, I felt as if I was the only one writing regularly about this issue. It’s gratifying to see a variety of bloggers, and even establishment media, taking note.
4. It has forced the beginning of important organizational work. No movement can go very far without serious organization. Sure, the efforts of the last couple weeks sometimes appear more like uncontrolled chaos. Some people pleading for a concerted media campaign. Others pleading for donations for Schmidt’s legal campaign. Still others trying to organize a day of fasting. But any number of people have gotten their feet wet on political organizing, and made contacts with individuals similarly inclined. The effective use of social media has been important. More significant, a cadre of leaders is emerging in both Canada and the U.S., which will hopefully prove important in promoting new efforts beyond Michael Schmidt’s hunger strike.
5. We see how far we have to go. It’s sobering, but important, to appreciate that this fight won’t be won because a few public officials or judges will suddenly become sympathetic with Michael Schmidt’s plight. They will do what their financial sponsors tell them to do…until they see their actual power being threatened because they are losing votes, or sponsor financing.
For those wondering how they might join in the efforts, Ann Marie Michaels at Cheeseslave has some excellent advice. We don’t know yet the outcome of this high-stakes drama. But Michael Schmidt has already performed a huge service to many thousands, and eventually millions, of people.
***
Here’s one person’s take on the sometimes acrimonious debate about the Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI). I sense a number of small-dairy owners are scared to death about the prospect of yet another national institutional force in their lives. They have learned well to distrust the many forces arrayed around them, at least some of which are openly hostile. They fear that one of their own could easily evolve into yet another enemy.
I sense as well a desire to keep as much of their lives on a highly local, community basis. Some kind of standards-based association entirely local and community-based–might this be more desirable?
***
I hope Mary Martin gains satisfaction from the Weston A. Price Foundation. Its perceived lack of sensitivity seems to have been the source of much of her anguish.
We currently have 50 states and regs for raw milk. We have 50 shades of chaos. This is not fear. This is reality. We have a thousands of voices. Many which are in conflict and fighting each other. We have no common voice…no common agreement on what safe RawMilk means or is. In the last two years there were many raw milk related dairy shut downs. The FDA rejoices at every occasion to shut down raw dairies.
Where is our voice of unity ? Where is our strength in numbers? Where is the effort to lay down and create a solid track record of safety and Common Stanards???Do we not prevent outbreaks….or do we just trust that FTCLDF comes to our rescue after we are targeted, justly or unjustly.
RAWMI is prevention. RAWMI is something consumers are demanding. I take the calls at OPDC to hear moms that want universal raw milk access…and I can not provide it to them. They have no raw milk where they live. They can not find it. They do not know what to look for or where to look.
The negative voices that would deny a mom access to safe raw milk should look at themselves in the mirror.
You have helped me draw a very distinct line in the sand. RAWMI is dedicated to universal consumer access to safe raw milk. If you do not share this vision….then so be it.
Michael Schmidt was called the "raw milk police" when he established Cow Share Canada and shut down a small dairy because of horrid conditions.
Freedom is not the avoidance of responsibility….freedom comes with the total embrace of personal responsibility and transparency. RAWMI is a farmers tool to earn back freedom. A SWAT team at your front door is not freedom. This is not fear….this is reality.
Where is our voice of unity? Where is our effort to collectively protect what we love?
Unity is not agreeing with whatever YOU say. Unity is finding common ground and having everyone speak with a single voice. The crap that you have written here lately, you know, the stuff that all of your critics have 'misread' ( ….gee is it even possible to take your arrogance up any higher,…blaming others for your obvious deficiencies) does not lend itself toward 'unity'. It's your attitude and action that creates the division….not the deficiencies of those who disagree with you. It's your propensity to spew falsehoods, optimistic fantasies, and clear exaggerations that cause us to have concerns. That you have others working your farm, boatloads of 'travel time' and seven figure resources to spend doesn't (and shouldn't) entitle you to a place at the head of this movement. It's what you write, say and do that should dictate this….and up till now I, and a significant portion of others, are unimpressed. We can only hope that a majority of the raw milk producers in this country…small, local producers and farm shares….can see through your bluster, and recognize the danger of what you are proposing. That you can't see it….or repeatedly fail to acknowledge it…. gives us tremendous pause.
