The rumbles from Ontario dairy farmer Michael Schmidt’s hunger strike are spreading quickly and widely.
As just one quantitative indication, the “Support Michael Schmidt” Facebook page has nearly 1,300 members, and that number will be out of date no doubt when you read this. Just yesterday, it was at a few hundred members. It seems that the phone calls and emails to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty are increasing as well–hundreds of calls an hour. (Although it seems McGuinty’s staff has been deleting messages from his Facebook page encouraging him to meet with Schmidt.)
Schmidt has asked for a meeting with the Ontario premier as a condition of ending his hunger strike. There’s been no word from the provincial leader as yet, 24 days into the hunger strike.
The example set by Michael Schmidt is motivating organizers of the upcoming Raw Milk Freedom Riders demonstration scheduled for Tuesday Nov. 1 outside the headquarters of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. That’s the event at which a group of mothers is planning to transport raw milk across state lines to feed to their families.
The FDA’s dairy officials has been invited to observe the event, and believe me, the organizers have tried hard to report its happenings to the agency. You can observe just how hard by watching the accompanying video of food rights activist Max Kane attempting to alert officials of the FDA.
Michael Schmidt is scheduled to be the demonstration’s main speaker. It’s uncertain at this point, of course, as to whether he’ll have the strength to participate. One new participant is Denise Dixon, an owner of raw cheese producer Morningland Dairy, who now says she will travel from Missouri to be part of the activities. Morningland has been shuttered for over a year because of Missouri allegations of contamination of its product.
The Raw Milk Freedom Riders have a Facebook page as well, along with a web site that includes the route of the state-line activities. Make your plans to attend, and learn if Max Kane’s message got through.
The one thing about raw milk is this. It can not be faked it can not come from China. It must have a farmers care. Alta Dena was a CAFO. It failed. Smaller pasture based or low intensity operations will be the design that feeds raw milk to people.
The fear of market domination by larger operations is simply fear. Show me one example of this. Organic is UHT. OV has no plans for raw. Raw is local and an operations distributions logistics nightmare. Fear is what you fear. You need more information.
Great job to Max Cane. Brilliant activism. The FDA may even take a look in their own mirror with the coming events. One can hope and dream.
Reason for this:
In every venue that the FDA has been approached, the FDA refuses to show up, they refuse to be interviewed, they refuse to give a statement except for some canned comment about Russian Roullette.
The FDA will not even shake your hand or take possession of carefully considered hard facts about raw milk in CA where a track record and standards are in place. When the FDA enforces CFR 1240.61, it is not the FDA that does the dirty work it is their legal department and their police agency partners.Showing up at a rally is NOT their style and would tend to get some manure on their sissy white Gaddafi like military uniforms.
My bet…no FDA will show up… especially if they have learned anything from their contact with me in CA….
The Raw Milk FDA Paradigm:
"There is an inverse relationship between State Harrassment of Raw Milk and its popularity".
The more that they harrass raw milk, the more that raw milk becomes a threat and popular to the masses.
THE FDA WILL NOT SHOW. They may send some marshals and some low level enforcers, but no top level FDA PMO CAFO DeadMilk lovers will show up.
Mark
I don't see a fear of market domination, I see a fear of raw milk being ruined just as the word "organic" has been ruined.
What is "low intensity operations"?
How does someone,…some big dairy ruin raw milk.
Raw milk can not be ruined. It can not be faked. It is true unto itself. Alta Dena did not ruin raw milk. Alta Dena ruined itself. A dairyman creates conditions the cows do not. A raw milk dairy does not ruin raw milk….the dairy ruins itself if it does a poor job of producing raw milk. Raw milk is clean and pathogen free and pasture/grass fed or it is not. This depends on the daiyrman and his set of conditions. Conditions that he creates. It does not matter whether it comes from a six cow share program or a 300 cow organic pasture based inspected dairy. The measure of raw milk is a check of the facts. It is a scientific analysis. If it is low bacteria count and is it pathogen free and it came from a place that feeds their cows properly. That is it. The dairyman has done a good job or not.
What ruins raw milk is the bickering and back biting that happens when people can not see the bigger need. All people need good clean raw milk. The farmers need to step up and safely provide this food.
