As I watch the debate over raw milk legislation unfold in Wisconsin, I cant help but feel as if Ive seen this movie before….and that it is a version of Groundhog Day. That is the 1993 comedy in which a weatherman covering the Groundhog Day festivities in Pennsylvania gets stuck in a time loop, with events repeating themselves over and over.
Ive seen the movie in California, Nevada, Maine, and now, I fear a second time in Wisconsin. The plot line is always the same. The state legislatures overwhelmingly passe pro-raw-milk legislation, only to see it vetoed by the governor. The first time it happened in Wisconsin was two years ago, when then-Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed legislation that would have allowed the sale of raw milk direct from dairies.
Now Wisconsin, which has a prohibition against raw milk sales (except on an incidental basis, whatever that means)and a new governor is going through hearings on legislation similar to what Doyle vetoed two years ago. Id expect both houses of the legislature to do what they did two years ago, which is to overwhelmingly approve the legislation. Were hearing many of the same constructive statements from legislators, about how having regulated raw milk is better than having so-called black-market raw milk, and how the legislation would offer a new income opportunity to the states huge dairy industry, which continues to see small dairies fold on a regular basis.
The only difference this time around in Wisconsin is that backers wont have to wait with bated breath to find out what the governor is going to do. Wisconsins current governor, Scott Walker, said yesterday that he almost certainly plans to veto whatever legislation emerges from the Wisconsin legislature.
I know, he made his statement yesterday sound positive–that hes prepared to sign legislation if the dairy industry and health professionals believe that consumer safety can be guaranteed, according to one press report.
The same media report stated: Jim Mulhern of the National Milk Producers Federation says there’s no way that would happen. He said it’s disheartening that Wisconsin is even considering a bill which he says would damage public health.
Shawn Pfaff of the industry’s Safe Milk Coalition says his group opposes any new raw milk legislation — and science does not allow them to compromise.
Seemingly forgotten in this drop-kick of the new raw milk legislation is that Wisconsin’s dairy industry and public health professionals already have come out in favor of raw milk legislation–they approved the framework for allowing raw milk sales, shortly after Gov. Doyle vetoed legislation. Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) appointed a 22-member panel, known as the Raw Milk Policy Working Group. It met for about a year, and presto, came to agreement on allowing the sales of regulated raw milk by permitted farms. It’s all here, in 200 or so pages of excruciating detail, with information on what other states are doing, the pathogens that can be dangerous in raw milk, and so on and so forth. The actual recommendations for allowing raw milk sales are on the first page of the Executive Summary.
So, Working Group Report or no Working Group Report, Groundhog Day is playing out in Wisconsin. But the news isnt entirely negative. The hearings and the debate and discussion have the effect of helping spread the word about raw milk and encouraging people who know little or nothing to investigate. Besides, the Vernon Hershberger case has helped establish a precedent for farmers to sell raw milk to private member groups in Wisconsin. It isnt pretty, but thats the way it is when governors dependent on cash flow from large food and health-related entities have the final say.
That is a good question. My sense is that it doesn’t affect Vernon Hershberger. If you look at other states that allow from-the-farm sales, like Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, you have private food clubs operating. Granted, they have been hassled in both places (Alvin Schlangen placed on trial like Vernon), but they have survived.
SB236/AB287 would require all farmers who wish to sell raw milk to register with DATCP, with no exemptions listed. In other words, a farmer would be breaking this law by selling a gallon of milk to his neighbor without registering with the government. While claiming to clear the way for raw milk sales, this bill really sounds the death knell for raw milk in Wisconsin.
This bill is intended to increase the control of unelected bureaucrats over local food distribution and to take away the rights of individuals to privately contract with one another minus government harassment, which is a God-given right that happens to be mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.
As the bill would require farmers to meet the same quality standards as any other milk producer (which can be set or changed at the whim of DATCAP), this would essentially disqualify a small private farm from distributing its milk to willing consumers without the consent of state officials, who have long made it clear that they seek to end all sales of raw milk. The ‘quality’ requirements would also require extensive lab testing that would incur great costs to the small farmer.
Despite the sleight of hand stating raw milk distributors will not need a license, they will still be held to the same standards as license holders, which requires to submitting to the same supervision, testing etc. as corporate milk producers. In other words, they will need to meet all requirements necessary to get a license they just wont get a fancy piece of paper.