You can be out in front all you want….but if there are few behind you, you are nary a 'leader'. How many members have you signed up so far….?…..and what's the average size of their herds?
My guess is that we'll be subjected to more 'selective responding'….where Mark ignores what is inconvenient for him to address…and continues spout the same old garbage that does nothing but foster distrust.
Having read the recent 'sometimes acrimonious debate', as well as all of the lead-up discussion earlier this year, I have but one question: What ARE the RAWMI standards? There is nothing on the rawmilkinstitute.org website about them. I believe that you had said that you were trying to have a draft ready for peer review in September. Do you honestly expect people to blindly support standards that do not yet exist?
David,
I am really not sensing the 'scared to death' vibe that you are, I get more frustration and annoyance that Mark cannot seem to shut up about that which he has not put up — touting 'standards' that are not available for review and for which he pointedly did not seek input from any of the small dairy farmers that contribute to the discussion here.
Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Your suggestion that RAWMI will act as a tool to prevent those three stars you mentioned in the previous post from aligning although somewhat valid is nonetheless wishful thinking when one considers the degree to which our ecosystem has been manipulated.
The medical profession in conjunction with the drug and biopharmaceutical industrys continuous, invasive and toxic assault on humans, animals and organisms alike is assuring an abundant supply of susceptible hosts and an endless supply of mutating organisms.
The illusive, ubiquitous, proliferant and highly adaptive nature of organisms along with the above mentioned destructive assault, results in a complex array of scenarios that limits our ability to control a specific organisms presence in the milk and likewise the regulators ability to establish cause and effect.
Michael has been consuming and providing raw milk without issue for over twenty years and Ive done likewise in the same province and country for over fifty years. Now although we do have a great deal in common with respect to how we produce our milk there are fundamental differences between he and I based on the various ideas floating around as to how it should be done.
What is needed is a concerted effort by all parties involved in order to bring about a transformation if you will in the food production AND medical industry. Something I dont see happening anytime soon. In the meantime my experience with raw milk clearly tells me that this is not a food safety issue and that meaningful change will only come about when freedom of choice is acknowledged and reinforced at the political and judicial levels.
Everyone has their idea of how to achieve food safety from Aajonus Vonderplanitz to Bill Marler. Its a bag of tricks. The only thing that will unify us is that which we have in common, "our desire for freedom". Hence tyranny is our greatest obstacle.
Ken Conrad
In 2006, this was Chris 48th day in the hospital. He would begin eating on the 26th and we went home on November 2nd. On October 31st and November 6th, CDFA returned to the dairy to take fecal samples from the cows.
There was a purpose to why I chose to write a daily diary. Within the next few days I will explain.
Sylvia,
Youre a nurse. What are you so confused about? You know how the kidneys work.
Chris recovered complete functioning of his kidneys. Remember when he was released from nephrology at the childrens hospital. They were functioning at 100%. His BUN and creatinine levels were normalat true miracle. However, as I wrote before glomeruli (the filters in the kidneys) have been damaged (scarred). We are born with about 1 million. There is no way to know how many Chris has left. I believe somewhere around 500 thousand a person needs kidney dialysis.
Scarring of the glomeruli is not like losing a kidney. They do not compensate. Over time, the remaining glomeruli will stretch like a water balloon and then at some point he will begin to spill protein in his urine. This will be the first sign that something is wrong. This is stage one kidney disease. That is why it is so important that he has annual urine and blood tests the rest of his life. Puberty is a particularly vulnerable time because of growth and hormone changes. This is why the nephrologist was so adamant that we dont become lax with annual follow-up care. Kids like Chris, who regained full functioning of their kidneys post HUS, have found themselves in their late teens in complete renal failure.
So does Chris have kidney damageyes. At this time in his life is it measurableno. All blood and urine tests done on the kidneys are normal.
On the other hand, Lauren has permanent kidney damagestage one kidney disease. Protein spills into her urine and she has to take an ace inhibitor (blood pressure medicine) to control it. When she takes blood and urine tests, without the medication they would not be normal. Her damage can be measured.
