This is the time of year when prognosticators look ahead and try to make predictions. One of the more interesting ones I read recently was a Reuters prediction of the top health issues of 2008. Guess which was #1. You’ve got it, raw milk.
I had kind of put the article out of my mind, since I tend not to take journalists’ prognotications all that seriously—after all, I know how many of mine actually turn out correctly. But Mary McGonigle-Martin’s observations on my previous posting about the Food and Drug Administration’s raw milk presentation got me thinking…Why would the FDA change its presentation after the fact, and remove details of illnesses supposedly caused by raw milk?
Sometimes it’s in the little things that you learn a lot about governmental intentions. I remember when Soviet experts used to try to read between the lines of the old Soviet newspaper, Pravda, for insights into real government intentions. We’re kind of at that point in the American experience, I’m sorry to say.
This may sound far out, but I think the reason the FDA took out the specifics of Mary’s son and the other children supposedly made ill by raw milk is that it’s a first step in eventually deleting out the entire affair. The problem the FDA faces is that not only was the connection not proven, but one of its partners, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, actually disassociated itself from the claim.
Last July the CDFA paid Organic Pastures Dairy Co. $11,418.50, to settle the dairy’s claim against the agency for invading its farm and slapping a quarantine on the dairy for two weeks in September 2006. The action cost OPDC many thousands, but the fact that CDFA decided to settle at all—“to resolve the issue of the propriety and value of that loss” and get OPDC to release the state from any future claims, according to the one-page settlement—was a legal acknowledgment that its suspicions were wrong. It couldn’t make the connection between the illnesses and OPDC, and by settling, was formalizing an admission it made the previous October in statements to the media.
(An aside: in the “Stipulation and Release” agreed to by the CDFA and Organic Pastures last July, the two parties agreed that “both CDFA and OP shall not publicize this resolution beyond those necessary to effectuate the agreement.” Despite agreeing to keep the document confidential, Mark McAfee of OPDC decided to distribute to the media the text, along with a copy of the check he received from the state, after AB 1735 was secretly passed and both CDFA and legislative officials suggested the measure was implemented because of the children’s illnesses the previous September.)
The FDA will have difficulty continuing with the same claim about the children’s illnesses if a sister agency legally agreed to the exact opposite, especially with a major court case possibly upcoming in California. Everyone will need to get their ducks in a row because documents and public claims can be used as evidence in the suit by OPDC and Claravale Farm.
The fact is that Mary and Dave Milano, and I and the FDA can all think what we want about what caused the California e.Coli 0157:H7 illnesses last September, but the evidence for a courtroom proceeding isn’t there. It doesn’t begin to approximate the evidence in the Massachusetts pasteurized-milk listeriorsis cases now unfolding.
And this leads into the larger point in all this: the coming year is likely to be one dominated by legal cases involving raw milk.
Such machinations as in California suggest to me these battles are going to be knock-down bare-knuckles battles. Consider the pre-court maneuverings now going on in the suit by Barbara and Steve Smith and Meadowsweet Dairy LLC against New York agriculture officials over the herdshare concept.
Over the last week, the plaintiffs’ lawyer (and also the lawyer in the CA case), Gary Cox of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, has been trying to adjust the schedules of two NY hearings because he is a single parent and his children’s mother will be out of the country and unavailable for a two-week period in January. Such adjustments are routine in most legal cases, no matter how acrimonious the parties. It’s just professional courtesy among lawyers, who will re-schedule hearings on a moment’s if an opposing lawyer’s spouse is coming down with a minor headache. But nothing doing in this case. Lawyers for New York’s Department of Agriculture and Markets refused to make any changes, prompting Gary to email the lawyers yesterday:
“As a former public servant myself for 14 years prosecuting polluters with the Ohio Attorney General’s office, and as a practicing attorney for nearly 20 years, I can honestly say that you two are the most unprofessional attorneys I have ever worked with. Please tell your client that the gloves are off and no more Mr. Nice Guy. You and your clients deserve to be publicly humiliated for your arrogant, vindictive and unprofessional attitude. I hope you have school-age children who have to be left alone unsupervised for two days without the love and comfort of their parents. Your behavior is outrageous. Shame on you both and your client.”
There’s another message in all these machinations. The federal and state bureaucracies are taking this raw milk situation very seriously. They are running scared, and for good reason: they are fighting for the wrong cause.