The bill also requires anyone who wishes to sell raw milk to meet the water standards that corporate dairies are subject to, which sounds reasonable, but it would be a very simple task to institute strict and cost-prohibitive water regulations that would quickly and quietly eliminate all possibility of the small local farm complying.
In effect, what this bill does is put all raw milk distribution under the supervision of DATCAP, completely terminating the rights of individuals to sell raw milk to other individuals without official oversight. Which is exactly what Big Dairy has been after all along, and exactly what raw milk supporters should fear most. I for one, a Wisconsin citizen, am not in favor of this ill-advised legislation.
These raw milk bills are purported to be legalization of raw milk when in fact they are just additional restrictions used to make raw milk more difficult to get. You can see how they are used in other states. They tell us raw milk is illegal and we have no right to it when in fact it is not illegal and no one has the right to tell us we can’t buy it. When these bills are pasted OMSJ calls it stipulating to propaganda. If you do a search for incidental sales not in the regular course of business you will find that when ever these terms are used in legal documents they simply mean part of another business. That is why the Wisconsin DATCP has never defined them. Restricting consumer food choices is an illegal interpretation of the law.
http://www.omsj.org/corruption/hiv-defendant-prevails-over-pharma-propaganda
(And of course both are equal corporate lackeys.)
The fact that the law “lists no exemptions” doesn’t mean there are no exemptions. As I said, other states with raw milk permit requirements also have private sales co-existing. Now, it doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be a fight. And perhaps a jury would be less sympathetic to someone like Vernon Hershberger if there was a permit process.
For now, while the legislation may be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, neither the dairy industry nor public health officials seem willing to try on the costume, so the debate is likely theoretical.
So, Scott Walker feels that once raw milk is criminalized (unsaleable) there will be no more food-borne illness outbreaks? He dreams. And gee, if they get rid of raw milk when the next food-borne crisis DOES come along, and it will, what will they blame?
Scott Walker didn’t get to be governor by accident. All governors are placed into their offices because they are buyable.
In my house we’re going back to making our own almond milk, as much as I hate to think about not having raw milk, but SD is in the process of doing the same thing as WI – in every way. It would appear we’ve passed the threshold of common decency in this screwed up country.
In Canada, raw cheeses can be “truly raw” ( the max temp of about 102 F ) or they can also be thermalized and still be called raw. From what i understand these cheeses must be aged 60 days just like the USA raw cheeses under the PMO. It would be nice to know if this cheese was truly raw or heated to some intermediate temp just below pasteurized and still labeled as raw. In either case, this cheese was produced legally under the laws and regulations of Health Canada. We should never mix raw cheese outbreaks with raw milk outbreaks. The biology , heating and culturing process, open vat risk, moisture, Ph and aging creates an entirely different product. That is precisely why Raw Milk and Raw Milk cheeses are treated completely differently than fluid raw milk both here in the USA and also in Canada as well. This raw milk cheese and its illnesses and one assumed death is as much a fault of Health Canada as it is the producers. Health Canada created and enforced its standards and performed the inspections. This was a legal cheese in Canada. As we are all painfully aware, raw milk has no Canadian standards and is illegal in Canada. These cheese related illnesses and possible death lay not at the foot of raw milk…..but at the feet of the standards, and inspectors for this legal product in Canada. This outbreak casts no shadow over ” raw milk “. The Standards for raw milk that is destined for raw milk cheese in the USA and Canada meet the same biological Standards as raw milk that is produced as intended for pasteurization. That means it is not ever tested for bad bugs and is basically dirty.
Mary…..I think you missed the boat on this one. We must classify this outbreak right next to Cravens Pasteurized cheeses with its three deaths four months ago in Wisconsin. Dirty milk…dirty cheese.
Food safety is independent of regulation. Good ethics and education in sanitation practices are a good foundation but there will always be some obfuscation when illness occurs.
Anyways check out David’s article:
http://www.alternet.org/food/why-arent-liberals-standing-food-rights?paging=off
Here is a wonderful list of logical fallacies. “Fallacies are fake or deceptive arguments, arguments that prove nothing. Fallacies often seem superficially sound, and far too often have immense persuasive power, even after being clearly exposed as false. Fallacies are not always deliberate, but a good scholars purpose is always to identify and unmask fallacies in arguments.” I really respect you guys who are able to get to the truth, no matter what it is.