If Chris was Lauren, then we would have proof that an organ was damaged and therefore a possible medical malpractice lawsuit. We would have to be able to prove the antibiotic caused the HUS. There is no way to do that. Here are the two studies done on the topic I was given at the hospital. They conflict with each other. However, common practice at a hospital should be no antibiotic if a person is diagnosed with E.coli 0157:H7 It is better to error on the side of caution.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/288/8/996.full This one found no risk.
http://www.medscape.com/medline/abstract/10874060 This one found risk.
I cant find the entire 2nd article. Here are the highlights:
71 children had E.coli 0157:H7 infections
9 received antibiotics
10 developed HUS (five were given antibiotics)
4 received dialysis ( two received antibiotics and two didnt)
The day of submission of the stool sample was the most common point in the illness at which antibiotics were prescribed (Chris was given it 4 days after stool sample was given)
More severely ill infected children may be destined to develop HUS
I took this straight from the notes I took in the hospital after reading the study.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Organic-Pastures-Dairy-RAW-DAIRY-PRODUCTS/171911861180
Michael…we love you.
Mark
This appears to be true, and we still don't know what the proposals are.
"The only thing that will unify us is that which we have in common, "our desire for freedom". Hence tyranny is our greatest obstacle. "
Another true statement. There are many more web sites about food freedom. People have been slowly waking and taking notice.
"Do you honestly expect people to blindly support standards that do not yet exist?
Apparently he does.
http://wyomingfoodfreedom.org/2011/05/27/the-attack-on-personal-food-choice-freedom/
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/
http://grassfedonthehill.com/2011/08/08/mission-statement-for-farm-food-freedom-coalition/
http://wyomingfoodfreedom.org/
http://farmwars.info/
1. Had your son been vaccinated? Do you continue to get him vaccinated?
2. Had many other visits to conventional doctors prior to getting sick?
3. Was he eating all healthy (not according to USDA standards) foods prior?
4. What was he eating prior to the incident – for years and on a regular basis?
5. Had he had a history of immune compromising conventional pharmaceuticals prior to the incident?
6. Had he had antibiotics or other pharmaceutical medicines prior to the incident?
7. What has his past health history been like? This may give some clues.
8. Had he consumed products like soy products, eat a lot of simple carbs? Fast foods?
Just a few questions to understand where he was at prior to what happened.
nancy
I invite your feedback and comments.
RAWMI Listed Volentary Common Standards include the following but are under continued study by Dr. Cat Berge DVM and others ( we are not done yet and need your feedback ).
Common Standards include:
Less than 25 coliforms as a target on a three month rolling average.
Less than 10,000 SPC as a target on a three month rolling average
TB test one time per year for herd
Brucellosis free herd
No combining of multiple sources of raw milk.
Pathogen tests performed one time per month for: Ecoli 0157H7, Campy, Listeria M and Salmonella for all retail sale operations.
Depending on size of herd, the pathogen tests may be less than one time per month. It is being considered that if you milk less than 5 cows, pathogen tests would be twice per year. More than 5 cows, it would be once every three months. If you are retail or farmers market selling then one time per month.
A Food Safety Plan with checklists that address all of YOUR particular risks in YOUR particular environment ( to assure proper pathogen unfriendly conditions ) would be developed ( with RAWMI assistance ) to address your special risk factors from "Grass to Glass". This custom local food safety plan would be published along with your pathogen tests and your Coliform and SPC counts at your RAWMI Listed farmer portal. The Listed Farmer would keep checklists to verify "his" plan management.
After six months of reporting your data to RAWMI you would qualify for Listing.