As a small farmer you can feed a few people ( very well, wonderfully, locally and that is awesome and I support you all!! )…. but we have millions to feed if we intend to make our country healthier. We need dairies of all sizes.
Is Claravale ( a CA raw milk dairy since 1927 ) bad becuase they do not grass feed and they are not certified organic??….of course not. Claravale serves their consumers as they have for 84 years and they do a great job of it…but they are not your perfect iconic grass fed organic raw milk dairy. So lets be a little careful here. Did they ruin anything by not pasture feeding and not being organic…no they did not. They ruined nothing.
Raw milk dairies take on all sizes and shapes and each has their own philosophy on life and why they exist. Lets open up our hearts and minds a little here.
We must all face it. As raw milk grows, so will the demand for more dairies and etc….etc. Branding, earth GOOGLE satelite pictures of the dairy, common standards, testing, the message from the farmer, Face Book, Websites that describe the products, farm touring will all become essential to the truth and education. It is a bright new day. A bright new world of transparency and smart educated consumers. No more dumb drinkers. We have smart raw milk thinkers as consumers. Farmers must step up and join into the 21st century and stop hiding in the past.
I suggest getting involved and embracing change….the alternative, get left in the dust as progress is made. Things are ruined by humans and their management. Raw milk is not ruined.
Violet has it exactly right, my concerns exactly, and why I would not join RAWMI except as an educational facility, it's original trumpeted purpose. The bastardization of "organic" is a warning for fresh milk… one need only look at "organic" food for sale in grocery stores… from CHINA!
I would, however, willingly join and work for an LOCAL (that is, a state-wide) organization, like Blair's RAMC, and I believe others in my state would too.
I have no fear of market domination by larger operations… I have WORRY, totally different. Once again, Mark is not listening to what smaller operatives say.
For the life of me, I do not see how RAWMI is in anyway threatening to anyone. It is RMAC for all of north America with one simple difference. The data will be posted for everyone to see. RAWMI is dedicated to change of laws to allow access to clean safe raw milk by everyone and doing this by laying down a track record of undeniable data and Safety.
If you do not want universal coonsumer access to safe raw milk….then I can see why you might be against RAWMI. You might as well go stand beside the FDA if that is what you want.
Claravale "traditional confinement operation with plenty space for the animals, no crowding, plenty of shade, clean dry animal conditions, but no pasture etc……"
And that is OKAY with RAWMI . . . OMG . . . people out there who are Weston Price adherents . . . I think you should respond . . .
What I am talking about, Mark, is no confinement . . . period. I don't really care how clean the animals are this is not a grass/quality hay based operation. Raw milk to get all the health benefits of the omega's etc., . . . should be based on grass/hay period!!!! With no confinement.
This is what really disturbs me . . . Mark thinks that the above dairy is okay . . . and he is okay with this model for his RAWMI . . .well I think different . . . this just opens the door for the CAFO's out there who have clean but confined cows but have good tests . . . and want to become RAWMI certified . . .
Keep talking, Mark . . . as you say . . . teach, teach, teach . . . I am eager to learn how Claravale has your support based on it's confinement model.
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
Im writing this all in real time from 2006. This was my perspective 5 years ago; my feelings and thoughts as I was experiencing it. I was just a mom, like any other mom, dealing with a child who experienced a horrific illness. The information I share is based on the facts we were told and the experience we had.
Sylvia,
Considering you worked as a nurse in hospitals for many years it is surprising to me that you dont know what damage has to be done to someone to actually sue for malpractice. There is an acceptable range of a doctors best judgment when medical decisions are made. If you dont kill anyone, damage an organ, or cause someone to lose a limb, there is no lawsuit.
As I mentioned previously, an internal investigation was done on Chris case, but we were never privy to the findings. I can tell you based on how we have been treated now within our HMO, they found a huge problem somewhere. After having spent 2 months in a real PICU, I believe the biggest mistakes happened at the original PICU we were at for 3 days just after he was diagnosed with HUS. The attending physician could have made a different decision anywhere along the way about Chris care and he didnt. My best guess, based on the conversation we had when we met with the head of pediatrics at the L.A. facility, is the nephrologist was the scapegoat.
As for the use of vanco, well like I said before, medicine is a crap shoot. It worked beautifully for Chris and cleared up his C. Diff. Maybe another child would have had one of the negative side effects. Again, a medicine that works well for one may harm another. There is no crystal ball.