But I cannot allow the perpetual specialist in mis-information, M Mc Martin – to get away with folding-in her typical fiery dart ( in her inimitable fake-simpering sympathetic style) about the situation at the moment, in British Columbia
There is no evidence to support the glaring headline “One person has died and 10 have become ill in B.C. and Alberta after eating E. coli tainted products from Gorts Gouda Cheese Farm of Salmon Arm, B.C.
A statement from Health Canada said there were four cases of illness in B.C. and seven in Alberta.
“One of the cases in British Columbia has died, and the cause of death is currently under investigation,” said the Health Canada statement.
One person is still recovering in hospital and several cases remain under investigation, said B.C. Centre for Disease Control epidemiologist Dr. Eleni Galanis.
Bear in mind that this story is put out by the very same crew who blazed to the skies in Dec. 2009, the fable that “a child is lying ill in hospital after drinking raw milk from Home on the Range dairy”. When I demanded hard evidence to prove that accusation = after BC’s Chief Medical Health officer got up on his hind legs and brayed it nation-wide = 6 months later, he (Perry Kendall) replied on official govt. stationery, that he had no evidence.
Thus = IT NEVER HAPPENED … but did you see that retraction, on the national news? Hardly.
Is it sheer co-incidence that we’re going in to the Supreme Court in downtown Vancouver, tomorrow morning, before Mister Justice Wong, to have his Order clarified, as to precisely what we’re allowed to do, or not, on the raw milk issue? I think not.
After 30 years at this kind of thing = challenging the Powers-that-Be, I know one thing fer sure … the enemy is much MUCH more diabolical than beginners are willing to believe
2. Unlike the corporate food system and its flunkeys, the Community Food movement doesn’t claim to be perfect. But that doesn’t mean we need to wear a hairshirt either.
For both of those reasons, there’s no reason the Bovine or any other food freedom site ought to have among its priorities regurgitating government allegations.
The Bovine did, however, cross-post another of my blog posts.
http://thebovine.wordpress.com/2013/09/18/people-of-columbia-vs-seed-tyranny/
It’s unfortunate that the Community Food movement in the US is so ignorant of what’s going on around the world, based evidently on nothing but obsolete prejudices. Cuba’s agroecology movement has in fact been one of the marvels of the world since the mid-90s, and the most commonly cited proof of principle that we can produce vast amounts of food without huge fossil fuel inputs, in a way which gives opportunities for large numbers of people to do dignified work.
http://attempter.wordpress.com/2011/06/29/cubas-special-period-actually-the-norm-but-improved/
While it’s under the control of a centralized government, exactly like the US system is, at least there the government, unlike almost any other government on earth, actively supports organic and cooperative agriculture, and actively helps people who want to grow food to get access to land to do it.
If you want to have a central government at all (and most of the people at this site aren’t anarchists, I gather), it’s hard to imagine one more supportive of organic agriculture than that of Cuba.
(I’ve also seen Wall Street’s propaganda about “sound money” regurgitated around here, displaying total ignorance of the history of American farming and the Populist movement.)
“If these actions were taking place in Europe, Latin America, or Asia, the scenario of a big government backed by big corporations bullying small farmers would likely have American liberals enraged.”
I can’t imagine which liberals these might be. All the US liberals I’ve seen support Big Ag globalization across the board, at least when there’s a Democrat in office. They might have a few reservations when it’s a Republican.
Why would we want to convince liberals to support us anyway? Even if we could get them to consciously agree, they’d still just be a drag on the movement on account of their inherent pro-government bias and cowardice.
That’s why we can rely on liberal NGOs like the CFS and FWW for excellent reporting and some good actions, but we must never follow their prescriptions in general, since these always lead back to supporting Big Ag via big government.
