The general assumption about the after-hours announcement May 7 that the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources was withdrawing its proposed ban on buying clubs was that the move was prompted by a torrent of calls and emails from consumers opposing the ban.
But is it possible we have all seriously misunderstood the MDAR move? Is it possible, in fact, that MDAR withdrew the proposed ban because it wants to make the ban even more restrictive than originally planned?
Absolutely yes, to both questions, based on a remarkable May 7 letter from Massachusetts Department of Public Health commissioner John Auerbach to his counterpart (puppet) at MDAR, Scott Soares. Consider the following points from the letter:
- The MA DPH commissioner recommends extending the previously proposed ban on buying clubs “by making clear that so-called ‘cow-share,’ ‘goat-share,’ etc. arrangements, which attempt to evade” regulation, are included.
- Auerbach is explicit in his preference that “in an ideal world we would prefer that all milk sold in Massachusetts be pasteurized…” He seems to see himself as being magnanimous in acknowledging “that some local farms are realizing an economic benefit from the sale of raw milk” and thus “we have provided measures…that aim to reduce the risk of serious illness.”
- He repeats a lie that between 1998 and 2008 there have been two deaths “from consumption of raw milk…” The two deaths reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control were from consumption of queso fresca cheese, which is often produced from conventional unpasteurized milk known to be dangerous, and disavowed by raw milk proponents. And I must have missed it, but I couldn’t find any reference in the letter to the three deaths and the loss of a fetus in Massachusetts from consumption of pasteurized milk in 2007; nor could I find any reference to the fact that Massachusetts hasn’t had a single illness from raw milk during that same time period (or since).
- He repeats a declaration made by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently that consumers have no food rights. “…it is unfortunate that some raw milk advocates have chosen to portray their choice to buy raw milk as a ‘right.’…it has long been established that states have the authority to enact laws and regulations to protect the health and safety of their citizens.” Yes, all bow down to Emperor John Auerbach, and be thankful for his magnanimity in not demanding his puppet Soares ban raw milk sales entirely.
- Adding insult to injury, Auerbach says that the proposed regulation to ban buying clubs and herdshare/cowshare arrangements was drawn up by a college intern during the summer of 2006. Auerbach has dusted it off and decided it’s now ready for prime time.
Among the many questions that come up in reading this outrageous letter is this: Why is the public health establishment making Massachusetts, a small dairy state that has had no illnesses attributable to raw milk in well over a decade, a new battleground in the ongoing raw milk war?
The answer might be found in a document I came across from the Centers for Disease Control in the form of its health goals for the country in 2020. One of those goals is a reduction in the number of states that allow the sale or distribution of raw milk.
The message to consumers couldn’t be clearer: the nation’s public health clique is determined to make Massachusetts a test case as part of its national push to get rid of raw milk. If Auerbach and Soares succeed here, the technocrats will move on to another state, and then another. And maybe Auerbach and Soares move on to cushy new jobs in Washington, or with a big food manufacturer.
The battle lines have been drawn. MDAR has promised hearings within thirty days of its May 10 hearing. Expect a new, tougher proposed regulation to limit availability of raw milk. Don’t expect Emperor Auerbach and his public health cronies to emerge from their dark cubbies to explain their action. After all, we the common people don’t get to ask questions of such important authorities. But be prepared to fight harder than you may have ever thought possible against these snide and arrogant characters to preserve your right to make your own food choices.?
Also, state agencies can generally only write administrative rules within the bounds set by the state legislature’s laws and actions. At least in Ohio you might find wording in the Ohio Revised Code giving broad outlines for the legislature’s intentions, but then specific instructions that the Director of the state "such as such" agency can draft administrative rules regarding the actual implementation’s nuts and bolts. My point is that if the MA Board of Health director is intending to submit administrative rules regarding banning buying clubs and explicitly outlawing herdshares then they a) can’t contradict the state code and b) he must have the authority to do so within the state code. It might be worthwhile for someone to take a close look at the MA state code and the current set of administrative rules.
I’ll also be very interested in seeing the final language attempting to ban herd or cow shares, because I can’t see how doing so wouldn’t also prevent cow owners from drinking the milk from their own animals. I would imagine that would provoke an even bigger outroar than is currently occurring in your state!
Can we all see more clearly than ever two things:
This is WAR!
This is exactly why we have a country that is in full blown immune system collapse.
Sterille means death…life on earth is based on bacterial biodiversity. Even NASA knows this. When they look for life in Space they look for bacteria!!!
Our US food agency leadership are suicidal hell bent idiots.
