CA Raw Milk Perspective

[Guest guest]

Another point of view on the California raw milk plight, and a fascinating history of raw milk in CA.

 

Cyndi

 

aajonus <optimal (AT) earthlink (DOT) net>November 4, 2007 6:10:36 AM PSTDear, raw milk lovers,I would not want to rain on anyone's parade but we must thinkrationally rather than naively. Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures may beburying himself the same way the Stueve's Natural did in 1999. Healthdepartment employees are not his friends and want him to lose hisbusiness. History speaks for itself. It is the actions that show aman's intent, not his words or personality.Since 1972, California Department of Health Services (CDHS),California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and Los AngelesCounty Department of Health Services (LACDHS) have been trying tooutlaw raw milk. My first major participation in the battle was in1978 to get a CA Senate bill passed legalizing raw milk with equalstandards to pasteurized milk. The week prior to the vote, CDHSclaimed that the raw milk was contaminated and issued a press releasewarning people of danger of death from drinking Alta Dena's raw milk.The bill failed in the vote. One week later, the Los Angeles HeraldExaminer obtained documents that proved CDHS' accusation was contrivedto kill the Senate bill. It did. The people should have sued CDHS forfraud and conspiracy.In 1982, 1986, 1991, and 1996-2000 the battles were long, depriving usof milk for 1-2 years each time. The last major assault was 1999-2000,when LACDHS unwarrantedly raised the regulations for raw milk to thelevel that raw milk passed only 51% of the time. Stueve's Natural rawmilk was the only major raw-milk producer in California at the time.Stueve's Natural had been Alta Dena Dairy. Every time Stueve's rawmilk failed the coliform tests, LACDHS did not allow Stueve's to sellraw milk until the raw milk passed coliform counts for 10 consecutivedays. The milk was sold maybe 2 weeks of every 6 weeks. That virtuallybankrupt Stueve's and they stopped producing raw milk. The law statedspecifically that the department was to ensure safe raw milk, not banor eliminate it, but they did. Boyd Clark, who managed Stueve's couldhave sued but did not. LACDHS escaped its crime.From 1997-2000, I attended every LACDHS' Medical Milk Commissionmeeting for raw milk; 3YEARS of meetings. I rallied pro-raw-milk MDs,Dentists and scientists but the commissioners were all so prejudicedagainst raw milk they ignored expert testimony and evidence. None ofthe commissioners had any experience or done any empirical research ofraw milk and of those who drank it. They were not qualified to judgeraw milk; they were a board of MDs with one DVM. Several of themeetings were attended by CDHS employees who were just as insistentthat the regulations for raw milk continually increase until the tinyraw-milk industry was bankrupt. Stueve's was bankrupt and stoppedproducing raw milk.We had to smuggle Claravale raw milk into Los Angeles to have raw milkeven though it rarely passed regulation limits for coliform. No onegot sick. I took the matter to the County legislators and pushed for abill to make raw-milk standards reasonable. Finally, the bill wasintroduced in November 2000. LACDHS wrote a fraudulent report statingthat raw milk was dangerous and had caused deaths to children, andthat their search of scientific literature did not uncover any scienceabout raw milk benefits. They claimed that raw milk took the life of a10-years old girl. Under investigation, it was discovered that thelittle girl drowned and did not drink raw milk although her familymembers did. Repeatedly, LACDHS has committed fraud in theirzealousness to ban raw milk. Do you really think they intend to helpMark and us have raw milk?Since I had had raw dairy experience and expertise gathered since1969, I wrote a report. Dr. Wm Campbell Douglas, MD, an expert on rawand pasteurized dairy, gave me permission to use much of his researchas well as mine and to use him as narrator, the Supplemental Report InFavor Of Raw Milk. It was concise and as thorough as necessary to showthat the history of raw milk used as therapy dated back to Hippocrates.Los Angeles County legislators reviewed the health department's reportand claims and mine from February-March 2001. The final hearingoccurred on March 20, 2001 . Employees from CDHS and CDC flew ontaxpayers dollars to testify against raw milk. After listening totestimony, County legislators voted for equal standards of testing andregulations for both raw and pasteurized dairy. We had won the firstand only major battle.In 2001, Mark McAfee created Organic Pastures Dairy that intended tosell raw milk since we had paved the legal path. (I invested $20,000dollars and friends of mine invested a total of $40,000(?) for aone-year loan. Mark has not repaid us although he has made millions.)James Stewart and I put Organic Pastures on the map to become apredominant raw milk producer. Because of my years of experience, Iwarned Mark that health department employees were his enemy. Theybelieved without empirical or scientific evidence that raw milk isinherently dangerous. I warned him that those public servants wouldcontinually harass him and prevent him from selling raw milk and actas if they were his helpful friends.I instructed Mark that health personnel would find any fault to stophim from selling raw milk, for instance, he used the wrong paint onwalls of the milk-production room, the sink was not an exact distancefrom certain machinery, and all of the other ridiculous regulations. Isuggested that when any health-department employee told him he couldnot sell the milk until the infraction was resolved, he should askthem to put it in writing and cite the law so that he could give it tohis attorney because he wanted to follow the law and wanted tounderstand it. Mark did not follow that wisdom because he sincerelybut naively believed they want to help him.For the next 15 months, Mark was prevented from periodically sellinghis raw milk and constantly made changes as instructed by CDHSemployees. Finally, Mark did as I suggested and they stopped tellinghim that he could not sell his milk. About a year ago, CDHS attackedOrganic Pastures (OPD) again on the heels of the spinach-E.coli0157;H7 caper. They accused OPD's raw milk for causing 4 childrensevere illness, 2 with kidney damage. After much inspection, no E.coli0157:H7 was found on Organic Pastures farm. Mark sued the CDHS andCDHS settled for an undisclosed amount out of court.Within a month of settlement, CDHS mounted its sneak attack on rawmilk again by slipping AB1735 anti-raw milk legislation into the StateHouse farm bill. The governor signed the bill and it is now law to beeffective March 15, 2008 .Why in the world would Mark and Sally Fallon and any of us believethat CDHS, including its CFDA have any intention of helping us haveraw milk? Look at the history. I think that they are trying to makeMark and all of us believe that they will be helpful and we will notfile a timely injunction against their fraudulently maneuveredanti-raw-milk law. Once the time passes, Nov 7, the only recourse isthrough the Senate or House. That is a long process and the CDHS andour politicians are obviously in cahoots together. This may be the endof commercial raw milk in California and all states. An injunction andclass action are the only things that are going to save raw milk inCalifornia and elsewhere. I hope that I am wrong but what reality doyou think is true? Are you willing to risk your raw milk or do youthink that Mark and all of us should file a class-action injunction?Isn't it time for us to remove the gloves and fight hard andmercilessly against CDHS, CFDA, USDHS, USFDA and any othergovernmental coven that wants to deprive us of our constitutionalright to health by depriving us of nutritious raw milk?healthfully,aajonusWe need your donations: Right To Choose Healthy Food, POB 176, SantaMonica, CA 90406-0176

 

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