When the CDC says foodborne illness they aren’t really talking about most of the foods we eat or any of the illnesses we get. They are really only talking about one symptom, that symptom being diarrhea and they are not talking about most of the foods we eat because they are only monitoring a few agricultural commodities. They call a dozen cases of diarrhea an outbreak of foodborne illness while the average American gets diarrhea 3 times a year. That’s 930 million cases a year that are completely ignored. By that definition this country is in a constant state of foodborne illness. In reality we will all die from a foodborne illness which itself is a symptom of our malnutrition.
These people are snake oil salesmen with no proof that sprouts or spinach or raw milk has ever caused illness.
Milk, definitions; 1. a fluid secreted by the mammary glands of females for the nourishment of their young. 2. a liquid resembling milk in appearance. D, what do you use almond milk for?
The way our *officials* operate, the term food-borne illness has a different meaning on a daily basis, it seems.
We use almond milk for everything. If I know I’m going to use it for baking I sometimes add vanilla to it, but if I’m going to use it for just plain drinking I just make my usual recipe – almonds, water, sea salt. I was able to find vat pasteurized milk, cream, half ‘n half, etc., but I’m not crazy about using it. I tried some from our co-op store (they don’t carry the milk but they carry the cream, don’t ask me why) but they ordered in 1/2 gal of whole milk for me and I tried to make yogurt and viili – it didn’t turn out worth a tinkers damn. I’m soooo going to miss my raw milk. SD is working very hard to get rid of it – under the pretense of tolerance, however. On the other hand this is the same dairy and egg board who houses the guy who said he’d rather drink gasoline than raw milk. Good Lord, now there’s an open mind for ya.
John Thune (at the Senate level) and his ilk just blow off any correspondence regarding the topic because he already has his mind made up, so the State doods follow his lead. Truthfully, the letter I received from Thune showed such a chasm of misunderstanding and a non-informed position on raw milk it was simply stunning. People can be so ignorant. Yet, they seem to choose to remain unschooled on this subject.
As for David’s reporting on this blog, I really appreciate you do more than a typical news report. We get plenty of follow-up stories to help us understand the dept of issues in various regions. I especially took interest when you mention how regulated and unregulated venues co-exist. As for BC situation in Canada, I believe that, after the health authority officially claimed raw milk as health hazard, I think they will have no choice but to regulate it in the future. That is because labeling it a hazard does not make raw milk consumption disappear from the province. Because it is unregulated, cow share programs and small scale farmers will continue to provide raw milk to eager consumers. If their job is to protect the public and they call raw milk a hazard, and if they don’t do anything after that proclamation, it only proves that they are sitting on the job of protecting the public from the “hazard”. This story about Wisconsin’s flip-floping should prepare us the BCers for a similar drama to unfold when the authority realize the trap they set for themselves and finally get to the job of establishing a standard to protect their people from the “hazard’ous material. That is if they realize that labeling it a hazard has not worked.
Lastly one question about Vernon Hershberger’s case at the end of this article, you describe him as selling to private group. In his state, selling is allowed whether the seller is licensed or not? In Canada, sale is prohibited so a dealing with a private group must be carefully termed. A cow share does not sell milk.
Finally I appreciate Mark’s reminder that, because Kamloops’ cheese maker are under regulation, the authority has the responsibility to the public to thoroughly investigate and help the cheese maker improve on their operation as well as improve their standard. If they think their job is done by quashing a small business, same thing will happen again because it is their standard that sets the stage for good and bad to happen.
Russ,
It’s difficult to know what the real situation is in Cuba. I’ve been to Cuba twice, in 1978 and in 2004. When I returned the second time, I found in Havana the same pathetic tiny government-run food stores with their rotten produce and insufficient supplies (lots of eggs and very little meat, for example) I had seen in 1978. Even the tour guide who showed my group around wasn’t enthusiastic about the food–he said it had improved a lot since the early 1990s, when people subsisted on celery soup, but it was still pretty tough for people who didn’t have access to dollars like he did, and had to subsist on ration cards, going to those pathetic government food stores. Now, I didn’t get around to see individual veggie gardens, and I have no doubt those have helped the situation a lot.
A big challenge in Cuba, as that article you linked to says, is that the land is all controlled by the central government. So it’s not like in the U.S., where individual farmers still own and control their own land, and can make food private sales. I did read in The Economist recently that Cuba has begun to loosen restrictions on farmers, allowing more private sales of food, though it’s not clear yet how meaningful those will be. In Cuba, you get lots of positive declarations of government intention, and many don’t pan out.
