I really don’t understand what Marlys Miller is so upset about.
Marlys is a writer for Pork magazine, which bills itself as “The Business Magazine of Professional Pork Producers”, and to her, Greg Niewendorp’s civil disobedience in refusing Michigan’s bovine TB test is an example of how “it’s a few that create the greatest challenges for the whole.” In other words, if not for Greg, whom she references, and a few like him, we’d be rid of food contamination and, I infer, we’d have this beautiful wonderfully sterile country in which germs would go the way of…E.coli 0157:H7?
“It would be nice to think that people raising the animals would embrace the mindset that it’s ‘for the good of the whole’– best for the animal, the industry, themselves,” just like “those running the largest operations who will cooperate first and most fully,” Marlys whines.
As I said, Marlys really shouldn’t be worrying, because the germ police are out there doing the bidding of the “professional pork producers” and other factory farmers to ferret out the troublemakers. Here are a few recent examples:
–Three weeks ago, half a dozen agents of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, accompanied by state and local police, served Richard Bean and Jean Rinaldi, owners of the Double H Farm in Nelson County, Virginia, (pictured above, from the C-Ville paper) with search and arrest warrants and hauled them off—62-year-old Richard in handcuffs—on charges associated with selling pork that wasn’t slaughtered in a state-inspected facility. There were 11 misdemeanor charges and a felony charge of selling uninspected meat with intent to defraud. Interestingly, their customers, who buy directly from the farm, not only weren’t bothered by the couple’s slaughtering practices, but returned in droves the day after the couple was released on their own recognizance to a local market to buy out the farm’s pork, sausage, and bacon products. Their case is due to be heard October 25 in Charlottesville.
–Munir Bahai, owner of the Apple Farm in Victor, NY, has been making apple cider and selling it naturally, that is, unpasteurized, directly to consumers for 31 years, with “not a single incident” of anyone getting sick. Earlier this month, state health inspectors ordered him to discontinue selling the cider, until he begins pasteurizing it. Seems that New York plugged a “loophole” in its law requiring pasteurization of juices, getting rid of an exemption that allowed producers to sell unpasteurized juice directly to consumers, and Munir hadn’t heard about it. “Apparently there was lots of lobbying from big businesses that don’t want competition,” he says. The shutdown, on his busiest cider-selling weekend of the year, has cost him nearly $7,000 of lost business. His customers are outraged, he tells me. “Some of them come from 30 miles away to buy my cider because it is not pasteurized.” His feeling? “It’s like a dictatorship.”
–The New York Department of Agriculture and Markets re-visited Barbara Smith’s Meadowsweet Farm yesterday and, this time, seized its raw milk yogurt. I wrote recently about the state’s ongoing testing procedures and fines of the farm, despite the fact that Barbara opted out of the state’s raw milk licensing program and launched a highly popular cow share program. When I spoke with her a couple weeks back, she described for me the trial-and-error techniques that finally led her to a top-quality raw-milk yogurt. It seems—surprise, surprise—that raw milk behaves differently than pasteurized milk in yogurt making, as it does in cheese making. The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund has taken up her case, but in the meantime, she says, “Our lives have pretty much come to a standstill.”
In a letter to the Virginia authorities objecting to the arrests at Double H farm, Christine Solem of the Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (VICFA), may have come up with the best answer to Marlys and the Pork magazine types: “Local small farmers do not treat their animals inhumanely by crowding thousands into one building, nor do they create environmental problems, nor do their pork chops rival the taste of cardboard. Nor do they make people sick! Richard and Jean’s meat never made anyone sick! Why don’t you concentrate on agribusiness operations that do make people sick? Why don’t you concentrate on food imported from China? Instead you office has denied me the freedom to buy Richard and Jean’s excellent meat products and I don’t like it one bit!”
(Thanks to Debbie Stockton, Sharon Zecchinelli, Elizabeth McInerney, and Don Neeper for forwarding me information concerning the cases discussed here.)
***
Michigan’s Department of Agriculture denies Miguel’s suspicions (in his comment on my Oct. 9 post) that the agency’s random testing program for bovine TB in parts of the southern part of the state are focused on small farms. John Tilden, the MDA’s program manager for TB program review, says the state must randomly test 775 herds in the TB-free zone, under U.S. Department of Agriculture rules. The list of 775, from more than 14,000 herds total, is developed by Michigan State University, and is designed to be "representative" so as to include "some dairy, some beef, feom each agricultural district." He says the list includes "some with several thousand or larger" cattle, which can take a few weeks in total to test.
maria.
