Part of me hesitates to report this–another story about illness from a raw milk dairy, this one in California. It’s not because I don’t think people should know about such situations, it’s just that I’m put off by the supposed “lessons” of these articles and reports, which amount to this: raw milk is terribly dangerous and you’re taking a big health risk if you drink it.
The story of 16 people having become ill from campylobacter in raw milk from Alexandre Family EcoDairy Farms in Del Norte County near Oregon, which runs a cow share for 115 members, has been reported on and off since last summer.
The latest story, from a local California newspaper, Triplicate, recounts the results of a California Dept of Public Health report on the outbreak last May and June. The article doesn’t actually include a copy of the report, and I haven’t been able to find it online, but I’m willing to accept the article’s summary as likely pretty accurate.
The article says the bacterial infection “did not discriminate among those who consumed the product. Those who became ill ranged from 4 to 70, and were split between male and female. And it didn’t matter if the person ingesting raw milk was a long-time, daily consumer or a first-time drinker.”
But if you look beyond that statement, you learn:
- Of 16 who became ill, only two required hospitalization, and one of those just overnight. To me, getting an upset stomach that passes in a few days isn’t a national emergency. It happens all the time–the Centers for Disease Control estimates 76 million people get food poisoning every year, some one-fourth of the population, and nearly all those have nothing to do with raw milk.
- The one individual who became very sick was, ironically, a health department worker, who had only begun drinking raw milk three days earlier. In other words, the bacteria did “discriminate”–it sickened one newbie much more than anyone else.
- There were at least 115 members of the cowshare, which means probably more than that drank the milk. The article covers over that reality by quoting a public health official, who states, “We know this outbreak was at least 16 people. But we also know that there were likely more than 16 people infected…We know that not everybody was being honest with us because some people were trying to protect the dairy.” Let’s assume this inference is true–then the sick individuals must still value their right to consume raw milk over any feelings of anger about getting sick.
- The article repeats a frequent lie in such reports, quoting a local public health official in suggesting that raw-milk dairies are like conventional dairies: “You go to most dairies in the country and most milk will be infected with campylobacter before it’s pasteurized…It’s a known entity that’s frequently in raw milk.”
- And there’s the suggestion that cowshares are illegal, even though the California Department of Food and Agriculture official quoted seems to take pains to say that isn’t so–all he wants is for CDFA to regulate the things.
There are potential lessons and opportunities for research in this entire experience. Why did one individual have such a violent reaction to the milk? Why did most people have no reaction? What were the differences in health history of those who became sick and those who didn’t? There are lots more potential questions. Instead, we get the same old misrepresentations and scare tactics.
***
Thanks to John D. for the link to his stories covering the Michael Schmidt case, following my previous post. As he says, there’s been a huge amount of coverage in the Canadian press. I’d just like to correct one misstatement–that Michael is “unique in not allowing himself to be cowed by the actions of governments.” There are a number of dairy farmers who fall into that category, in California, New York, Pennsylvania, and other places, and they are performing a huge public service in educating the public about the realities of raw milk…at major personal sacrifice.
http://tinyurl.com/5bydgv
There may be some attempt "to learn" in the report or perhaps the author reads this blog and was anticipating criticism. LOL It actually discusses how long folks had been drinking the milk who were stricken by the campy.
In terms of numbers sick, this strikes as a large number for a smallish cow share program. Think about how many people consumed Dole packaged spinach and the relatively few who got sick. Perhaps the large numbers are due to the extended timeline of the outbreak.
Raw milk is one of those things that’s great for health except when it’s not. I’ll drink it when we have our own. I’ll still do a lot of other really crazy things too like eat sushi. I know someone who got some sort of parasite from sushi that caused him to pass out randomly. Damn. You wouldn’t want to be his passenger. It made me hesitate on the sushi for a few weeks.
Amanda
I had the same impression as Amanda (but not the same conclusions) – maybe the author reads your blog? It certainly offered more info than usual – and almost comes close to a dialogue, if it weren’t for the usual scary milk yada yada and the heavy-handed intention to interfere, control, and slap down farmer-consumer contracts.
" Those who became ill ranged from 4 to 70, and were split between male and female. And it didn’t matter if the person ingesting raw milk was a long-time, daily consumer or a first-time drinker. "
An observation – Most proponents of raw milk also seek out other healthy foods, but some household members are reluctantly coerced into drinking raw milk but continue destructive eating habits – convenience is addictive. There will be less colds, but the body remains compromised. Raw milk is not a silver bullet by itself.
Cow Share College tip: Tim Wightman said that it’s important for consumers to insist that the Health Dept interview be completed to the final question, and not abort the interview when the answer to "Have you consumed raw milk?" is "yes"; which is a typical occurrance… I wonder how many interviews were aborted in this case?
Your suggestion to use these incidents to learn and not scare is implemented right here. This blog is a public service – it seeks truth. Thank you!
-Blair
David, I think you need to check the location of that farm. I live in San Diego County and didn’t recognize Del Norte or the farm (nor have I ever been able to find a SD area cow share program despite my efforts), so I looked it up on google maps. Del Norte is way up north near the Oregon border, not all the way down south near San Diego.
Now I’ll get back to reading the rest of the post.