***
Setting the record straight: The Boston Globe followed up on the four cases of listeriosis in pasteurized milk (described in my previous post) with two additional articles. One was a question-and-answer piece about listeriosis. After having written probably half a dozen articles-updates about the fact that two people died and one woman had a miscarriage from consuming pasteurized milk, here is the reporter’s one reference to raw milk: “Can anything be done to prevent catching the disease {listeriosis} in the first place? Avoid unpasteurized milk…”
As reported previously on this blog, the Centers for Disease Control’s own report on illnesses from raw and pasteurized milk over the period 1973-2005 shows zero illnesses from listeriosis in raw milk…and 138 from pasteurized milk.
The CDFA and no longer make any claims about the illnesses and OPDC. The slides that were deleted with all the childrens information made claims of contaminated milk. This can no longer be legally stated. They can only state information from the statistics gathered by the department of Health and Human Services during the month of September 2006. The one remaining slide on the 2007 FDA PowerPoint has information that came from the September 2006 California Monthly Summary Report: Selected Reportable Diseases.
It all the same original argument. The department of Health and Human Services claims matching blueprints and the department of Food and Agriculture did not find supporting evidence in OP milk or cows.
As a former public servant myself for 14 years prosecuting polluters with the Ohio Attorney General’s office, and as a practicing attorney for nearly 20 years, I can honestly say that you two are the most unprofessional attorneys I have ever worked with. Please tell your client that the gloves are off and no more Mr. Nice Guy. You and your clients deserve to be publicly humiliated for your arrogant, vindictive and unprofessional attitude. I hope you have school-age children who have to be left alone unsupervised for two days without the love and comfort of their parents. Your behavior is outrageous. Shame on you both and your client.
I have talked to Steve Bemiss, Pete Kennedy, and Cathy Raymond with the Legal Defense fund since I joined, but I have never talked to Gary Cox…but with that email above that he sent he just made my 10 all time favorite people list.
Gary understands that we are not fighting a small skirmish with regulatory agencies regarding raw milk and other nutrient dense foods…he knows we are fighting an all out war, and he knows that the opponents are not honorable people.
All I can say is, "You go Gary."
Bob Hayles
It must feel ‘good’ to be on the conservative movement gravy train, to be ‘made men’ who are assured of riches for the rest of their immoral lives, as long as they keep selling themselves out and never actually feel empathy. For the rest of us who would rather live honest lives they sure do stick it to us, and make those rows even harder to hoe.
………
It’s a good thing it’s (almost) January, so I have more time to catch up by reading David’s posts (and y’all’s comments) for the past year.
I only became aware of this issue when our raw milk supplier was shut down in PA last summer. I had no idea it was a coordinated assault nationwide. I actually believed there must be a valid reason for the action at first, although I retained my trust in the product. We are still drinking raw milk, having found another dairy.
I’m in awe of the fortitude of the McAfees, Smiths and others who are fighting back. I’ve been left emotionally and financially devastated by my own ‘fight against City Hall’ alluded to in a prior comment. They won by draining our life savings with frivolous motions and stonewalling tactics.
I fear for the small farmer, this may be the common outcome. Even when/if Clarvale Farms and Organic Pastures win this battle, the war is far from over. They (the powers that be) will only come back from a different angle.
Cheryl’s response to my question on the previous post only confirmed what I thought was to be true.
People are waking up to the health benefits of "natural", "organic" food products, and it is only a matter of time before the public demands what they want. The big corporations see this for the future. The chemical companies and factory farms cannot make money with organic/natural, and so, they are in a sense fighting for thier own livlyhood. At this time, I cannot say who will "win" this war. I do fear for the small farmers, they don’t have the $$ means to fight the govt/corporations. There is strength in numbers and it will most likely take the greater majority of the population standing up to the govt/corporations. Will America do that? Not until it affects them directly.
2008 will be the year to fight for our rights. Here in MD we are working hard to legalize raw milk and we have more people behind us this year than we did last. We made leaps and bounds last year in our battle, this year we will succeed.
I wish everyone a Healthy, Happy New Year and extend a big THANK YOU to all the small farmers who provide us with the means to be Healthy.
Absolutely they do. It’s tax money. It’s OUR money. We’re GIVING THEM MONEY to use against us!
We can either try to change their minds (hard) or take away their money (easy!).