Here’s my view of the future: There’s going to be this huge underground black market economy of people furtively purchasing their food from local sustainable sources and the tip off is going to be the fact that they aren’t getting various digestive illnesses. Better plan to fake a few sick days so the "establishment" doesn’t figure out how healthy we all are and check out our pantry and frig.
The test done on cows is the same as the test done on people.The same substance is used in both cases.
All of the objections that health care workers have to TB screening apply to the mandatory screening of cows.
I find it most interesting that an individual whose immune system is compromised, as in a grain fed factory farm cow ,is less likely to show a positive test result while at the same time is more vulnerable to infection by TB or anything else.
As you can see from the following information, science does not support the mandatory screening of people or cattle for TB.
http://www.whale.to/a/tubersol.html
" Reactivity to the test may be depressed or suppressed for as long as 4 to 6 weeks in individuals who have had viral infections (rubeola, influenza, mumps and probably others) or in those who are receiving corticosteroids or immunosuppressive agents.
Reactivity to PPD may be temporarily depressed by certain live virus vaccines (measles, mumps, rubella, oral polio). Therefore, if a tuberculin test is to be performed it should be administered either before or at the same time as the live virus vaccines (such as MMR), or wait at least 30 days before administering the test.
Anything that impairs or attenuates cell mediated immunity (CMI) potentially can cause a false negative tuberculin reaction (viral infections, particularly HIV; live virus vaccines; severe protein malnutrition; lymphoma; leukemia; sarcoidosis; use of glucocorticosteroids and other immunosuppressant drugs).
In HIV-infected individuals, tuberculin skin test results are less reliable as CD4 counts decline, and negative tuberculin reactions may occur in more than 40% of HIV-infected persons who have active tuberculosis."
http://www.whale.to/a/tubersol1.html
"The Rationale for TB Screening of Healthcare Workers (HCWs) and Other Low-risk Populations:
A Critical Review of CDC Policy
or
The Emperor Has No Clothes, Cough or Fever
Summary:
1) Healthcare workers(HCWs) are identified by the CDC as a high risk group
for development of TB; however, no current clinical data exists that
supports that contention. The overwhelming majority of TB, as with most
infectious diseases, occur in individuals with compromised immune systems.
2) Targeted TB testing in HCWs is only recommended by the CDC; however,
local facilities have often initiated mandatory testing policies amongst
employees, subject to employment termination for refusal.
6) TB skin test is inaccurate but yet is considered the gold standard to
diagnose infection. Because there is no better method to diagnose
infection, its actual test accuracy is unknown.
7) Phenol, a component of Tubersol, is a highly toxic industrial chemical
with numerous known health risks yet this is a component of Tubersol.
8) The CDC claims that the TB skin test is safe, yet the manufacturer
states that NO known carcinogenicity studies have been performed. In fact,
phenol, when injected intradermally, is associated with skin cancer
development in test animals.
9) The CDC states that TB skin testing is safe in pregnant women yet
manufacturers have NOT performed mutagenicity testing. This is alarming in
consideration that phenol, a component of Tubersol, is a known mutagen.
Summary: TB skin testing should not be required of otherwise healthy HCWs
unless safety and efficacy studies have proven a benefit in this low risk
population. The FDA should halt the use of Tubersol pending the standard
and usual safety testing has been performed, including carcinogenicity and
mutagenicity testing.
False negatives are thought to occur frequently. Listed causes (6) include
anergy, recency of exposure, viral infections, various vaccinations,
overwhelming infection, various drugs(steroids) and malignancies and any
condition that can impair the cell mediated immune response (sarcoid,
malnutrition) . False positives include nontuberculous infections and BCG
vaccine state. In spite of these inaccuracies, the CDC states that for
persons with latent TB infection who have a normal immune system, test
sensitivity approaches 100% ( 2, p 11). This statement is ridiculous for
several reasons. First, the TB skin test is the gold standard, so it is not
possible to accurately gauge the incidence of false negative exams. The
sensitivity of this test , in actuality, remains unknown. Secondly, false
negative exams occur in the groups who are at the very highest risk for
disease in the first place, meaning that the false negative tests weigh
heavily against the efficacy of screening in the most important risk
groups-the one’s most likely to develop disease in the first place!