What Chris experienced in his long hospital stay is nothing unique to Chris. Hospitals can be dangerous places and mistakes are made. I have a friend who has a child with liver cancer. She has had five surgeries. One of the surgeries was a false alarm. They thought her cancer was back in the liver and when they opened her up, nothing was there. That is a lot to put a 4 year old through.
I have another friend who had a heart attack. They put in stents, but her blood kept clotting. This procedure was repeated 3 or 4 times–still clotting. They ended up putting her on 6 different blood thinners and then she bleed out internally. This almost killed her. All of this occurred at a well-respected cardiac hospital in Colorado. Once you are seriously ill, a cascade of bad things can begin to happen. In the end they were finally able to do bypass surgery and she is now doing great.
The principal at Chris school had heart surgery. The surgery was a success expect she died from an infection.
Mark,
As I stated before, five years after the fact and much research on the topic of E.coli and HUS, there is an unknown about the initial antibiotic given Chris. Did this trigger his HUS or make the HUS he already could have been developing worse? There is no way to ever know. The one thing we do know is that the antibiotic did stop his diarrhea. Many children who have died from HUS, it is because they were not given an antibiotic and their colon died. We will never know if Chris could have died if he wasnt given the antibiotic. Again, medicine is a crap shoot. Keep in mind, Lauren and Chris drank raw milk on the same weekend and were diagnosed with HUS on the same day. Lauren was not given an intravenous antibiotic. Based on all the pre-HUS symptoms he had, he was already on his way to developing HUS when the initial antibiotic was given.
As for the continued use of antibiotics in the hospital for Chris, this is hardly what made him ill. He had lines inserted in four parts of his body (central, dialysis, and chest tubes) and throughout his ordeal had developed many fevers. Infection was a huge possibility and the last thing Chris needed to deal with. It could have killed him. A whole team of doctors at the childrens hospital was brought in to discuss which antibiotics were safe to use with HUS. Later when he had surgery, more antibiotics were given. This is the appropriate use for antibiotics. Im sure when your daughter was ill they had to use antibiotics on her to save her life. The use of antibiotics while Chris was in the hospital was the least of our worries.
If you need to focus on something that caused Chris to become more ill than Lauren, I would say it is because he received dialysis 2 days later than her. Chris would have never been intubated if he received dialysis on Tuesday instead of late Thursday. None the less, both kids were quite ill. Whether a child spends the typical 2 weeks, one month, 2 months or 6th months in the hospital with E.coli turned HUS, it is a very serious illness and should never be downplayed.
Day 46 Hospital
We had settled into the new hospital. Our anxiety levels were declining. The doctors and nurses were treating us with the utmost respect and going out of their way to make us comfortable. For the most part, we were left alone except when Chris needed to take his meds, TPN needed to be hung, or his vital signs needed to be taken.
After 46 days in the hospital, I adapted to hospital life. As long as Chris was safe, I could have endured this lifestyle for an indefinite period of time. It was weird. I didnt miss my job or house. It was nice to spend time with Chris and just enjoy that he was alive. Now that we were past the worst of his illness, life was very simple in the hospital.
The pediatric doctor made her rounds every morning. I kept a poop diary for her. It documented when he went, how much he went, and the approximate percentage of BM versus bile. From this information, she determined if improvement was being made with killing the C. Diff bacteria. Samples were also tested.
Chris PICC dressing had to be changed. As usual, anything involving tape removal was an ordeal. The duty had to be done. We held him down and the dressings were changed as quickly as possible. Chris HATED the PICC line. It was inserted on his left arm (he is left handed) and when he walked around, he hunched to the left and held his arm in an awkward position. He reminded me of the Hunchback of Notre Dame
As parents, Tony and I always felt it was best that we would be there assisting when Chris had something done that hurt him. It didnt feel right to leave and let others hurt him. We always thought our presence would make him feel safer. It felt cruel to us to let strangers hold him down. We thought that it would feel much scarier and we never wanted him to feel abandoned. Unfortunately, Chris felt betrayed by us. We participated in hurting him. This issue was later addressed in counseling. There really wasnt a win for us. Either choice would have had negative emotional consequences for Chris.