If somerthing is not working then do more of what is not working……smart move guys!!
Mark
Thanks as always for your investigative research. Your blog and the community that it creates are powerful. The current situation in Massachusetts will be a serious test for us!
Alex
(PS The "goals" link in the third-to-last paragraph of your post is broken.)
Thank you. The current situation will be a test–a good analogy is that occupying armies, when faced with a restive population, always try to remedy the situation by cracking down ever more harshly. The armies test how sincerely the people want their freedom.
That link should work now.
David
First, David et al, thank you for hosting this blog and for doing so much research on the issues. It helps a foodie, mad-dog, pissed off mom like me have the ammo I need when I am calling and writing my elected officials.
Second, I am very interested in how the herd-share language will be drafted, considering the sale of raw milk in Virginia (where I live) is illegal, and I am a herd-share holder. I will be following your blog and these politics very closely, and I am grateful for this medium. Thank you!
Finally, I am appalled at the HHS goals. How very ill-informed these people are.
We must be at the table or we will be on the plate.
I tried to sign up to be a part of the consortium for HHS….the system rejected my email and would not take the email or my data in any format that I used to attempt to join the table….
Classic exclusion from the discussion tactic. Somehow we must become part of the discussion and redefine health goals for 2020.
Somehow HHS has defined health as being devoid of good whole foods and any source of beneficial bacteria in our diets. This must be redefined.
Health is based on access to whole unprocessed organic or natural foods and the farmers that produce it and a good amount of excercise. Health is not denial of that access and denial of access to farmers.
Any government agency that wears a military uniform when it regulates or denies access to food is dangerous to our country and its peoples health.
I did notice that nearly all comments at the HHS health 2020 comments area where saying….keep HHS hands off of unpasteurized milk.
Perhaps there is a modicum of hope for 2020.
Mark
http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=29217
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=62724&id=1361265418&ref=mf
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt_and_politics/blog/article_012d59f4-62b8-11df-a333-001cc4c03286.html#1%20Second
and when bureaucrats like auerbach suggest that herdshares and buyer’s club are "evading" legal obligations (like he does in his letter), what he is really saying is that attempts by bureaucrats like auerbach to restrict our inalienable rights is an attempt to "evade" OUR liberties.
in other words, we citizens are not circumventing the law. it is bureaucrats like auerbach who are circumventing our inalienable rights. and perversely too, because he’s using tax dollars to do it. such smug egomaniacs need to be stopped.
for a bureaucrat like auerbach to argue that we don’t have a fundamental right to produce and consume the food of our own choice is to argue that we are all wards of the state or that we don’t have any rights except those which the govt grants to us. that’s a stupid argument, which is a disgrace to massachusetts, the state where the first rebellion showed otherwise.
http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_15112345
http://www.pickensprogress.com/archive/pricecreekman.htm
http://www.marlerblog.com/2010/05/articles/case-news/campylobacter-and-salmonella-illnesses-linked-to-raw-milk/
Amazing, utterly amazing. Who would’ve thought in this day and age we need to "fight" to make food choices? What is next after food? It only stands to reason that they won’t stop at food control.
Did you see the stories about the 8000+ people who died this month from taking their doctor perscribed meds? Did you see the stories about the children born today that will develop diabetes and autism because of their poor diet of nutrient defiecit and dead food? Probabaly not because their is no corporatation or bureaucracy to benefit from such info.
Another question Lykke, do you get paid by the post or with a monthly retainer? It looks like I am going to need to find another income source if our slimy governor vetos the raw milk bill here in WI. So I’m wondering if what you do is financially vialble? If the money is good I suppose I could prostitute myself too.
Sylvia, I don’t remember who said it but "If you control the food you control the people" means the other things fall into place once food is controlled.
Tell me Lykke, what is the best way to keep listeria out of raw milk?
David, I’m curious if that is the purpose of this blog? Seems like others (Hartke) already fill the role of pushing raw milk on children. If this is the purpose, combined with denial of outbreaks and blaming people who get sick for being somehow "inferior" due to their immune system…the "enemies" will rally, albeit not through cow parties.
Wayne,
If you have legitimate ideas about how to make raw milk safer, there may be an hourly or monthly niche for your insights 🙂 Stranger things have happened.
WRMC,
At this time, Listeria doesn’t appear to be a major concern in raw milk of the type talked about on this blog (vs. the "bathtub" cheeses, which are a different issue and a different group of consumers). Campylobacter, E. coli O157, and Salmonella are problems in retail and herdshare raw milk that should be addressed by the raw milk community. The fact that they are problems in other foods too does not excuse ignoring the problem in your industry.