For all of this effort you could use the RAWMI LIsted Seal. RAWMI will assist farmers with access to insurance ( where available ). RAWMI targets are not something that qualifies or disqualifies a farmer per se. Data numbers may go up or down. This is natural and this is something that is expected. However, Listed farmers would be expected to comply with their plan and work hard toward targets. If the targets are being missed, then assistance to that farmer to investigate the origins of the missed targets would be provided. One data point does not mean a whole lot. However, an average of data points over time says much more and starts to show a picture and a trend. RAWMI is a teaching organization and the data is collected to show information. All data will be graphically depicted against other standards including the PMO and EU standards etc. Consumers can make their own choices based on the data that is found at the farmers portal. Listed Farmers do not perform for RAWMI they perform for their consumers and the pride of a safe track record. RAWMI will explain the relevance of the data and what it means. RAWMI standards do not trump any state laws or requirements. RAWMI RAMP Plans will however help farmers to comply with their state regs and draw consumers to their raw milk. RAWMI will offer access to special Laboratory test packages for testing.
RAWMI is committed to the documentation of a safe track record for raw milk with food safety plans and testing protocols.
If new cows are purchased, then additional tests would be required to assure that no pathogen carrying animals are being brought into the RAWMI herd. These tests are being considered right now.
RAWMI is not a policing organization. RAWMI is a standards Listing and educational organization. RAWMI is committed to universal access to safe raw milk and the change of laws to connect raw milk farmers to their consumers. RAWMI assists farmers to show their hard work to their consumers.
The intent of this very open sharing is to seek comments from all that would like to comment. We have nothing to hide and everything to gain. There will be changes and this is not the final version. So please just give me any thoughts you may have on these "draft Common Standards".
I am braced for a storm of reaction. Please try your best to give some constructive commentary….we are very interested in your feedback and suggestions.
Most kind regards,
Mark and the RAWMI Team.
No promises from the MPP but a step in the right direction:
http://stateofswashbuckl.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/a-discussion-on-food-freedom-with-barrie-mpp-rod-jackson/
Please tell us how the rawmi crew are/will be paid.
Low cost Membership Participation by all Listed Farmers and their Consumers. RAWMI is a bridge to a better brighter future of universal safe raw milk access.
The membership structure will be completed in the next few days. We had a fantastic resource come to us from CAL TECH University in Southern CA. He has completely redone the RAWMI website to make it extremely robust and able to do all of things it will need to do. So look for the membership structure this weekend. At this time a membership and Listing fees are almost done.
We are giving consumers and farmers the option of paying $10 per month verses a yearly fee. We want to keep this simple, cheap and gather massive support from all of the voices that need a collective voice and a scientific basis to protect raw milk and also bring on Universal Access to raw milk from farmers that are all over north America.
I see the answers as a learning experience.
With all due respect, I think you are the one who is out of line. This blog is about "The Complete Patient" — and health and well-being. I am glad Nancy posted those questions, and from my outside perspective, do not feel they are confrontational. After 45 days of daily posts about the situation, I am very curious as to Chris' overall health before the illness occurred. I think there is some consensus on this site that for people to become ill from pathogens, that several factors are at work including a viable host. It is totally pertinent to ask the questions — for those of us who try to take the healthy path — and do choose to consume foods that are raw, we'd like to know what factors could have contributed to Chris' susceptibility to become infected — this is NOT blaming the victim! I really do want to know what steps I need to take to safeguard my family as we embark on the journey to a healthier lifestyle that includes continuing to consume raw milk.
Please tell me besides having some highly paid RAWMI consultants/executives/and a big new building . . . posting counts on your site, etc ., any different than this:
http://www.das.psu.edu/pdf/rawmilkpacode62008.pdf
This is a legal Raw Milk state . . .
What do you have to offer that is different from a state permit? A farmer pays for a state permit . . . so why should they pay another fee to RAWMI wich has the same requirements?
So a State permitted dairy that does not become RAWMI . . . is not safe?
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
And as my DH just suggested . . . why don't you just expend all of your RAWMI energies into those states where Raw Milk is illegal . . . and back off from those producers who are doing just fine in legal states . . . like you stated . . . this is purely voluntary . . .
How many farmers have signed up so far . . . . and if RAWMI is so transparent . . . please list them:)
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.bogspot.com
I have no idea how to message her privately.
I have not been harsh as other comments have been of her.
I am sincerely wanting to know some of these things as a learning experience.
You are judging me very harshly and as I said before, I addressed them to Mary.
Thank you Alice.
nancy