Chris was able to enjoy is first bath since entering in to the hospital. They had this room with a large stainless steel bathtub along with a portable shower head to wash is hair. He was so happy to be able to take a bath. He looked forward to it every night. This brought a sense of normalcy to the hospital. At home, he always took a bath every night.
Tony and I requested a meeting with administrators. We wanted to discuss what happened the last time we were in this hospital. Arrangements were being made for the meeting.
"Its ethically produced. At Claravale Farm we treat our cows with old fashioned kindness and respect. We feed them nothing but hay, pasture, and grain and house them in comfortable quarters. We never use hormones or other substances to artificially increase milk production. Our milk comes in returnable glass bottles which never need to go to the landfill and we use environmentally friendly dairying methods."
Mark, You posted something very different about Claravale's husbandry . .no pasture, etc., . . so who is being truthful here. . .and what exactly is the truth behind the raw dairy industry in California . . . that is a big question mark that I have right now . . . pasture/grass based with little confinement or a modified, raw friendly . . . CAFO type of dairy operation????
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
Fact…Claravale has no year round pastures. They are located in an area that has little water. They have no irrigation systems to keep the earth or grass alive. Earth Google does not lie. Look for yourself. I have aerial pictures to prove it.
Claravle may claim that during the spring time they have some natural pastures for a short period of time…but they do not graze their milk cows on it. They may put their dry cows or heifers on it. They are a confinement operation, but not a CAFO as you would know one.
RAWMI is a food safety organization. It must be open to all sorts of operations. In Maine and Canada there are no pastures in the winter time. You are in deep snow and your cows are confined inside for months. You have found methods to keep your cows raw milk safe during those months. If Claravale wanted to join RAWMI they would be welcomed. Their would be full disclosure of information and data and the consumer would make their choice.
OPDC has our cows on pastures 365 days per year. Can you do this??? No you can not. Who cares ? That is why different areas in the US and Canada have different risks. One model does not fit for all.
WAP knows this. Why are you so damn negative? What eats at you? If you carry this much negative energy around how can you be happy?? Try just relaxing. You do no need to run the world or pass judgement on everything raw. RAWMI keeps an open mind on all of this. Why can't you.
RMAC has many operations that have no meaningful pastures in CO. Does that make them bad or their farmers bad..? No it does not. Raw milk has many shapes and sizes. One size does not fit all.
The fear card is something that you cannot use against another….especially when the basis for your rawmi is fear…remember your questioning of the safety of the current milk supply…remember the shady back alley dealings of unscrupulous raw milk farmers….no, using fear to justify new standards precludes you from using it to attempt to discredit critics. You must really not give the readers of this blog much credit if you resort to an argument such as this.
The concern of what rawmi will do to the raw market is valid and justified. Replacing the boiled stuff on supermarket shelves with fancy labeled raw milk will change the landscape for everyone that is currently producing it today. To think otherwise is naive, ignorant or disingenuous (take your pick).
The 'mainstreaming' of raw milk does warrant concern…especially from those who really have it's best interest at heart. The more readily available that raw milk comes, the less effort that people must make to procure the good stuff, the less incentive there is for consumers to become 'informed'. Rawmi will serve as a shortcut for folks that have little reason to find out about, and create a relationship with a farmer…why go through all that trouble when that seal of approval tells you that you don't have to.
Increasing the raw milk supply on supermarket shelves does not guarantee a miraculous increase in the health of the country either. Raw milk is the cornerstone of a significant dietary shift away from the conventional approach to eating. Those that pour the good stuff on gmo corn flakes or Super Sugar Puffs, or those that enjoy a nice tall cold glass with their twinkies, will not see the benefits that you are attributing to an increased supply, or your new standards. A solid foundation is worthless, if the structure you build on top of it is built with shoddy material. Exaggeration seems to be the only way you know how to promote your new program.
The thing that scares me the most is your propensity to magnify the positive, and totally disregard any negative. This is a narrow reductionist view, and reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the Forces of Nature. Anytime something is gained, anywhere, something else is sacrificed to allow it to happen. Sometimes the 'price' is hard to see..sometimes it is ignored….and sometimes it's worth the 'gain' that you see…but it is ALWAYS there. Nature is a zero sum entity. As an 'organic' farmer you should understand this well…unless of course you are like many that have recently paid for that seal of approval, and are farming 'organically' with a conventional mindset (and a different bag of fertilizer). Again, I can only attribute this optimism to naivety, ignorance or chicanery.