The CDFA report reads as if the only unpasteurized milk produced at Dairy A was raw milk for consumption. With not one, but two bulk tanks, this is highly improbable since even a small bulk tank would contain far more milk than a hundred or so contract-holders could possibly drink each week. There is no discussion whether the vast bulk of the raw milk intended for pasteurization was separate from the contract-holders’ milk, whether separate animals produced the latter; or if there were separate supplies, whether the dairy worker who got sick (but did not drink raw milk) was devoted exclusively to the share owners’ milk supply or whether the worker worked on both kinds of raw milk (and thus could have been a vector for cross-contamination).
Concerning the legal situation, cow shares are legal in California as in most other states. The speed with which Dairy A shut down their cow share surely had to do with the Dairy’s concern about the possible outbreak linked to their operation (I believe they said as much). However, since Dairy A also had ongoing production of raw milk intended for pasteurization, I would surmise that the real legal leverage (express or implied) wielded by CDFA over Dairy A had more to do with their Grade A permit for raw milk inteded for pasteurization. Thus, CDFA’s mutterings about looking at cow shares more closely is a blatant attempt to bootstrap whatever perceived legal leverage they can extract from this situation into something more. IMHO, they will have to get new law on cow shares in order to do anything about them, but that obviously won’t stop the agency from jawboning using whatever leverage they can get out of this incident.
Though she did not test positive for campylobacter, subsequent testing of the product taken from her refrigerator discovered the bacteria’s DNA in it. Another person in her household also became sick from drinking the milk. "
I wonder why the writer didn’t point out why she didn’t test positive? (well geesh, testing a week after on ABX is not too swift and make Sutter look sloppy) If there is a recent history of GI symptoms, stool specimens are taken, at least they should be. I would assume that she presented with symptoms condusive to or very simular to GBS and a stool sample would be among the tests ordered. I wonder if that is Standards of Practice?
http://www.neurologychannel.com/guillain/index.shtml
http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/medical/issues/sag-04-34-6/sag-34-6-6-0405-7.pdf
Perhaps she had H. Pylori. since her Dx was acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN) form of GBS.
"H.pylori is the agent held responsible for the etiology of the
axonal form of GBS in particular, and it is found at high
levels in the cerebrospinal fluid of these patients "
In the summary, it stated that 4 patients tested positive for campy, does that mean the others did not? Or was there no other tests?
This announcement from the Weston A Price Foundation popped into my in-box a few days ago. My wife was already planning to go to the entire conference, but when I saw that David and Michael Schmidt and Gary Cox and Mark McAfee among others were presenting, I decided to go to this one-day workshop. I hope to meet some of you there.
CURRENT EVENTS Governor Schwarzenegger Vetoes SB 201 – NAIS Lawsuit Filed Against the USDA – Raw Milk Renegade Farmers Want De-Regulation – Droves of Farmers Starting Cow Shares – Rabid Health Departments Warn Avid Raw Milk Advocates of Raw Milk Russian Roulette
THE TIME IS NOW…. to learn and discuss important recent and coming events affecting our family farming community – direct-to-consumer sales, raw milk and National Animal Identification System (NAIS).
What’s up? What’s next? Where do we go from here?
Answers to these questions and more at this unique, one day workshop featuring farmers, attorneys, journalists and consumer activists on the front lines of raw milk, NAIS and direct-to-consumer sales issues.
PANEL MEMBERS
_Gary Cox, Esq._ – General Counsel, Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund
_David Gumpert_ Journalist/Activist Blogger – http://www.thecompletepatient.com read widely by farmers, consumers, politicians and beauracrats.
_Mark Kastel_ – President, The Cornucopia Institute seeking economic justice for the family-scale farm community.
_Mark McAfee_ (CA) and Michael Schmidt (Canada) – Raw milk farmer activists on the front lines of the raw milk freedom movement
_Judith McGeary, Esq._ – NAIS Expert, Attorney and President, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance and Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund Board Member
WHEN Friday, November 7, 2008 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Hyatt Regency – San Francisco Airport – 1333 Bayshore Highway Burlingame, CA http://www.sanfranciscoairport.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp
Accessible by BART. Self parking is $10/day.
SCHEDULE
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Hot Topics (Gary Cox, Judith McGeary)
1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Making a Difference (David Gumpert, Judith McGeary, Mark Kastel)
3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Farm-to-Consumer Connection (Mark Kastel, Mark McAfee, Michael Schmidt)
TUITION Tuition for this exciting and informative workshop is $45 for registrations received by October 31 ($55 after November 1).
A three-course gourmet lunch (featuring farm-fresh foods) is available for an additional $40. Advance reservation is required.
This workshop is part of the larger Weston A. Price Foundation 2008 Annual Conference and is being offered at a special rate as a courtesy to local farmers and consumers.
A limited number of scholarships are available through the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation (apply at info@farmtoconsumerfoundation.org or call 703-208-3276).
Media is welcome to attend free of charge. Advance registration is requested. REGISTER Call 240-379-7072 (Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. EST) or email registrar@ptfassociates.com.
Weston A. Price Foundation, PMB 106-380, 4200 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016
202-363-4394 (phone)
703-499-5511 (cell)