As I read through Ontario Judge Shaun O’Brien’s stinging rejection of raw milk in any way, shape, or form, I found myself singing the old Carole King rock classic, “It’s too late baby, yeah it’s too late….”
I couldn’t help but conclude that the time has long passed for Canada to ever come to even limited acceptance of raw dairy. It’s as if Canadians have been consuming pasteurized dairy exclusively for so long that they can’t do anything but exclaim “Yuck!” when presented with the possibility of allowing raw milk consumption on even the most limited legal basis, like say via herdshare or on-farm sales.
Judge O’Brien issued her 26-page dismissal of the claims by 21 Canadian raw milk supporters—heard during a week-long trial late last year– in mid-February, but neither side has referred to the ruling, apparently because the appeal period is still open. Presumably the raw dairy plaintiffs will appeal, but it’s difficult to imagine any deviation from the ruling, so complete and absolute is its rejection of raw dairy as a legitimate food option.
Back in 2016, raw dairy farmer Michael Schmidt and a couple dozen of his closest supporters came up with what they thought was a legal opening to overturn Canada’s long-standing ban on the distribution and sale of raw milk: they would claim they had a right to access raw milk as a matter of conscience and religion. An Ontario court agreed to hear the case and over the next four years, opponents and proponents of raw milk provided testimony and submitted studies to bolster their respective claims—something in excess of 20,000 pages. (In an effort to reduce the case’s emotional content, Schmidt kept himself out of the case officially; his wife is one of the plaintiffs.)
In her opinion, the closest O’Brien came to accepting any argument the plaintiffs put forward was when she accepted “that the Applicants have a sincere belief in the health benefits of raw milk” and “sincerely believe in their right to choose what they consume.” Unfortunately, she added, “these are not the types of beliefs protected by the Charter.”
Oh, yes, there was one other point the judge relented on: She refused to accept a defendant motion to exclude the evidence presented by the plaintiffs’ three raw dairy experts. But even here, her refusal was less than full: “I find the evidence of these three (raw dairy) experts to be admissible. However, I do have concerns about the weight to be attributed to this evidence. As will be evident through the course of my analysis, I accord it significantly less weight than the evidence of the experts retained by the Respondents.” I couldn’t help but think about the original U.S. Constitution approved in 1787, which made black slaves equal to three-fifths of whites. Is that what the judge ruled here, that the raw milk experts were a fraction as credible as the raw milk opponents?
I’m not even sure she gave the raw dairy experts three-fifths credence, because she completely discounted an important Canadian study indicating that raw milk has become significantly less hazardous in recent years. Here is how the judge put it: “The Applicants rely heavily on a study published in 2018 by Joanne Whitehead and Bryony Lake (the “Whitehead and Lake study”). The Whitehead and Lake study was put into evidence by Ms. (Margaret) Coleman. According to Ms. Coleman, the study determined that legalizing access to raw milk in more states of the United States resulted in lower rates of outbreaks, particularly when controlling for population growth and consumption. Ms. Coleman described the study as ‘authoritative, based on the best available data.’ Although I determined above that Ms. Coleman’s evidence was admissible, here, her evidence cannot be given weight in the face of the expertise of the Respondents’ experts.” Coleman is an expert in risk assessment, with masters degrees in biology, biochemistry, and medical microbiology.
So, who is one of the expert witnesses the judge considered much more credible? None other than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s raw-milk-ultra-rejectionist supreme, John Sheehan. The judge pointed to Sheehan’s testimony that he was so disturbed by the Whitehead-Lake study that he pressed the journal to disown it. “Mr. Sheehan’s view is that the issuance of the letter by the FDA was ‘quite extraordinary,’ a step he had never seen the FDA previously take,” the judge wrote, in amazement. If the judge had bothered to check out Sheehan’s reputation just a little bit, she would have discovered that he has total contempt for anyone even remotely inclined toward favoring raw milk, to the extent he canceled out on a major professional presentation at the last minute in 2007 rather than be in the same room with a very few individuals known to be sympathetic to raw milk consumption, including Michael Schmidt.