Shockingly, in spite of its widespread use, the manufacturer’s insert 6)
states that Tubersol has not been evaluated for its carcinogenic or
mutagenic potentials or influence on fertility. This is surprising
considering the widespread use and frequent repetition intervals of
administration, particularly to the long term HCWs employee. It is also
irresponsible for the CDC to state that tuberculin is safe and reliable
throughout the course of pregnancy (1, p. 29). This is in direct opposition
with the manufacturers statement that Tubersol is NOT tested for
mutagenicity. It is a fact that a declaration of safety without testing is
a declaration of assumed safety, not a proven scientific fact."
Miguel, I did not know that about the PPD. I’ll be watching for side effects. I did have one a few years back and the reaction was "positive". A month later, I went to another clinic and paid for a retest in the opposite arm and there was no reaction. So, does that mean the first nurse did it wrong? I watched her do it, and she didn’t appear to inject incorrectly. Or was that batch contaminated? I’ve often thought there was no need to get a PPD,especially every 6 months to a year. Yes, some facilities require the PPD every 6 months. Also some require it be done, then wait 6 weeks and repeat it. For what reason, I don’t know. With the false positives, the person then has to be subjected to chest x-rays, another hazard, especially if repeated often. Some facilities require staff get the Flu shot too and the MMR booster.
Fascist dictatorships always claim that what they do is for the good of the whole, but really it’s the government doing the bidding of corporate overseers. It’s plain to see, for those with their eyes open at any rate, that we now live in a fascist nation, no longer living up to the democratic ideals that the founding fathers laid the foundation of.
A democracy is about protecting the rights of the minorities.
The continuing harassment of small farmers (a minority), that provide real food directly to small groups of consumers (a minority), is proof of the fascist nature of our federal and state governments. It is only by shining a bright light on these horrendous practices that we will be able to restore our democracy to its full glory. Thank you to David, and all here, that are doing their part in this ongoing battle.
There is a documentary film called "Freedom to Fascism" that can be viewed online. Much of the film deals with related issues of government/big business controls over American life.
Mary, vaccine exemptions are available in CA for students. It is not actually a requirement of school attendance. Mostly, the schools won’t volunteer that information, they want everyone to toe the line and be good little automatons, but on the reverse side of the vaccine record form there should be a waiver for the parent or guardian to sign exempting their child from having to receive vaccines to attend school. It’s relatively simple compared to other states. I don’t know if this applies to the TB test, but I think it does.
Here is the form from California. I would think other states have something simular.
In the table below you see that the incidence of TB among rats is higher than that among deer in the UK,
Has anyone tested the rats in these mega farms to see if they carry TB?
http://www.iah.bbsrc.ac.uk/schools/factfiles/TB.html
Box 1
Incidence (%) of M. bovis in wild life species:
Mink 0.6
Deer 1.0
Fox 1.0
Mole 1.2
Rat 1.2
Ferret 3.8
Badger 4.0
No infections were found in bats, cats, grey squirrels, hares, harvest mice, hedgehogs, rabbits, shrews, stoats, voles, weasels. Source: MAFF.
It ties the TB thing in very nicely.
Under the MDA’s eradication program 39 herds have been eradicated,but are the remaining herds less at risk now? History demonstrates that they are not. Until we change the way that our dairy cattle are fed and cared for,until herd size is reduced,stress ,confinement and trucking of calves,heifers and cows is reduced , we will continue to be plagued by TB.
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFullText?submitFullText=Full+Text+HTML
" Rats do not show lesions but can be infectious for a year or more, and a frass of faeces amidst cattle cake dust in food troughs is feasible. Similarly starlings and wood pigeons may visit troughs or feed areas."
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1472-765x.2000.00787.x?prevSearch=authorsfield%3A%28m+hancox%29
" Husbandry risk factors thus comprise any factors which are likely to increase the reservoir of either source of TB or of its spread; or which increase the chances that such risks may not be avoided. As comprehensive reviews have indicated, as TB is a progressive disease, both age and herd size show an increased incidence of TB, and so older large dairy herds show higher levels than young beef herds. and ‘flying’ dairy herds or multisuckler beef herds will be more at risk than self-replacement ‘closed’ herds (Francis 1947; Myers and Steele 1969). Many beef animals are harvested before overt TB can develop while dairy cattle often acquire TB when they first encounter additional exposure to higher doses and/or immunosuppressive stresses within cowsheds when they join the breeding herd. Over-wintering of less hardy breeds indoors, and intensification of stocking levels also militate against eradication. and while calving is important to keep up milk yields, the surplus calves may be potent carriers of TB since they are sold on before the skin test works at 34-week-old (851 days). The last TB hotspots are often intensive dairying areas, such as south-west England, and these act as reservoir ‘pumps’, exporting calf TB carriers to other areas, hence the current midlands outbreaks where TB has been absent for 40 years. Over 50% of breakdowns, even in traditional south-west hotspots, are in parishes where TB has been absent a decade, i.e. not from badgers (Anonymous 2000). Sadly, the husbandry risk factors which were clearly outlined in classic studies were also re-identified and spelt out very clearly in MAFF’s intensive Cornish study since then (Francis 1947, 1958; Myers and Steele 1969; Richards 1972). These include double fencing, use of shared vehicles, stud bulls or water supplies, housing, safe disposal of slurry or preferably self-composting manure, rats or starlings as passive vectors, exposure to bought-in stock, markets or shows, plus the inadequacies of testing and tracing of stock (Hancox 1998b, 1999)."
