You May Want to Think Twice Before Confiding in Public Health and Agriculture Officials

When Carolyn and Jacob Hall’s four-year-old son, Peter, became ill last spring with campylobacter, it triggered a series of events that eventually led the Ohio Department of Agriculture in September to revoke the dairy license of Carol Schmitmeyer, a farmer who distributes raw milk to herd share owners (which I described in my most recent BusinessWeek.com column).

Now Carolyn and Jacob are kicking themselves for discussing their consumption of raw milk with the Ohio Department of Agriculture. In a comment on my BusinessWeek.com article, Jacob states: "The ODA used our four-year-old son as a pawn in their game. We happened to be drinking Schmitmeyer milk at a time he happened to eat some snow covered in animal droppings and got sick. In no way were the two related, but the ODA came to our house and interrogated my wife and all this. They say they are making these regulations to protect the consumer – because they care about us. Not once did they ask how our son was feeling. Moral of the story: try to keep your children from eating dirty snow, and don’t give the ODA the time of day if they show up at your house. We’re sorry we didn’t realize that second point sooner. For our son is fine now from the dirty snow, but we’re sorry to see all the trouble the ODA is making."

The Halls are the second family to regret having cooperated with government officials following up on bacterial illnesses with uncertain causes. Katherine Corey of Ann Arbor similarly cooperated after her husband and two daughters became ill last spring, and volunteered that they consume raw milk(see my posting of Oct. 26). That admission launched the entire investigation and sting of the Family Farms Cooperative and Richard Hebron, its manager.

The moral of these stories: It may be best to think twice before volunteering too much information to physicians and public health and agriculture officials. When we or a family member becomes ill from something that seems like it could be food poisoning, the natural reaction is to let public health officials know, in the belief they will try to find the real cause and cure the problem. But as Jacob Hall points out, these people aren’t always interested in finding out the truth, but rather sometimes in finding a scapegoat so as to protect their own rear ends.