Yesterday I was trying to explain the raw milk situation to Julie, the woman who has been cutting my hair the last 15 years or so. Julie and I usually chat during the time she is cutting and trimming about movies or new restaurants in the area, but the last couple of times I’ve been in to see her, we’ve gotten to talking about health and food, and in particular, raw milk.
Julie isn’t a foodie by any means, and she doesn’t read a lot about food and politics, but her ten-year-old son has attention deficit disorder (ADD) and she is convinced his diet, especially his sugar consumption, impacts his behavior. So when she asked me yesterday what I’ve been up to in the six weeks since I last had my hair cut, I told her, “Well, I’ve been in a few courtrooms and at a legislative hearing and on several dairy farms.”
I tried to explain the raw milk situation to her, how it seems to help some children with ADD and other chronic conditions, and how the government seems intent on preventing us from obtaining raw milk, even resorting to employing undercover agents.
“That’s crazy,” she said. “Why shouldn’t people who want it be able to buy it, and those who are afraid of it just stay away from it?”
Good question, I told her—unfortunately, one I can’t answer.
I find that when I step back from the situation a bit, I realize we’ve moved beyond the skirmish stage of this struggle, to real battle. It’s a battle that’s far from over, even allowing for the courtroom defeat last week over California’s AB 1735.
That became even more starkly apparent to me as I went back and reviewed all the cases involving undercover agents in raw milk cases, for an article I just wrote for The Nation, "Got Milk? Get Investigated". It started three years ago as a seemingly isolated situation involving an Amish farmer in Ohio, and has in recent months exploded into use in New York, California, and Pennsylvania.
I’ve always associated a government’s use of undercover agents (really, secret police) against ordinary citizens as the mark of a totally repressive regime—the old Soviet Union, present-day Cuba and Burma are the obvious examples. These are regimes that are afraid of their citizens. The U.S. obviously differs significantly from these places in many respects, yet it employs their tactics. All I can conclude is that the people in power must be very afraid.
One of the best ways for ordinary citizens to fight back is to identify the turncoats, embarrass them, and strip the veil of secrecy from their employers. That’s part of what I mean by education. Leave them no place to hide.
there’s two issues here. one issue is the fundamental right to produce and consume the food of one’s choice. that right is inalienable and the government concedes that they cannot take away that right. the other issue, however, is a person’s right to "access" or "purchase" the food of their choice. this necessarily impacts the ability to produce that food. in the case of raw milk, government (at all levels, federal, state and local) is deliberately engaged in an orchestrated effort to "dry up the supply side" so that the consumers have no ability to access the foods they want. we’ve seen it in ohio and in other places across the country. for example, there have been blatant statements by regulators to the effect of "if we come down hard on the producers, this will eliminate the supply." so you see, there’s two sides to this issue. the right to consume and the right to produce. we need a court to understand that producers have the right to produce and engage in private conduct in order to satisfy a private need. otherwise, government regulates everything, just like soylent green.
Second, on Rep. Paul, his office is hugely busy with the campaign and with his just-published book. FTCLDF continues to work with them to get the FDA out of raw milk. More on this when things "gel" a bit.
Third, I think David’s opinion on secret police is right on.
There is a great product called Liquid Health: Attention. You can purchase it from http://www.liquidhealthinc.com If you add a teaspoon twice a day (children) a tablespoon twice a day (adults) of lemon flavored cod liver oil (Carlson brand) and take a probiotic everyday, you will be shocked at what happens to the ADD symptoms. They disappear because the brain is able to function again.
Eliminating sugar is a must and some ADDers are sensitive to wheat and dairy just like autistic children.
Raw dairy products help because of the probiotics. A good pharmaceutical grade probiotic will mimic the same result.
DonIm sorry youve lost your milk supply. Adults should be allowed to choose what enters their body. Maybe you should take the opportunity to try a different approach to your health. Try probiotics, fermented veggies, kombucha, or young coconut water kefir http://www.bodyecology.com All of these other options will fill your body with the good bacteria. These options would be nice to have on hand when your raw milk supply runs low.
"CP, Do you have any ideas for how to get a child to take cod liver oil? I take it myself but just can’t bring myself to even approach them about it (ages 5,10, and 12)."
Oh my…this is going to get me in SO much trouble on this blog, but I’ve just gotta, so here goes (taking deep breath):
You tell them to.
That’s what parents do supposedly…they make decisions in their children’s best interest, then enforce those decisions. Children are not small sized adults, they are CHILDREN who are supposed to do as their parents say. Nor is a home a democracy, it is a benevolent dictatorship with the parents the benevolent dictators.
There…that will probably get some folks shorts in a bunch…
Bob Hayles
Steve is correct. The Carlson lemon flavored cod liver oil does not taste like cod liver oil. It has a sweet lemon taste. Its not offensive at all. I started my kids on it when they were young. I used a medicine syringe. Now they take it right off the teaspoon. Ive never tried this option, but I think you could mix it in yogurt and your kids would never know it was there.