http://www.whale.to/v/tb2.html
TB & nutrition
"A principal determinant of mortality from tuberculosis is nutrition. Mortality from T.B. increases considerably as one passes from the economically prosperous to the poor districts of any area."—Major Greenwood (Epidemic and Crowd Diseases, 1925.) Source: http://www.health.org.nz/tb.html
"We see the same thing in Sweden, though to a less marked degree. The rise in tuberculosis mortality was recorded in 1914-1916, and in those years the consumption of bread and flour rose, whereas that of meat decreased. After 1916 we see a steady and continuous fall in tuberculosis mortality, and at the same time flour foods fell off while the consumption of meat and fish rose rapidly. It may be added too, that in England, a rise in tuberculosis mortality coincided with a lower consumption of meat and butter and an increased consumption of flour foods. …There has been a similar rise in tuberculosis mortality in practically all belligerent countries in Europe during and since World War II and for exactly similar reasons, namely, a great reduction in the consumption of protein foods, such as, meat, fish, and eggs, along with an increased consumption of the more available and cheaper starchy foodstuffs."–Sandler MD (Diet Prevents Polio)
"TB increased dramatically in Japan, shortly after the Japanese acquired a cheap source of sugar on the island of Formosa (aka, Taiwan), in 1910. Britain experienced a dramatic increase in deaths from TB during the 1700’s, especially among workers in sugar factories and refineries." —William Dufty (Sugar Blues p77)
"The bottom line is that sugar upsets the body chemistry and suppresses the immune system. Once the immune system becomes suppressed, the door is opened to infectious and degenerative diseases. The stronger the immune system the easier it is for the body to fight infectious and degenerative diseases."—Nancy Appleton, Ph.D.,"
To really address the problem of TB in cattle the MDA will have to take a new approach ,one that changes the course of agriculture from "bigger is better" to "healthy soil, healthy animals leads to healthy food and healthy people".
Welcome to the low sugar/low starch world! Glad to have you in our company. You will probably find, as we did, that various things like indigestion, gas, headaches, colds, occur much less now, if at all.
I was in the middle of reading about how appendicitis and divertulitis are problems of relatively modern (industrial age) sugar and refined grain-heavy diets when my husband went into Urgent Care and during his post-surgery stay in the hospital. He has been eating low carb since 2004, so his sudden occurrance didn’t make any sense to me. I did learn he has 1-3 croissants a week at work (at home is is more strict than I am about sugar and breads), but I doubt that would be enough to trigger not just one but two areas of serious intestinal inflammation (the surgeon said this was a medical rarity). And his colonoscopy report from a year or two ago has no mention of presence of diverticula pockets at all. So we are really baffled. Two possibilities have us scratching our heads: one is a dinner out two nights before symptoms started, at a fancy San Diego Brazilian style churrascurio (sp?, an all-you-can-eat restaurant, where meat is the specialty. My husband probably ate too much, though he stuck to low carb salads, side dishes, and of course, the various meats that they bring around to the tables on long skewers, cutting off portions for each person who wants some. The meat, unlike what we eat at home, is surely conventionally produced and perhaps full of antibiotic residues. Perhaps that could cause a massive beneficial gut bacteria die-off?
Another possiblity is that about 6-7 hours before the pain started, he had his teeth cleaned and the hygienist was more aggressive than usual and not as diligent about using suction, so he probably swallowed more stuff. Perhaps he swallowed some nasty gum bacteria which then lodged in the large intestine (lower left colon is where pain started at night, the right appendix area became painful in the morning). Probably no way to check either so we will always wonder, I guess. Surgeon poo-poohed that but also rolled his eyes when he asked what I was reading (Taubes) and told me that post-op robiotics were my department, not his (you know the type).