The judge went through a lengthy analysis to argue that in any place around the world where raw milk is legal, there are at least a few illnesses. When she came to an exception–the raw milk situation in Germany, which has such stringent regulations that no illnesses have been presented—she turned it against the raw milk plaintiffs, and showed clearly the lingering bitterness Canadian authorities feel about Michael Schmidt’s 25-plus years of challenging Canada’s raw dairy ban. “Germany’s situation is unique. The Voszugsmilch system is an expensive and complicated system involving elaborate on-farm testing and veterinary interventions. Only 14 producers in a country of more than 80 million people operate under this system. More importantly, the system requires a willingness to comply with stringent regulatory requirements, an attitude that has not been seen among raw milk producers in Ontario, who have been willing to contravene court orders. Specifically, the first legal proceeding concerning Glencolton Farms was commenced in 1994 when Ms. Vander Hout’s spouse, Mr. Schmidt, was the subject of an HPPA order to cease processing raw milk. As stated by the AGO: ‘This marks more than a quarter century of litigation concerning many of the same people, the same farm, and the same legal issues.’ In spite of the injunctions granted in Downing in 2018, the evidence is that Glencolton Farm has continued to make their raw milk available to members of the public in the years since then.” Was the judge really suggesting that if Michael Schmidt had “behaved” himself, she might have been more favorably inclined toward something like the German raw milk system for Canada? Really!
Judge O’Brien rejected more widespread use of testing in places like the U.S. to reduce the risk of raw milk to be “unreliable.” She rejected large-scale European studies indicating that raw milk reduces asthma and allergies in children to show “an association” but no “causal connection.” In the end, though, the judge showed herself to be an absolutist on raw dairy—even a single fatality means it’s too risky for any public consumption. “Some of the Applicants have provided evidence on this Application that, if permitted, they would feed raw milk to their children. I do not consider the death of even one child to be a de minimis problem [insignificant level of risk], particularly where it can be easily prevented through the straightforward, low-cost, and effective step of pasteurization. “
And it’s too late, baby now, it’s too late
Though we really did try to make it
Somethin’ inside has died, and I can’t hide
And I just can’t fake it, oh, no, no
I don’t really care what you say. If you don’t accept Dr. Tom Cowan, you are are useless piece of drek.
These judges are corrupt…. It is too bad for them ,,, They are honoured with positions where they can make positive decisions that can benefit the health of mankind and the health of the environment …. Instead of that they promote the interests of the drug companies and other selfish and even evil interests ,,, This Judge O’Brien cannot possibly be so stupid that she cannot see the truth here ….. She is obviously unspeakably evil for the harm and expense that she puts honest and well meaning people through …. Too bad for her
Tony
I ask Judge O’Brien what about the 13 kids that die every day from asthma. Yet those kids that drink raw milk recover from Asthma! !!
They say whiskey is for drinking, milk is for fighting! The Canadian milk system is extremely protective of milk law and milk markets. Supply Management protects dairymen and their milk prices. I fear that raw milk is a victim of this market jealousy.
This judgement must be appealed. The fight continues.
I ask the classic question: who in Canada are against breast feeding their children???
Breast milk is RAW Milk!! The health benefits are comparable! Canada ?? must get it’s head out of judicial politics and into science and it’s citizens health.
The judgement is very disappointing.
Cannabis is legal, recreational drugs are being decriminalized, raw milk is still illegal.
Why is an FDA official in a Canadian court?
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/a-month-after-last-illness-reported-health-agency-says-romaine-is-ok-again-1.4230463
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/health/romaine-ecoli-outbreak-deaths.html
https://www.fda.gov/food/cfsan-constituent-updates/fda-concludes-major-sampling-study-sprouts
https://www.cdc.gov/listeria/outbreaks/bean-sprouts-11-14/index.html
https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/health/1-dead-in-listeria-outbreak-linked-to-dole-lettuce-recall-affects-canada-1.2748461
https://www.cdc.gov/listeria/outbreaks/frozen-vegetables-05-16/index.html
Deaths clearly don’t impede the legal status of lettuce, sprouts or frozen vegetables. What’s the problem?
And the basis for this judgment against the distribution and sale of raw milk??? SAFETY.
Considering this current yearlong, widespread, fear driven tyrannical obsession with controlling a microbe, one couldn’t have asked for a worse time to conduct and conclude this constitutional challenge of Canada’s raw milk ban… In truth this judge’s ruling was based on protecting the Milk Marketing Board’s sacred cow… the quota system.
If you really want raw milk in Canada then Join the CACL Canadian Anti Corruption League. http://www.canadiananticorruptionleague.org. Fighting for our rights in a Corrupt Legal system is and has not given us our rights to this whole food (raw milk) The real problem as I have previously discussed is CORRUPTION if every form of government.
Perhaps the US FDA is closer to Canada ?? than we had all envisioned. John Sheehan is a political machine. No facts. No data. No reason. No regard for peer reviewed science.