Now it's obvious to us all that rawmi will happen, and little can be done to derail your effort… If you really want rawmi to be successful….and as you recently have said 'for all'….you need to pay extra attention to the criticisms. Human arrogance often suppresses contingencies that are better addressed on the front end. Don't just 'listen'…..
PS RMAC has little in common with what you propose. They (and I could be corrected by Blair) accept the market as it is, and strive not to change it, but to work with it as it is and improve it. You on the other hand have a stated goal of radically altering the market, increasing supply and accessibility. You obviously weren't awake during economics class in school.
I get the distinct impression that you want to keep raw milk for only a privileged few. Are you afraid of what will happen to your business if it does become more mainstream?
Wow, they don't grass feed? Organic? It no longer has true meaning. What matters is the health of the cow to include what it is fed and the environment it is raised in and the processing of the milk.
Mark: "Raw milk can not be ruined. "
yes it can, depending on how the cow is raised (for many confinement is taboo) foods, drugs, the general environment matters to many many people.
Mark: "As a small farmer you can feed a few people "
And it appears you are pushing for the farmers to get big or get out. Your words Mark alienate others big time.
MF: "using fear to justify new standards precludes you from using it to attempt to discredit critics."
The govt uses the fear card all the time….
MF: "Those that pour the good stuff on gmo corn flakes or Super Sugar Puffs, or those that enjoy a nice tall cold glass with their twinkies, will not see the benefits that you are attributing to an increased supply, or your new standards. A solid foundation is worthless, if the structure you build on top of it is built with shoddy material. "
What an excellent point!
MF: "as you recently have said 'for all'….you need to pay extra attention to the criticisms."
He is not hearing what others are saying, or he just chooses to ignore it.
MF: "accept the market as it is, and strive not to change it, but to work with it as it is and improve it. "
What a great concept.
Bluedog, re-read milk Farmers last paragraph. Milk Farmer's concerns aren't to keep raw milk to a privileged few. I would bet that the majority of small dairies that already sell to their groups will remain as they are, unless they are forced to imposed standards that the costs aren't reachable for a small dairy. Then they will be forced out of business.
Mary Martin, we will never know for sure if your sons kidney failure was from the HUS or because of the initial antibiotics and other drugs pushed on him. You said a doctor said absolutely NO antibiotics were to be given and they were… Your sons kidneys were damaged (or was there another reason you sued OP? ) those are major organs…I would have sued, you must have had crappy advice from a lawyer if told otherwise.
How in the Hells do you know what it's like in Maine during the winter? Have you ever heard of the Gulf Stream or Eliot Coleman?
Your website is still under construction and your "standards" don't exist in the public realm. Put up or Shut Up!
It would appear folks like Violet, Sylvia, Kirsten and a few others who post from time to time, are unwilling to make an attempt at compromise, therefore they think you shouldn't either. For this reason, organizations like RAWMI and other food groups who are now under the microscope (literally in some cases) will not be able to get their message out to the people who matter – like congressional people and the FDA. Those people shouldn't matter at all, but they ARE the folks who are in charge whether we like it or not. If it's this difficult to get people like those who post here to agree on issues, how must it be to get the attention and proper mindset to the people who have the final say on these issues?? Next to impossible, would be my best guess. I mean, I admire Michael Schmidt and all the others who are taking a stand but I can't see these acts having much effect on the FDA. That organization is numb to the effects of such trivial things as death and dying – unless they're being blamed for those acts. Michael Schmidt, should he die for the cause, will be doing nothing to actually further the cause. The FDA goons simply don't care.
People like Kirsten, for example, think because you're from California you couldn't possibly know about the weather in Maine. I mean, seriously? How ridiculous can she be?? I live in the mid-section of the country and our weather changes on a minute by minute basis, so it's difficult to predict what winter weather will bring, but still we farmers/ranchers must prepare for all inclemencies because we know at some point, they'll come.
People refuse to understand that a farmer/rancher has to be a bit of a futurist. We have no crystal ball to tell us what's coming, so we must plan for snow, even if we never GET snow. And so it goes for the other three seasons, as well. It's all about preparation.
