Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures Dairy Co. has been pretty upfront about what he thinks of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Earlier today, during a 45-minute hearing in front of a federal magistrate in Fresno, CA, Mark got a sense of what the FDA thinks of him. No big surprise, but the agency doesn’t seem to care much for him, either. But in expressing its dislike, the FDA also provided a taste of what a system of federal regulation of interstate shipment of raw milk distribution could be like. Think Big Brother, big time.
The hearing was held to finalize a plea agreement growing out of a federal indictment last year of OPDC and Mark for selling raw milk, labeled as pet food, to out-of-state customers. As part of the agreement, OPDC pleaded guilty to shipping two half gallons of raw milk to FDA investigators, while Mark pleaded innocent. OPDC agreed to discontinue selling raw dairy products outside California for the next two years.
If OPDC violates the agreement? The FDA requested and the judge agreed that Mark could be jailed for up to a year and fined up to $250,000.
However, the FDA did agree to allow OPDC to continue shipping raw milk to certain animal facilities, like zoos. But the agency’s proposed terms are so restrictive as to be nearly laughable. OPDC’s lawyer, Gary Cox of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, will seek to get them changed. But in the meantime, the FDA’s terms, according to documents provided by OPDC, allow for the following:
–OPDC can “only ship raw milk and raw milk products to end use animal facilities,” including zoos, research labs, and veterinary practices;
–“The veterinary health professional or animal caretaker must have a legitimate provider/client-patient relationship with the animal to which the product is to be fed.”
–Prior to shipping any milk, OPDC must provide to the FDA’s San Francisco office assorted information about the recipient, including the “identity of each animal to which the raw milk or milk products will be fed and a declaration that the consignee has a legitimate provider/client-patient relationship with the animal to which the product is to be fed.”
–Milk recipients must “keep records of all use and disposition of raw milk and raw milk products received from OPDC.”
–Recipients must “destroy or return to OPDC any unused product…(and) provide OPDC with documented accounting of all quantities destroyed within 15 days of destruction…”
And penalties for violating any of these rules are attention-grabbing: up to five years imprisonment, or a fine up to $250,000, or both.
For now, Mark is halting all sales to out-of-state animal facilities. “It could take weeks for every order to just be approved,” he says, never mind all the other technicalities. He points out that some of the animal facilities are in areas where raw milk is difficult to obtain, and they depend on his shipments to feed to young animals.
But it’s hard to imagine a zoo manager purchasing milk under such circumstances—having to keep records of all milk fed to animals, and risking a fine or imprisonment for a screwup.
Is this a possible taste of what federal regulation of interstate shipments of raw milk could be like in the future? Raw milk would be something like a controlled drug.
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There’s a pretty amazing article on the editorial page of today’s Wall Street Journal by some of the biggest names in alternative health, including Deepak Chopra and Andrew Weil. They argue that by changing their lifestyles–via diet, yoga, meditation, and acupuncture–Americans could reduce or reverse the impact of chronic disease, and the country could save huge expenditures on healthcare. The argument isn’t especially new, but the fact that it is appearing on the editorial page of the WSJ, a bastion of agribusiness and Big Pharma, is nearly earthshaking.
David,
You post doesn’t show the feds "working with" OP, it shows them stomping on him. If you keep knocking someone down, it only serves to make most want to come back stronger.
The following posts show the govt willing to spend money to find out why parents are opting out of vaccinations. Apparently it is a growing desire not to vaccinate. The push to vaccinate seems to corrolate with the push to dictate foods to be consumed. Is there a growing portion of the population who are opening thier eyes and not wanting to be forced into things? Is this why the heavy-handed attacks on the regular people?
Will they be accusing peanut butter again for the salmonella?
http://www.answers.com/topic/king-nut-company
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28581743/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28585261/
I have been asked to stay out off the Blogs for a while and let others do the public fighting.
The FDA is very very serious about making me into an example. I simply will not be used by the FDA for target practice…instead… I will be placing 110% of my energy into Californias 37 million people and turning up the heat on raw milk right here at home. This blog is a favorite place for the FDA to gather intellengence on raw milk so be conscious of that.