In fact his distain for peer reviewed Pubmed and NIH published research is disgusting. Sheehan must resign. A perfect example of this sustain is our current Raw Butter legal challenge. The FDA did not respond to our data. They could not. Instead they made stuff up. Literally three words into paper to fill up pages.
Like use of 100 year old reports that did not distinguish between raw or pasteurized. Then they called that compelling and definitive!
Politics of milk markets is the compelling force.
The FDA approved our company for Raw Pet foods and then refuse to review and authorize labels for those Legal Pet Foods. Those formal FDA label review requests has been sitting with the FDA for six months. It is now causing damage.
If they continue to not respond, we will be compelled to tell a judge about this obstruction of commerce and add damages.
That’s John Sheehan
Corrupt to the core. Sick really.
Disgusted!
Stuck in a history time warp. Unable to adapt. No resilience. Tied to their sinking pasteurized milk battle ship as it sinks at 2% per year and Tested Low Risk delicious raw milk grows at 20-30 % per year.
The FDA always lags 20 years behind progress.
Time to start restarting the raw milk political fires.
Time for another “moms for raw milk” push and demonstration. This time backed up with RAWMI peer reviewed journal published papers and articles in major papers and media.
Unbelievable how she could make irrelevant issues inherent in all food for consumption so relevant in banning raw Milk.
This judge did not make a ruling for the people of Ontario, she made it for Corporate America.
Shame on her ?
Exactly David, The Milk Marketing Board system was legislated into existence by the government, and that system works hand in hand with the Ministry of Health, specifically, the Food Safety and Inspection branch in order to sustain the marketing board’s system. The arrangement is clearly geared towards control with safety merely a means to an end…
Last time i checked Canada was the only country in the G8 the still does not allow raw milk sales. Time to pick up the pace and get with the times. There are thousands in this country that are able to drink raw milk but it’s not ok for them to consume pasteurized milk, digestion process is a bit different because a lot of bacteria have been removed.
When ever I have spoken with Canadian Dairymen, they appear very interested in better serving their customers. After all, you can not increase supply if your demand is stagnant.
I have become a student of the Three Legged Canadian Milk Stool.
Supply
Trade
Price.
All three of elements must be in balance or prices suffer.
This has nothing to do with raw milk!
Raw milk can be included in the Cottage Industry Carve Out. They have a place for it.
Someone needs to sit down with The Canadian Milk Boards and explain things. Raw milk is not a threat. It is a win for the Canadian Milk System. It’s a way to better serve Canada.
Those Canadian dairymen, who were instrumental in fighting this case, have a totally misguided view of where their competition comes from. They have long feared raw milk as competition, when in reality their businesses are being decimated by the move to vegetarian options (as in almond, soy, and oat “milks”). Raw milk could have helped them expand the “real” dairy marketplace by providing additional nutritious options. Now, they’re headed the way of America’s dairy marketplace, toward reduced demand and (more) dairy bankruptcies.
As I said in my post, I’m afraid it’s too late for them to change course. They have been repeating the anti-raw-milk dogma for so long, they can’t even look past their own looming failure.
your basic mistake, Mr McAffee is > thinking that Canadian dairy farmers sell their product to consumers. In practice, quota-holders sell what comes out of their cows, to the government. For a generation, they were very happy on their little islands of artificial prosperity as Big Sister Nannystate coddled them with – essentially – a guaranteed income.
They are a textbook example of how communism always plays out : putting out vast quantities of an inferior product.
The dairy industry reached the point of diminishing returns, at which point a system reverses itself. Dairy farmers who locked themselves in to the Usury racket, are like the Coyote in the Roadrunner cartoons, who have run right off the edge of the cliff into thin air … continuing only while there’s a mutually-agreed suspension of reality about interest rates.
Maybe an ad campaign showing the negative impacts of pasteurized milk. Got Milk! Got Asthma too! Got More Sick too! If it was done over the streaming networks?
People would stop drinking commercial milk (Commercial dairy dies – Already on the way out.) and look to raw milk.
We are losing 7 conventional dairies everyday in the USA. But… production is up 3% with prices down lower than cost of production. All last year billions of tax dollars sent to dairymen last year. All that did was increase milk supply pushing milk prices even lower.
Meanwhile, we have a long line of dairymen getting training and becoming Listed by RAWMI.
Dairies are consolidating. Huge MEGA dairies are becoming the norm as smaller dairies die off
How very disappointing. My heart goes out to raw milk producers and supporters in Canada. I hope that the legal environment changes one day, though it seems quite bleak now.
