Just because I’m suggesting that we be a little kinder to each other, and to a handful of individuals who disagree with the majority on raw milk regulation, doesn’t mean I hold any illusions about the regulators.
Basically, the regulators, starting at the top with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, are determined to eliminate our supply of raw milk. If they can’t eliminate it, they want to reduce the supply as much as possible. That’s why they have focused so much time and energy going after Mark McAfee and his Organic Pastures Dairy Co. with federal indictments, even threatening him with jail—all over selling milk to individuals, and God forbid, for their animals, outside California.
OPDC is the nation’s largest single seller of raw milk, by a large amount, supplying likely close to 10% of the nation’s raw milk (40,000 customers out of an estimated 500,000 raw milk consumers nationally). If they can eliminate Mark, they will have scored a huge psychological victory, as well as having eliminated a major source of raw milk in the U.S.
The FDA pushes the states to do its dirty work on intrastate sales and distribution of raw milk. Now state regulators are using a single outbreak in Connecticut to eliminate retail sales of raw milk there.
And as we well know, the regulators have been merciless in harassing dairy farmers in New York and Pennsylvania who have dared to challenge their strong-arm tactics.
An Observer is correct when he/she says following my previous post: “…raw dairy is viewed differently by public health. All the insults in the world are not likely to change that.”
What I find revealing is that, aside from An Observer, Concerned Person, and an occasional few others, the regulator community refuses to come out of the darkness and discuss reasonable compromises like those Steve Bemis has come up with and discussed extensively and constructively with others on this blog. I think the reason they won’t is that the regulators have their eye on the bigger prize I described earlier—the entire elimination of raw milk.
The reason they won’t emerge into the sunlight is that they fear being blinded—by reason and truth. If they have to discuss the issue, they can’t reasonably conclude that raw milk should be eliminated. And once they do that, well, you get into the related issues of food sanitization, excessive processing of our food, misguided policies on registering animals and…before you know it, the entire Germ Theory is in danger. That’s why it’s so important to the regulators. To the extent they keep a lid on the truth about raw milk—that it is as safe or more safe than many other popular foods, and highly nutritious to boot—they can do their dirty work on other issues as well.
The regulators’ real problem is that the word is getting out, and ordinary people are coming to understand the lies that have been perpetrated. On blogs and listserves, more and more people are inquiring about raw milk, and on YouTube, young families and would-be broadcasters are singing the praises of raw milk.
Truth has a way of winning out. It has an easier time if proponents are both fully committed and united. President Barack Obama said it well yesterday when he declared: “What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.”
***
Thank you, Gwen Elderberry, for naming a goat after me. I am truly touched. I’ve never had a person or animal named after me. May Gumpert the goat be prolific, and his offspring produce huge quantities of highly nutritious milk that is consumed far and wide.
All of this boils down to government of the people for the people by the people or government of the corporation by the corporation for the corporation.
We need to reclaim our freedoms our rights and our liberties. Anything less via compromise will only prolong the agony and extend the war against us and strengthen those who intend to force their nefarious will on us ALL.
i’m in the planing phase for my own roadside signs and am seriously debating a 4×8′ (sheet of plywood) sign that says something along the lines:
Police State
Wake up People!
but when i think about it i might better use my frontage (about 2/3 of a mile on a county highway that is well traveled to publicize the tyrany of the usda, fda, ftc and regulators in general.
it would be great if you all could help with ideas what such signs should say, i find my own ideas to be a bit on the inflamatory side as sometimes might come thru in my posts here. i’m darn tootin mad as heck at how broken and corrupt or system has become.
please post ideas as i can (and i would think most all farms could support a fairly large number of signs that if worded right might increase awareness and outrage of the public.
anyone remember the old burma shave signs that used to span miles of highway roadside in the old days. they had one word of the total message on each sign so as you drove along the message unfolded in a fun way. great marketing imo.
any other farmers interested? any of you real milk city/ suburban consumers interested in planting a sign in your fromt yard?
"There are two wolves struggling inside each of us, " the elder said.
"One wolf is vengefulness, anger, resentment, self-pity, fear…
"The other wolf is compassion, faithfulness, hope, truth, love…."
The grandson sat, thinking, then asked, "Which wolf wins, Grandfather?"
The Elder replied, "The one you feed."
Oh yeah. Though I’m afraid Obama will fail to see the irony of those words if he supports the current attitude of our "protectors:.