October 23, 2006
Day 47 Hospital
Chris had an ultrasound of his pancreas and an EEG. The results of both tests were good. They were no longer concerned that Chris would have more seizures. They began tapering down the dose of his keppra.
Chris TPN was also lowered from 16 hours to 14 hours. What this means is at night when he slept his TPN was run, but during most of the day when he was awake, it wasnt run and he was hungry. They ran it at night for two reasons: he could sleep and during the day we could unhook him from the IV pole and he was free to go to the playroom and take walks around the hospital and garden.
It was a long, emotional day. Two hours less of TPN had a huge impact on Chris. He cried about wanting to eat and this was the first day he expressed anger that he couldnt eat. My heart continued to hurt for him. In a weird, twisted way the ventilator was easier to deal with because Chris was sedated and didnt remember any of it. All of Chris hospital PTSD memories involved the two weeks spent at this hospital. His bad memories are tape removal and feeling starving. At one point, Chris expressed his anger at me for giving him raw milk. He told me it was my fault he got sick. His words were like a knife stabbing me in the heart. I broke down crying.
All of these issues had to be dealt with in counseling. Two years after his illness, we found a fantastic counselor that specializes in treating PTSD. He used hypnosis and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to help Chris process the trauma he had experienced, both conscious and unconscious memories. It helped tremendously. He was able to release most of his anger and hurt.
Another interesting thing happened on this day in 2006. The warrior farmer gave an update on the recall to Sally Fallon. The only person he had contact with was the girlfriend, so she must have fed him this false information. This is the woman who was dating Laurens father at the time and the one who gave Lauren raw milk to drink. Within half a year after Lauren became ill, they broke up. She has not been a part of Laurens life since then. However, the girlfriend did much damage with her lies.
Remember, at this time we had been in the hospital for 47 days. I had no knowledge of who Sally Fallon was, I did not know there was a raw milk movement in the U.S., I had never heard of the WAPF or read the Untold Story of Milk. I sat innocently in the hospital caring for my ill son as the WAPF and the farmer had declared war against my child presenting war facts about his illness.
http://www.realmilk.com/update-ca.html
Oct 23 2006
Comprehensive testing pointed to other sources for the illnesses. From the CDFA and media reports it would appear that OPDC had critically injured four kids. This is not true at all. Only two children were hospitalized and they have fully recovered. These two childrens parents freely admit that other sources of food contamination were probably the source of illness including spinach and sushi. The truth was never told in the media or by CDFA. These government agencies have an agenda that goes far beyond food safety. They hate raw milk and want it gone from California.
Jan 24, 2007
Organic Pastures Dairy Company (OPDC) raw milk products are back on the shelves following a recall in September. The recall occurred during the midst of the spinach contamination scare and seemed to be aimed at deflecting attention from the huge problems of E.coli O157:H7 contamination in produce. The state claimed that five raw milk-drinking children became ill, two of whom were hospitalized, given antibiotics and almost died. (The other three received no antibiotics and recovered quickly.) The mother of one child denied the illness had anything to do with raw milk and the other child had consumed spinach two days before the illness.
__________________________________________________________________________
On March 20, 2007, while doing research on raw milk, I came across Davids blog. To my surprise, it was a post from December of 2006 where they were discussing the facts of the outbreak. This isnt what I expected to find when doing research. http://www.thecompletepatient.com/journal/2006/12/18/ecoli-and-raw-milk-a-family-web-of-intrigue-and-resentment.html
In the summer of 2007, I found the above war facts information posted on the WAPF website. I immediately wrote Sally a letter asking her to please take down the false information she had on her website about the outbreak. The letter was posted on this blog, different people who had her personal email address said they would forward her a copy of the letter, and I also sent a hard copy of the letter to the address listed on the WAPF website. Silly me. I didnt know there was a war going on. I thought she would read the letter, see that there had been an error in facts, and simply take it down.
This is how I started the letter:
Dear Sally,
My name is Mary McGonigle-Martin. My son is one of the two children who became severely ill after drinking [name of dairy] raw skim milk on Labor Day weekend, 2006. I have recently discovered that [name of farmer] is stating incorrect information about my child and his journey with E-coli 0157:H7 and HUS. I support the right for people to drink raw milk, but I dont appreciate facts about my child being misrepresented in order to support a pro raw milk spin on this website. You are a highly respected woman and if you make statements, give facts about an issue, people will believe it. I dont believe you intentionally misrepresented facts; you believed what [farmer] told you to be true.