I have a hard time believing that the presiding judge is even educated. PERIOD. No one has ever died from raw milk.. Tylenol kills 1000’s every year, yet is still readily available. Asthma meds kill kids or subject their bodies to other allergens. Ok to give kids prescription meds for their “asthma” that is CAUSED by pasteurized milk, then give them raw milk and allow them to breathe easily WITHOUT drugs. It is a fact that pasteurized milk causes mucus in the lungs as the pasteurization process kills the digestive enzymes in the milk. Even those that are lactose intolerant can drink raw milk without issue. LOOK IT UP JUDGE AND PERHAPS EDUCATE YOURSELF. This judge is probably the most misguided and ignorant official I have seen in a long time. She probably has investments in the pharmaceutical industry and raw milk will eat into her profits. This is totally UNBELIEVABLE that the Milk Marketing Board has such control over the courts,
She is clearly well educated–the decision is well written. I doubt any investments in pharmaceuticals or other areas influenced her decision, but she is clearly a product of the Canadian legal system.The Milk Marketing Board has made itself an important part of Canadian governance, so it has clout everywhere–with courts, legislators, executive.
Yes David, well educated she is… but she is in essence influenced by a system, (the milk marketing board system and the ministry of health) that uses the germaphobe narrative, safety and the greater good rational as its default position in order to manipulate the Canadian legal system. It is the only argument they have to fall back on and as long as society holds to the belief that microbes are primarily responsible for illness then it is an argument that the powers that be will continue to use, absolutely, in order to usurp freedom of choice.
Christine,
I would suggest that dairy and other food derivatives used in the manufacturing of vaccines, when injected into the human body, are more than likely the cause of allergic reactions such as asthma or the more serious anaphylaxis… Pasteurized milk, due to its adulterated nature, merely triggers an existing immune malfunction disorder, it is not the root cause.
in re : Affleck vs AG of Ontario
perusing the Ruling of O’Brien, J. first thing that jumps off the page, is : she blundered by ‘presuming that ALL milk contains pathogens in the first instance’. She then uses the idea that it’s necessary to cook the milk, in order to get rid of the bad bugs which are ALWAYS in it. The Learned Justice thereby “mis-conceived the evidence”
what comes through, too, in her language, is = she’s lived for the last year under an officially-induced mass psychosis … a reign of terror = the SCAMdemic. The ruling is predicated on a profound mis-understanding as to the basic nature of the lacteal secretion of mammals. This judge’s bias is writ large … concentrating on the relative risk of harm between Pasteur-ized milk versus raw milk. Whereas the correct analysis, ought to be > comparing the risk of harm from REAL MILK against other all other foodstuffs readily legally available. In BC, we saw this a couple of years ago, when over 400 people got sick from eating raw oysters. The response of the BC govt. was to throw a million $s at them ‘to educate them how better to handle their product !’
Counsel for the Claimants is Ian Blue, one of the best lawyers in Canada. Whose expertise is in constitutional law. It’s puzzling that this judge faults the Plaintiffs for having failed to put forth their Constitutional Challenge properly … finding right away that ‘there is no case to be met’
that decision in Ontario only pertains to that province. Although of course officials / judges in other provinces will use it. In British Columbia, the REAL MILK is flowing this very hour. We are not deterred. As I sit here looking out across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, I see Port Angeles Washington, 22 miles away where REAL MILK is perfectly lawful. When I got interested in the raw milk – in 1995 – there was one little licenced raw milk dairy with one cow : Mother Teresa on Vachon Island. Today there are 42 raw milk dairies in the Great State of Washington. Like the sound of a distant army on the march, there is no stopping an idea whose time has come. The dairymen who rejoice in this ruling, thinking we’re quitting, better think again
Amen Gordon!
I have some breaking news!
David, I broke the news here first.
After at least 10 years of battle, courtship, inspections, litigation, a judgement and sanction against me by the FDA, multiple week long intensive FDA inspections, at last the FDA sent me the Email today.
Organic Pastures ie…. RAW FARM has been FDA approved for the National ( all fifty states and territories ) legal sale and distribution of Raw Pet Food products including for both Goats and Cows:
Whole raw milk ( fresh or frozen )
Raw Kefir ( fresh or frozen )
Raw Cream ( fresh or frozen )
Raw cheese has been long approved for humans.
We did not get raw butter yet. Still working on that.