For me, it isn’t just about the raw milk, that’s only a symbol of what’s wrong with agricultural policy and regulation, "healthcare", and the loss of our Constitutional rights (& individual responsibilities, too). It’s about shimming and patching (with contaminated peanut butter?) the broken system of food production and how that lays a shaky foundation to a pyramid of health problems (with only the ones on the surface obvious to conventional healthcare) and yes, even rocks the underpinnings of the very nation our forefathers struggled to set forth.
I never thought I’d ever become so passionate about liberty and rights, but the more I learn about how obstructionist and overbearing, not to mention paternalistic our "leaders" and "protectors" are when it comes to our very sustenance (again, not just about milk, but all sorts of non-industrial food production models), the more I realize how little I knew and how much I trusted just a few short years ago.
Yes, my paradigm has shifted dramatically, and milk or no milk, I’m making moves to prepare real food for my family (and my pets), sourced as directly from the producer as possible, whether it’s milk, meat, or produce. With daily news of various industrial foods recalled far and wide that rarely are a concern for me anymore except when we can’t eat our own food, I think the odds are in our favor this way.
Simple bullet statements that are facts. Short and to the point. For example. Ingredients in cow feed- list the ingredients and if it is a chemical, list what the toxic effects are. Or pictures of a dairy factory. Use minimal words to paint a picture.
http://www.albalagh.net/halal/0059.shtml
http://www.cargill.com/products/crop/ps_feed_ing.htm
http://www.cattletoday.com/archive/2003/December/CT303.shtml
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/fpd.2005.2.341?cookieSet=1&journalCode=fpd
http://www.watsonfeed.com/feedstuffs_ingredients
If you repeat something often enough, people will begin to believe it.
Forgive my sarcasm I wish I did not feel this way.
Gwen, will you please send David a picture of Gumpert so he can share it with us? Get him standing on a soapbox. (Said with affection, David – I love goats!) I can imagine McAffee, Milano, Sylvia, Wittinger and Hugh Betcha will be right there too, pushing for a turn on the box. Goats – you can’t keep ’em down…or quiet.
-Blair
Ten Years Into the Chemtrail-Wars
http://www.rense.com/general84/tenyrs.htm
Blair, I think you are right. And, this de-centralization of agriculture holds much potential. "We" all know I’m focused on food safety. But, just look at the peanut butter map of outbreaks (and the tomato/pepper or spinach maps). Weaving food safety into the local food movement should not be controversial. Raw milk is inherently problematic, but not insurmountable from a local farmer point-of-view. See again Steve B’s 10 Great Thoughts.
HB: I went looking for the pay check to troll this blog and could not find it. I’ll keep watching my mail box. Once had a bumper sticker on my car: "Assume Nothing."
Many do not agree with those words. The same could be said about processed foods, and add the GM produce and meats. Yes indeed, raw dairy is a tiny spec in the overall picture. Yet it is singled out. Why is that? Is it a leader in returning to "natural" unadulterated foods? If so that is a threat to big corps as they couldn’t produce healthy foods.
Yes it is singled out as it is the only illegal foods to sell in many states and those where it is legal to sell, those farmers are harassed. Just look at all the recent illnesses caused by contaminated foods. Spinach is still on the market as is the rest of the contaminated foods, peanut products are still being sold. Why aren’t they banned?
Any food can become contaminated if not handled correctly, that is a given. The less a food is handled, the less chance of contamination. Obviously the govt has not been doing thier job with inspecting the peanut butter as this is not the first in the last few years, isn’t this the same company as the last time?
WHat people wish to consume is a choice, not dictated by anyone else.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91843992
http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/08/is-raw-milk-safe-to-drink-whic.html <~~The comments are the same song and dance as here. The epidomologist clames those who post thier improved health are not "proof" that raw dairy aided in that improvement. I wonder if she thought abouth the possibility that the persons who stopped drinking the pasteurized milk had improved health, even without drinking raw milk? There are so many "testimonials" that people have improved health with raw dairy, that would tell a prudent person that there is something to that. One of those things that make you go Hmmmm. Why hasn’t the govt investigated this? I’ve no doubt that money is a huge issue and I am not referring to the cost of studies, whos hands are being greased?
Glib statements like Raw milk is inherently problematic… neatly explain why bureaucrats cannot be allowed to have power over us.