They love immune depression and death but can not find it and are extremely frustrated.
They spend their lives trying every moment to discover that brilliant Marler pearl that will sink the Raw Milk Revolution.
The Utah incidents have netted zero hospitalizations and all patients have fully recovered…..yet they lead the news!!
You vultures are Sick and Twisted…..what about the 15 people that died today from Asthma or the 55 Americans that died from MRSA……vultures…. that is your roadkill dead meat.
I know about the asthma patients in CA that did not die….they drink our raw milk!!!
Mark
It is not a mouth piece for freedom condemning immune depression rejoicing FDA surrogates. I speak for our raw milk consumers in CA. we are a tight group that will fight to protect our rights and our childrens and families health and not be passive when vultures circle.
Yes you are free to speak…but be prepared to take a load from me when you do.
Mark
You are absolutely correct.
Note that Lykke thinks it’s ok to feed this particular poison to innocent children:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html
Lykke, what specific steps have you taken to remove this poison from the food supply?
http://www.gotoquiz.com/how_germaphobic_are_you
Ken Conrad
"Lykke, what specific steps have you taken to remove this poison from the food supply?"
Lykke probably never will take any steps toward removing ammonia from food supplies, because it’s "not her job"… or so I seem to remember her saying something along those lines.
She only cares about "protecting" us all from raw milk, remember, at the behest of her masters (whose salaries WE all pay!!).
http://www.leadertelegram.com/news/daily_updates/article_e24cc7b6-6372-11df-9115-001cc4c03286.html
MADISON – Gov. Jim Doyle today vetoed Senate Bill 434 in its entirety on Wednesday. He issued the following statement in a press release:
"I recognize that there are strong feelings on both sides of this matter, but on balance, I must side with the interests of public health and the safety of the dairy industry.
"I am listening to the unanimous voice of public health professionals including leading doctors at the Marshfield Clinic and Gundersen Lutheran Health System who have found the sale of raw milk to have potentially harmful health effects.
"I also have to protect the safety of the dairy industry, which is critical to our state economy. We have worked successfully over the last seven years to modernize Wisconsin’s dairy industry. An outbreak of disease from the consumption of raw milk could harm our reputation for providing healthy dairy products, and damage the entire industry.
"A group of experts will continue to study the question of whether or not the state should allow and regulate the sale of unpasteurized milk in the future. This group will make certain that the concerns and interests on all sides are fully analyzed."
Doyle’s entire veto message:
http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/docview.asp?docid=19596
http://www.wqow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12509410
MADISON (PRESS RELEASE) – Statement from Senator Kreitlow on Doyle Veto of Raw Milk
Senator Pat Kreitlow (D-Chippewa Falls) released the following statement on Governor Doyle’s decision to veto SB 434:
"The Governor’s veto is disappointing to the thousands of farmers and consumers who will continue to be treated like criminals for wanting nothing more than to buy or sell fresh milk off the farm. We introduced this bill because family farmers simply asked for the right to sell their products directly to consumers, a right almost every other business has. They agreed to regulation, they agreed to aggressive testing of their product, and they even agreed to a provision that would force them to fight this all over again in a year. These families, the backbone of Wisconsin agriculture, deserve better.
Unfortunately, in politics, fear and hype will occasionally trump reality and fairness. The reality is that it would be better to set guidelines for private transactions that are going to continue regardless of today’s veto. The fairness to family farmers is lost because of today’s veto, and that is why I call on DATCP to suspend its efforts to treat farmers as criminals when they try to meet the demands of consumers for their products on the farm.
I am proud of the progress we’ve made in moving this issue forward with the help of hundreds of people who put pressure on DATCP to form a task force to study the issue of on-farm fresh milk sales. It is my hope that these next few months will be used by the Department for actual study, not prosecutions of farm families. We will be closely monitoring their work to ensure that farmers’ voices are heard.
My gratitude also goes out to my legislative colleagues who approved this bill by overwhelming majorities in both houses. Representative Chris Danou and Senator Glenn Grothman were strong partners in this effort, and I also thank the committee chairs, Representative Phil Garthwaite and Senator Kathleen Vinehout, for their time and support. I look forward to bringing this issue forward again next year with a new governor and hopefully a new attitude at DATCP that provides more support for farm families and the freedoms they deserve."
"Children were the leading growth demographic for the pharmaceutical industry in 2009"
They can’t blame raw milk on this problem.