This was a very long and arduous process. The state of California and the FDA had to approve Our plant for pet foods and all products had to meet and exceed Human food standards for safety and nutritional content. The FSMA compliance was tough but being RAWMI Listed with an advanced RAMP plan and testing data gave us a huge advantage. The multiple FDA inspections taking most of a week each time. We took that time with the FDA inspectors to educate them all about raw dairy. They knew a little bit about dairy but we made them into post grad students.
It’s been a long road. One good step at a time. Learning to treat the FDA as partners instead of adversaries was essential. That was nerve racking. Mentoring the FDA was a delicate but important process. The FDA also showed us a few things as well.
Kind of sad that Pets across America can now eat better than their masters.
We are very very happy ?
Congratulations! It’s been a long haul. Looks like masters can join their pets at the chow bowl if raw dairy in their diet plan.
Maybe you want to distribute some to American towns on northern border so Canadians can gain access for their pets, and masters, as well.
Congratulations, Mark! Enjoy your new nation-wide market!
Sounds like selling as pet food wink, wink.
https://rawfarmusa.com/
We have the FDA in federal Court to change raw butter laws. Word on that coming soon. Oral arguments coming up next.
My favorite part of the FDA approval was the review by the Veterinary Department at the FDA
They loved it! I guess… We humans are not part of the animal kingdom. So much in this. I just have to stay calm.
Building markets is my strategy to climb this mountain.
David,
According to Open Farm ( Canadian pet food brand ) raw pet food is legal in Canada
Technically, I can legally export into Canada and sell in retail stores.
Don’t temp me. We are taking this little by little. Instead of eating this steak at our celebration table…. Its not a steak, its a whole cow.
We don’t want to choke on it. Its huge.
This judge is obviously corrupt … She cannot be so stupid as to not see the overwhelming evidence for the benefits of raw milk …. She … O’Brien,,, obviously serves the interests of selfish and even evil interests …. Too bad for her … She is honoured with a position where she could make decisions which could benefit humanity and the earth and instead she serves these interests …. These people are completely destructive and will lead to the complete breakdown of our society… So sad… Tony
I watched several hours of the trial, and the judge appeared to have made up her mind before all the evidence was presented.
I believe this judge is given orders behind closed doors and follows those orders to protect her money and prestige … She doesn’t give a damn about right or wrong…. The people behind the closed doors are ,,on the surface ,, interested in the sickening of the population in order to keep them on medications and helpless to think about anything ….. I think this judge has no concept of the evil that she is facilitating… But …. I might be wrong about that….
In response to a question as to why the Ontario Government is holding firm to its harmful draconian coronavirus lockdown restrictions, Premier Doug Ford stated, “I’m going to be very frank. There’s no politician in this country that is going to disagree with their chief medical officer. They just aren’t going to do it. They might as well throw a rope around their neck and jump off a bridge. They’re done”.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-end-the-doctatorship-elected-politicians-must-be-in-charge?fbclid=IwAR04WyZXZITcrEOw0v9F7UWmwoqwCnahECxi3-92BZnZnS6qJ1UVw90dTC8
There you have it, the underlying reason as to why raw milk sales are forbidden in Ontario and the rest of Canada and why the courts in Ontario consistently rule against legalizing the sale of raw milk. Just like the restriction related to this so-called novel coronavirus pandemic, raw milk sales are subject to the whims of a germ fearing public who in turn elect the politicians and who then in turn grant public health bureaucrats/doctors inordinate powers. Along with the aid of the media, politicians have elevated the position of public health bureaucrats beyond mere advisers to that of omnipotent moral busybodies/tyrants.
Will those same spineless medical policy cowards not strongly promote breast feeding ???
Raw milk is breast milk from mammals.
The long list of breast milk components match cows or goats milk or even camels horse milk or reindeer milk. Mammals raw milk is very comparable among humans and other mammals.
It contains a biodiversity of bacteria, 2500 proteins that all play a functional role in health, gut microbiome development, nutrition, immune system function, raw fats, bio available minerals and vitamins, enzymes, anti inflammatory elements, specialized sugars, biodiversity of bacteria, etc. all of these factors are damaged by heat!! All of them !!!! Nature also provides some pathogens in breast milk to assure newborns build antibodies to protect against threats from pathogens. Nature is brilliant !
In my assessment, it is ignorance, lack of study matched with spinelessness that results in the trifecta of really bad Human health policy.
Spineless cowards do things to keep their paychecks. That’s it. It’s pervasive. Academics, researchers, doctors. They are all subject to this bias and cowardice. It’s the power of the herd. Humans just don’t want to lead or be singled out.