DHA 500 mg to 590 mg
EPA 360 mg to 500 mg
ALA 40 mg to 60 mg
Vit A 700 IU to 1,200 IU
Vit D 400 IU
You asked about getting kids to take cod liver oil. We mix 1/2 teaspoon of the high-vitamin cod liver oil (very fishy taste!) with a tiny amount of raw milk (about 1/4" or so in a small juice glass). The kids call this their "vitamin milk" and gulp it down without complaint.
Yes, it took a little getting used to for all of us, but I think it helps that they see Mom and Dad doing the same thing. My kids are now ages 11, 9 and 5 and we started this about 3 years ago.
– Shana Milkie
I don’t know why some don’t like it and others do. I suspect it either has to do with expectations (if you yourself act like it is bad they will expect it) or with the diet. In other words, if your children eat a typical sugar and corn syrup diet they might not like it. You would be amazed how much those food ruin your sense of taste and perception of food.
Or it could just be my kids. Or maybe your brand of oil?
I disagree. Any supposed concessions are only temporary until NAIS is implemented. At its heart NAIS is about the control and regulation of the production of ones own food. And do not be surprised if serving non-PC foods become grounds for loosing your children to the CPA. They’ve certainly taken plenty of children on thinner grounds than that.
Rest assured, the government will not stop until they have assumed complete control of every aspect of our lives.
At its heart this whole thing is about the right to life; which ultimately means the right to unregulated acquisition of foods to sustain our life through either production or purchase.
From Onibasu.com Health & Nutrition blog 4/16/05:
"A post from October 2004 was the first indication that there was more than pollutants like mercury to worry about in cod liver oils. Petteri from Finland reported that the product information sheet filed with a government agency found soy product, synthetic vitamins and other additives in Carlson’s cod liver oil. Natural tocopherols (soy oil concentrate 70%), synthetic dl-alphatocopherol-acetate, retinylpalmitate-concentrate (incl. synthetic retinylpalmitate and peanut oil), cholecalciferol concentrate (incl. synthetic cholecalciferol and vegetable oil).
The lemon flavor version includes also: saccharinsolution (incl. ethanol), lemon flavor.
This vitamin E from soy is used to lengthen the shelf life of cod liver oil."
Synthetic Vit A & D are toxic at much lower levels than compared to natural source vitamins.
I found this article about the manufacture of cod liver oil to be very informative: http://www.greenpasture.org/content/CodLiverOilwetzel.pdf
Carlson CLO is molecularly distilled. Blue Ice
CLO is deodarized. I used to use Carlson lemon CLO and switched to Blue Ice cinnamon after reading about CLO manufacturing process and the synthetic vitamins in Carlson, despite their claims of only natural ingredients..
You could both be really lucky! 🙂 My kids used to take Blue Ice non-flavored with a syringe with no complaints. Their parents do the same (and still do). Then, one day it changed. Naturally, the younger one followed the older (4yo and 2yo) in her refusals. The flavored version don’t get much better reviews from them.
I think each parent finds their way with the best way to parent their child(ren). Some children will follow the rules without complaint… some will battle each one with every fiber in its being. If a parent is lucky, they’ll get at least one of the former!
" I take it myself but just can’t bring myself to even approach them about it…"
All I can think when I read something like that…"I can’t bring myself to even approach…" I just sit back stunned. It’s an admission that the person saying it can’t be a parent. WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE KIDS FOR THEN? Children need PARENTS, not enablers that let the kids run things.
All I can think is OMG…
Bob Hayles
their kids. I see a problem with parent who don’t even know how to approach their kids on ANYTHING.
Bob Hayles
Who’s in charge in your house…the adults or the children?
Bob
Teaching your kids to confidently assert freewill, and to understand the repercussions of their actions is so more important then having them learn to ‘listen’.
Hey Bob your self indulgence is consistent and constant. You must really wear BIG hats.
Blind acquiescing to authority, just because an authority is such, is the crux of the raw milk supply problem. If it werent for the mavericks that, despite everything stacked against them, saw the real truth about raw milk and worked hard to provide it for consumers, wed be miles behind where we are today.
Many in government feel that they need to be daddy to protect all those childish citizens (who dont know what is best for them). Its this attitude that authorities use to prevent people from controlling their own food supply, and justify the advantage to the mass producers, middlemen, and retailers.
When you teach a kid to listen just because daddy says so, you render your child powerless over their world, and if you know anything about kids, control of their world is important. Whats even more rich, is that when they dont toe the line and submit to the higher authority then they are usually spanked or physically punished. So you not only teach your children to not question authority, you teach them that violence is an OK way to get what you want (after all thats what daddy is doing). When an authority isnt questioned, there is nothing to keep that authority from EARNING the respect it needs. Demanding respect is the sign of weakness. No, Bob is way off base here, and its this type of attitude that is creating the hordes of sheeple we all know so well.
We wont even address the arrogance and self righteousness of calling to question someones right, motives, or choice to procreate. Abhorable (and horrible too).
We now have many neighbors wondering if we have creamy milk to share. The cost of the cow and feed is much less than the cost of the bounty she provides had I gone ‘store-bought’. Thank you for the valuable insight – from a supporter.