After standing in front of the federal magistrate ( she was fair and very understanding and said repeatedly how "UNIQUE" this case was ) today with my hero Gary Cox and being preached and quoted the raw milk riot act by the hired guns from the DOJ and the FDA…I have no interest in directing OPDC from a federal prison cell and paying a $250 k fine and giving the FDA any satisfaction of finding me in violation of law or their regs or our agreement to settle the CFR 1240.61 matters.
I will be cheering-you-on as a reader for now…. as I work from inside CA to change the rules and regs with our "FDA Citizens Petition" and by building the Raw Milk market to the tipping point. For now not one drop of OPDC raw milk gets shipped out of state for any reason ( at least until we can negotiate a deal with the FDA that is fair and works )….I do not care if Obama orders it for himself. If he wants raw milk he can graze a cow on the White House lawn like the Queen of England at Buckingham palace, send the Secret Service to see the Amish, change CFR 1240.61 and or fire John Sheehan or better yet…do all of the above.
My wife Blaine has made it perfectly clear that she loves me at home and not in jail.
My greatest hopes for change and health. That is all for now….
Mark McAfee
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross" Sinclair Lewis
Might we also add that it will also be under the banner of food safety???
Should we also begin to fear retribution from what we post as well???
We will miss you Mark ,if this does not outrage and wake comatose Americans before all our freedoms are taken away I dont know what will.
may those in the fda responsible for this decision rot in Hades…….
FDA and the Delusions of Tyrants
http://www.naturalnews.com/024569.html
Jenny
the cause of this "crackdown" is that agra-dairy cannot offer real milk in any way shape or form. concentrated feed lot dairy has no hope of cleaning up it’s system at all. while they can redefine "organic" or "free range" to suit their needs (free range to agra-chickens is 50,000 chickens turned loose on a warehouse floor with a 12" x 12" "door" at the back of the building leading to a pen where chickens are "free" to go outside if they wish. problem is chickens are… well… sorta chicken…. none ever go outside in their entire 8 week life. but the door is there, glaringly bright from the sunlight and no sane chicken worth it’s name would ever venture thru-it. but it meets the usda wording (written, of course, by perdue/tyson et al.) and they can charge more because of it…. they sure love the gullible/ignorant consumer!
since they can’t ever hope to make real milk in their corporate swill daries they must destroy any and all real milk opportunities, where ever they arise. which is exactly what they are doing…
are we going to let them? can we stop them? this is something everyone here needs to ponder, we surely need to try…
meanwhile i hope everyone is building a pantry that can keep them for at least a year, it’s something no one should put off, you’ll find it takes a year or two just to figure out what you need, how to store / rotate it and a whole bunch of pesky details of what is involved. please start now. i’d guess we have some years left before it is survival time…. but i don’t know…. any ideas of what needs to be in a pantry would be welcome reading to me, we’re about a year into learning and have a good ways to go still…. for us there is great comfort in being started, and i can imagine even more so when we have it more fully stocked.
my pantry suggestion of the day is borax.
They spared no money or no effort in an attempt to take down OPDC a successful dairy.
At the same time the Calif. conventional dairies are having very serious financial problems due to depressed milk prices.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/631790.html
DIRE TIMES FOR DAIRY FARMERS
Saddly 2 Calif. dairy farmers having very serious financial problems committed suicide!!!
Yes how do TPTB sleep at night or look into a mirror? Perhaps they just like the NAZIs prior to and during WWII are just following ORDERS?
David, you and your readers should see what is happening in Ohio this week. After the Manna House bust (we have a section on it) that you so eloquently reported, there is the Bogus study on raw milk released by OSU and the Ohio Health Dept. and the Phony Outbreak that sounded out throughout Ohio on the dangers of raw milk; eggs and cheese. All this and more at the Journal for Whole Food and Nutrition at http://wholefoodusa.wordpress.com
Your reports are awesome.