Regardless of the source of contamination, my son and our family deserves the respect of correct facts being presented. My son has been through hell, and I would appreciate it if you could amend the underlined statements below or delete this page from your website all together.
__________________________________________________________________________
I didnt know we were at war and that my 8 year old son had become the enemy because I believed he became ill from raw milk. So instead of granting my request, she took these false war facts and others and edited them into the 2009 version of the Untold Story Milk.
In 2007, North Carolina was also attempting to pass laws to legalize raw milk. Ruth Ann Foster, a WAPF chapter leader and an honorary board member of WAPF, got in the mix of spreading false information about Chris illness. How on earth did someone from North Carolina know details about Chris illness? I still didnt know there was a war going on and that my son was the enemy.
I want you to all remember, that I am one of you. I believe in eating healthy. I have purchased organic food and shopped at health food stores long before I found Davids blog. People who know me think Im extreme with my eating choices and the way I feed Chris is viewed as abnormal because he is not allowed to eat any processed junk food. Like all of you, I found myself interested in trying raw milk. It became available in our health food store. Huge signs hung in the store advertising it. I did not go looking for it. I made my decision to try it for Chris based on positive information I read about raw milk on Joe Mercolas website and the testing protocols posted on the dairys website. Two weeks into drinking raw milk (the 3rd bottle that was purchased) Chris became ill.
On September 7, 2007, the one year anniversary date of Chris entering into the hospital, there was another recall for cream from the same dairy. This is when outsourcing was admitted.
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/egov/Press_Releases/Press_Release.asp?PRnum=07-068
http://www.organicpastures.com/pdfs/cream_recall_info.pdf
When I made a comment on this blog about the recall and fears about someone becoming ill, someone told me I needed a counselor. The warrior farmer posted a comment. http://www.thecompletepatient.com/journal/nearly-a-year-to-the-day-after-shutdown-the-raw-milk-inspect.html#comments
Tired of being harassed by the WAPF, the warrior farmer and other leaders in this movement, on the anniversary date of Chris and Lauren being diagnosed with HUS I found a reputable counselor. I contacted Marler Clark. I needed help in getting the correct facts presented about my sons illness. I had no power as just a mom trying to defend my child.
After reviewing all the facts from the public health and medical records, this firm decided to represent both Chris and Lauren. We call Bill Marler our White Knight. Some have other names for him.
I wonder how this would have all played out if Sally Fallon had written me back apologizing for the mistake and took down the false war information from the WAPF website? What would have happened if my son was treated with respect by the leaders in the raw milk movement instead of being harassed? Once again, 5 years after the fact, I asked Sally to remove this information from the WAPF website.
I never claimed to be an expert. But then you claim marlar is an expert. I also have a good idea of what would make a malpractice suite. Sometimes you have to fight for what you believe and be a good advocate for those who cannot. You appear to have a narrow view about certain issues. From your writings, it appears the care your son received in the various facilities he was in, gave him substandard care. Per your words, his kidneys are damaged to an unknown extent at this time in his life.
You blame raw milk as the cause and you appear only to have speculation of "probable" cause. Was it your son that didn't test positive for e coli? Your son wasn't the enemy, your continued negativity towards those who continue to consume raw milk has cause others to not listen to your story. You alienated yourself and your words.
D Smith,
What is there to compromise? What compromising is Mark doing? mark is pushing his agenda on everyone, and yet he is not being open about the details of his agenda.
1. Has your son been vaccinated? Do you continue to get him vaccinated?
2. Had many other visits to conventional doctors prior to getting sick?
3. Was he eating all healthy (not according to USDA standards) foods prior?
4. What was he eating prior to the incident – for years and on a regular basis?
5. Had he had a history of immune compromising conventional pharmaceuticals prior to the incident?
6. Has he had antibiotics or other pharmaceutical medicines prior to the incident?
7. What has his past health history been like? This may give some clues.
8. Has he consumed products like soy products, eat a lot of simple carbs?
Just a few questions to understand where he was at prior to what happened.