When our legislators ceded over law-writing responsibility to agencies, they broke their oaths, made a shambles of our Constitution, and set in motion an (almost) unstoppable power-grabbing juggernaut. The agency system has by now become so ingrained into our culture that our Dr. Frankenstein legislators, who are in fact fully responsible for the monsters they have created, pretend (with impunity!) that they have no control over them. They take no blame for agency failures and respond to complaints of agency injustice by either hiding in their offices or, if it suits their interests, publicly thumping their chests and suggesting that if they were in charge, by God, all would be good and well.
These Washington weasels are obviously in no mood to stand up for the citizens they presumably represent, so it is up to the people to force the issue. The grassroots must act to reclaim their basic rights. Food, and even family, are at stake.
What did not happen in Wisconsin was the holding of open congressional hearings so that an official record could be established.
When Senator Dean Florez ( SB 201 ) called for hearings in Sacramento CA in 2008 the raw milk moms, kids, families, consumers, scientists, producers, retailers, doctors and everyone came and testified….CDFA and the FDA did not come.
The experts made their resounding and profound arguments for raw milk. The university experts even came to make their assessments and pronouncements. In the end…we have a powerful tool in CA….a record of hundreds of peoples testimony and no FDA talking smack or dogma to refute it. They would not dare show up and be jeered out of the hearing because of unsupported comments.
A strong congressional record is what stands to support the legislative movement forward.
Wisconsin has no legislative record with the hard data archived.
This was a weak bill that invited critical attack.
Governor Doyle showed the way forward by saying that a better bill was needed.
I strongly suggest a rubber stamp of the CA system. We are the number #1 dairy state and WI needs to copy our lead. Doyle all but said as much.
Doyle was given a bill that was weaker than CA…how could he sign it? He would have been dogged and flogged for years to come. If WI wants raw milk, the political reality is that the establishment does have everything to do with its passage. Read the letters from industry!!!
Next year…..bring a new raw milk bill and make it better than CA. The senators and the estabishment will have little if anything to say. It will have a much better chance of passing.
You do not want a weak raw milk law….it envites nothing but trouble…trust me. You also must hold hearings and invite everyone to attend and testify….you need doctors and scientists. There are many that support you….
Mark
The WI raw milk proposal was imperfect, but it at least opened an opportunity to bring what was a black market into the light of day.
Keep in mind that in CA you have retail sales of raw milk. In WI, under the proposed (now vetoed) legislation, raw milk could only have been sold on the farm.
It is unfortunate that Governor Doyle caved into the pressure from the powerful dairy processing industry here. I don’t know how many family dairy farms we are going to lose because of his actions. What will Scott Trautman do? Surely DATCP has sinister designs for him now that the bill has been vetoed.
There is talk of the legislature trying to override the veto. There were more than enough votes in the Senate, and nearly enough in the Assembly to do so.
This is a very sad day for WI. Food safety will suffer as the black market in raw milk proliferates without any kind of safety testing. Our dairy reputation will continue to be driven into the ground of mediocrity by the dead milk ideologues.
Rumor has it Doyle is angling for a federal judgeship, like his dad, and I am sure he doesn’t want to do any thing to go against the socialist philosopy of this administration.
The new legislature will be seated January 5th with a new gov and Secretary of Ag. I think that is our next chance in WI to make raw milk legal. What a drainer.
I call it ignorring the back ground noise and feeding the people. Focus on one thing:
….safety, the consumer and their health.
This is WAR and collapse is happening all arround us. Immune systems, banking, employment, our national moral platform, crouded prison systems….you name it.
Prepare now and rest later. This is not paranoia…this is intelligence.
Black Markets…Mooooshine running…..cow shares….pre-authorized, consumer after-hours theft of your raw milk…..what ever it takes. Connect to your consumers and nourish them. They will nourish you. You will be part of the underground grass roots economically alive future.
The establishment is bankrupt and being furloughed and will have less and less energy and resources to fight with you.
Give them no targets by ignorring them and avoiding them.
Do not be where they think you are. Survive and thrive!!
Mark
Work on your reading comprehension skills before calling someone who knows more about raw milk than the majority of the people on this blog ugly, slanderous names ….
What Mark is saying (correct me, Mark, if I am wrong) is that raw milk intended for human consumption as RAW MILK cannot enter pasteurization facilities. It is the raw milk that is intended for cooking (the other raw milk — the raw milk that is intended to be consumed as dead milk) that goes to such places and the REAL RAW MILK that is intended for consumption as RAW MILK is not allowed in pasteurization plants BY LAW in CA. Now, is that so hard to understand? I don’t think so.
Get your facts straight before attacking a person and resorting to childish tactics like name calling.