Attitudes and ideas are all the excuse bureaucracy needs to tell everybody else how to live. The idea that raw milk is inherently problematic… is the end point of thinking in the regulatory cartel. It’s the last word, they believe it, and their belief trumps our rights. Its absolutely maddening.
These people will not go away, and every inch they are given will soon be turned into a mile.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/rural/
trolls belong under a bridge………
So, am I out in the cold? Sylvia commented on them, but I still don’t have a clear read on whether the general view is that their specifics are troubling or not; or whether their comprehensiveness is overreaching or deficient; or whatever else. I continue to search for an approach to move this discussion forward, and I invite others’ views, especially the views of regulator types, who I continue to believe would love to get on to more weighty matters. Raw milk’s day is coming around again, and it would be nice if all who have been so earnestly engaged in this dialogue could get a resolution something short of guns vs. butter.
Again, here’s the link:
http://www.thecompletepatient.com/journal/2008/12/29/is-regulator-alerting-us-to-real-raw-milk-issues-or-excuses.html
Point taken.
Observer’s whole sentence is of course "Raw milk is inherently problematic, but not insurmountable from a local farmer point-of-view."
Now readers of this forum will know that I am not a fan of centralized power in business or government, and that I support decentralization in general, and specifically in regard to food production. Yet this does not mean that I support the notion that all things public ought to be micro-managed by regulators, which is what we will get, eventually if not immediately, in the raw milk marketplace if a "raw milk is inherently problematic" mindset prevails. (A fair re-write of the quoted remark could be: Raw milk is inherently problematic when it comes from OPDC.)
The only "inherent" problem here is the entrenchment of our regulatory system. It is another form of centralized power. I am not suggesting that all regulation is wrong, but history clearly teaches us that systems gravitate toward license. Regulations self-procreate. You can diddle with them, and in the short run feel like you’ve come out ahead, but just wait…
(Let me take a moment here to again laud the idea that public entities can and should be regulated, but that government has no right to regulate legal, private transactions. Putting that idea into practice would likely dramatically increase decentralization!)
Becoming cozy with consolidated power is very unhealthy. It is, by the way, how we have come to the sad point where government is broadly viewed as a savior. This is a very dangerous notion that greatly diminishes the worth of the individual. At Obama’s White House website (linked above by Steve) all the proposed "changes" for example are about what government will do. Well, how about government just butting out and leaving us alone? That would be REAL change. There is NOTHING AT ALL NEW about another wealth-distribution scheme, or another form of government control.
I think America’s collective crap-detector needs new batteries.
The first part stated that "Raw milk is inherently problematic" for which I believe is NOT true. Therefore, I believe the 2nd part is negated. If something is not "inherently problematic" then there is no issue with it. It is the govt who believes it is "inherently problematic" not the farmer or the consumers of the raw milk.
I suppose, I, like many others, have been disillusioned into thinking the govt was fair. If that were true, then they would be working with farmers and consumers to promote safe healthy foods that all parties are seeking. Raw milk, just like any other food can be produced safely. If not then people would have been dropping dead from it centuries ago. Claravale and OP have produced safe dairy products, even with the harassment they’ve been subjected to.
Our govt is no savior to the American people.
Communication on raw milk is inherently problematic [due to strong, opposing views between public health and raw milk activists], but the conflicts are not insurmountable…
Thank you for your continued efforts at pursuing the "middle" on this subject. The conflicts are not insurmountalbe. A compromise can be reached.
cp
Thanks. Have you ever seen any legislation or other significant changes to laws/regulations occur without compromise? It is great to sit around the farm and talk about principles, but at the end of the day, only the people at the table have a voice. Being at the table without the major stakeholders (including regulators) is failure.
BTW, this is my human name, got tired of being a noun (observer).
"…interesting though how all the points [about the positive potentials of food decentralization and local farms] in the comment were ignored except those 5 words [relating to raw milk being inherently problematic]."
Oh, come on! If I were, say, a politician, and in a public forum said something along the lines of, "Our good friend here has much potential and is beloved by many and has given of himself to society and in my opinion is on the edge of needing jail time…" what would you consider significant?
There is nothing middle-ground about giving control of one person’s private life over to another. The true middle ground is found ONLY where people are free to act legally in whatever way they want. Inserting a powerful busybody will only (and always) move us OFF the middle. Bureaucrats and government types and power mongers of all sorts do not like people to make choices. They want control. One handy way to justify that control is to simply call it something else, like "finding some middle ground."
Ken Conrad