My point in the Alternet article is that our government has been ever more harsh in its interference with farmers selling staples like meat and milk privately. Here, it has to do with serving the corporate control agenda. In Cuba, it has to do with following an ideological agenda.
As for the problem with liberals, I was referring more to the mainstream media and politicians, as well as NGOs. It could be that obtaining more support for the food rights movement from liberals would be more problematic than it is worth. But I like to think this movement needs to somehow find more broad-based backing than it has been able to do so far.
OPDC just received its summer time RAMP manure pathogen test results back from the lab. All negative for Ecoli 0156h7 and that includes the calves as well. That test included fresh manure from more than 700 animals. All negative for ecoli pathogens during the most heat stressed part of the year and during the ” socalled Pathogen season”. This test does not mean that the pathogen does not exist….but it does confirm that the ration and conditions at OPDC are such that they are not presenting when they would be expected to be present. This is the fourth year doing this test….this data is really fascinating to me. In the conventional dairy industry, dairymen are admonished to not drink their own raw bulk tank milk because their university studies show a prevalence of ecoli pathogens nearly all the time in their bulk tanks. In order to defend pasteurization, the Big Ag dairy industry managers must make a case that their milk is dangerous and filled with pathogens.
Hence the reason for my fascination. When Big Ag Dairy industry must make a case for their own danger & filth to add value and or defend themselves….that it pretty darn sicko and just plain bad news for that industry. This defensive tactic may work with CAFO dairymen that know nothing of emerging raw milk markets and their consumers interest in truth but it does not work at all when the Internet exposes these false arguments and no secrets can be hidden very long from anyone.
Yes, the mainstream is liberal/conservative. (Same thing.) But I think all the best people, those who vaguely aspire to becoming citizens in the real sense of that term (taking political responsibility for themselves and their communities), are trying to break free of such obsolete and artificially divisive dichotomies – liberal/conservative, Dem/Rep, left/right, public/private, etc.
YES. This is where I want to focus my learning. Keeping the milk clean is one part, and in many ways the easy part. Creating conditions that are not hospitable to pathogens is even better, but more complex. What a great job you guys are doing at OPDC. This is really exciting news. Thanks for sharing.
OR, is it that this cheese is just as safe as any other fresh food product (leafy greens, sprouts, cucumbers, cantaloupe, etc.)?
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-12-2013/monsanto—seed-patent-laws
select Sept 22 9 am. The conversation about raw milk cheese, starts at 33:30 minutes into the recording. Alice Jongerden has her say, then a food scientist from UBC mouthes the official central party line, then journalist Randy Shore does a masterful job of educating everyone. He starts off by saying “it’s become a political issue / regulation versus personal freedom”.
I asked the same question a long time ago and never got any sort of answer, about what is it the people of EU are doing to keep safety levels in check that american’s are NOT doing? Personally I think it’s because they do things the way they’ve always done things (which has worked for centuries) without having some regulator peering over their shoulder every minute of every blessed day just looking for a reason to crack the whip. It’s been said that regulators are even suspected of creating the problems with things like raw milk and raw cheese. It doesn’t surprise me that people are suspicious enough to suspect them, however. All these new “rules” are driving farmers to become nervous and make mistakes and then another new law/regulation is piled onto the heap of already ridiculous things. The more regulations they have to try to remember, the more confusing and problematic things become. That’s, of course, IMPO.
Also, Gouda cheese made from raw milk is one of the BEST sources of vitamin K that a human being has access to. I won’t go into all the good things about vitamin K because anyone can look it up online or in a nutrition book or at the AJCN or something. Suffice to say, vitamin K helps keep people healthy – and that’s not good for the “big phRma/healthcare” industry. It’s also not good for the business of lawyers who are ambulance chasers.
Gouda cheese made with pasteurized milk is a totally different product when it hits the store shelves because there’s nothing healthful left in it – it’s a dead food – unless it contains an added synthetic vitamin/supplement and synthetics are not generally what most healthy people are looking for.
All we can do to counteract this is live in our own private world and disconnect from the greed system. And buy/share David’s book to enlighten our friends and family. Drink up the white stuff! “Have a cow” says Bart.