As attributed to the late Senator Taft in the October 2007 issue of Acres USA, page 73:
"We’ve never learned the first thing about keeping freedom, and that is DON’T GIVE YOUR GOVERNMENT SO MUCH MONEY."
As an act of civil disobedience, we should all stop paying our taxes – we should all stop giving THEM money to use against us. The bureaucracies would grind to a halt in a minute. And they’d be reminded, very quickly, that WE hold the power, not them.
(And don’t forget, the IRS is an unconstitutional body anyway.)
At this point in time, I don’t see the population standing together. They appear silent on many issues, even when the issue affects them, they may make a slight effort of protest, then back down defeated before they truely started. I worked in one city, at a medical clinic and it seemed like half the towns people were on anti-depresants and/or anti-anxiety medication (that includes the teachers and police) Since a large portion of our society are on these drugs, maybe that is reason that so many appear not to care?
I think a lot of things have lulled us into complacency. Media, materialistic pursuits, never having to go without (most of us don’t personally remember the Depression, and with credit, you never have to do without), poor health, pharmaceutical drug dependence, the fear of looking like a crazy person if you stand up and say something against the status quo…
I think more and more people are starting to care, though. The raw milk people. The homesteaders/small farmers. The Weston Price people, the Libertarians, the homeschoolers, the Ron Paul people, the New World Order theorists, are starting to care and are becoming very vocal. These are the groups ignored by the mass media, however. Once we all realize we’re working for the same cause – truth, justice, freedom – we’ll hit critical mass and the sleeping bear will come out of hibernation. And that’s when change will take place. I PRAY that change will take place.
In the meantime, if you can’t get through all those lulled to sleep by television, the Gap, ipods and Brittney Spears, find people who are angry (the good kind) and join up with them. Share ideas, tell other groups. Together we stand, divided we fall.
Thanks
Frank M
Consumers are the ones who need to be standing up and protesting but as it stands right now those that want unadulterated food are in the minority. The average consumer probably believes that the milk they buy at the grocery store comes from a jersey cow wearing a bell in some big pasture with other bell wearing cows and not a feed lot where they they have to stay shot full of antibiotics just to make it through their short lives.
The consumers are ignorant and like many people with little knowledge will latch on to the loudest and most authoritative source of information. Our government.
Much like the post 9-11 propoganda. The populace trusted the government to make things safer, we even revoked some of our birth rights to accomplish such things. How long did the terrorist alert ratings make the news, followed by the latest push for war propoganda. How many people still believe that Saddam and Osama bin Laden were allies even though there was no evidence. More the 50% I bet.
After doing research and reading the blogs from this and other sites it seems no-one is trust worthy from state to federal officials. There are a few hereos here and there and many villians to fight.
The populace depends on cures for their sins in the food department, I caught a segment on NPR (those communist) where scientist pointed out all of our conditions are either caused by or made worse by what we eat. This is probably the truest statement. Even Bill Mahr has said many times our diet is the biggest killer and that is where the truth lies.
This is what I see everyday.
Just imagine…
My mom says my diet is weird because I switched to Raw Milk and Kefir from soy milk (which is still weird) and pasteurized milk. She even wondered if I would fail a drug test I took for a new job I recently got. Yet she can’t leave her bed sometimes from the side affects from her drugs to prevent bone-loss, which I guess has led to another prescription.
My friends are in similar boats, they just have always assumed pasteurized milk is good for you and one even thinks she helping the small farmer by buying it over other products like almond-milk. Little does she know that chances are she has contributed to the slow extinction of family-farms. Plus her grand-father use to be a diary farmer too. Her whole family drank pasteurized milk from the farm and now the older one’s are developing arthritis and some have diabetes. Hmmm…
That and discussing diets appears to be overly personal and many take it personally when they think someone is pointing out their dieting flaws. Especially when they believe so strongly that it’s good for them.
Finely the biggest problem is we know very little about dieting and nutrition, and are always pushed by the latest fad in diet science from Atkins diet, CQ10 Enzymes, to vitamin C. We are forever on a roller coaster ride of it’s great for you and oh wait that’s not actually true. Much of this is thanks to our sensational media and the got you looking headlines.
Our government follows the money, our health officials follow the government, the ignorant follow both or go for the cheapest and easiest thing, and the rest of us are divided between dispare and rage.
A massive edumacation is needed, and the courts are the first step. If the farmers in these court cases win some of the populace will read and begin to wonder. More will join the cause and the tide will truly begin to turn. If they lose then what…?