Guy’s doing fine now, survived the incredibly sugary and highly processed individually packaged AHA approved hospital meals (that’s another rant), and after a few days on simple homemade bone broths, egg custards, & raw milk, he’s back on all his regular food except raw produce and nuts. Billions of probiotics, Vit K, B complex, B 12, etc. too.
Back to low sugar, low starch, I have done this twice, once in 1998 when I had gestational diabetes (back to pasta, homebaked bread, & sugar after the birth) and then again since 2004 to lose the 20 pounds I gained from eating carbs again after the pregnancy. It was hard the first time because of lack of recipe support and info(everything was low fat). Now there are great cookbooks (but watch out – there are some terrible low carb ones, too). I have a list of my favorites on my website (click on my name for the link). Once you leave sugar and grains behind, it is amazing how much of the food supply diet is made up of mostly those items. But there are so many yummy options that have little to no sugar and starch, especially once fat is back on the menu again. My argument to anyone who questions the nutritional completeness of a diet without carbs is that a) there are no "essential" carbohydrates as there are essential amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, or minerals (the body can make glucose from protein and fat) and b) if one can cut sugar and starch to the minimum in order to have a healthy pregnancy, then it is good enough for the rest of us all the time too. Being male you might have a harder time deflecting other’s worries with that last one, though :-).
Elizabeth, it’s good to hear that Price finally gets credit, even though I’ve been thinking as I read that Taubes is avoiding Price because he doesn’t want to seem to be associated with current trendy stuff. His big challenge, it seems to me, is not to convince the likes of us, but to break through the impervious wall of the medical/hospital/drug/chemical/fertilizer/ag/insurance establishment by being relentlessly scientific and not breathing a word of the likes of this blog. I am asking every MD I know socially to let me know what they think of it, just on the hope that some doctor, somewhere, may actually read it and change a synapse or two.
I’m not complete sure that Splenda is safe, but I’m not sure that it isn’t either (yet). I do know that I’ve had a glucose tolerance problem brewing for some time and might have some insulin impairment (either beta cell insufficiency or burnout), so sugar is a more serious problem for me than a bit of Splenda now and then, IMO, except in very small doses in the right circumstances (after a meal with protein and/or fa but not very often). I also use a bit of xylitol. I try to keep my sugar intake quite low (just a bit in very rich homemade ice cream or very dark chocolate). But I also try to keep any Splenda intake low, if nothing else, just to keep my sweet tooth tamed. I now find most sweet things much too sweet for my taste. For instance I make hot cocoa with cocoa, hot water and cream. Nothing sweet at all.
I’ve been low-carb diet (which to me automatically means gluten-free and sugar-free) since June. I eat 30 grams or less of carbs every day, and the difference in my outlook on life is incredible. Every year for the last 20 years,starting in August, I always become extremely susceptible to Seasonally Affective Disorder, especially up here in north-central Michigan, and become more and more depressed as days shorten until I become chronically depressed by January that I can barely crawl out of bed.
But this year, the SAD effects are very much weaker… everyone else has noticed too, it’s amazing. I’m convinced it’s due to cutting out carbs in my diet.
I’m also 100% convinced that carbs are responsible for nearly all the ill health in America, and other countries that follow the Standard American Diet, also acronymed… SAD. SAD really is due to SAD.
I too have cut carbs out of my diet. I did it 4 years ago. The differences in my health have been unbelievable…not to mention…I am able to keep my weight down and eat a lot more foods. I also do not get that horrible low blood sugar feeling. I think cutting sugar, is the best way to go. A lot of people say that they cannot live without breads but I try to tell them that if they can get through a couple of weeks without, they will lose the craving for starches and sugars. It really works.!!
PS. I stay away from Splenda too.
The trick with stevia is not to use too much. If you experience that after taste, try using less.
For the chocolate cupcakes, I make the frosting with whipping cream and sweeten it with agave nectar. For the spice cake (I put in shredded carrots) and the frosting is cream cheese with agave nectar.
Ive served both types of cupcakes to people who have no idea what its made with and they rave about how delicious they are–no clue its a healthy cupcake.
That is the recipe I had asked you for a couple of months back. Ill have to get that from you. MY KIDS LOOOOVE CUPCAKES!!! And any way to fool them would be great! 🙂
Steve the Grinch.