UPDATES ~ US Raw Milk Freedom Riders; Ron Paul's Opinion; Business Under Siege

Raw Milk Freedom Riders Elicit Pledge from FDA Not to Enforce Interstate Ban on Individuals: The scene at the Maryland - Pennsylvania border was almost surrealistic. There, in a beautifully sunny pastoral countryside, under a sign welcoming people to Maryland, about 50 people posed, some holding bottles of milk, others cheering. They were just about to transport their Pennsylvania raw milk into Maryland, in defiance of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulation prohibiting "interstate commerce" in raw milk.

This was a highlight of a long-planned protest of the FDA's heavy-handed clampdown on raw milk, organized by leaders of a Maryland food club whose club was infiltrated by FDA agents during 2010 and 2011 as part of an investigation and court suit against Pennsylvania Amish farmer Daniel Allgyer. The protest leaders, Karine Bouis-Towe and Liz Reitzig, called the 14-vehicle transport caravan the Raw Milk Freedom Riders, and the demonstration that followed, with more than 200 attendees, in front of FDA Silver Spring headquarters the Raw Milk and Cookies Rally. (And both the milk and home-baked cookies at the event were wonderfully delicious.)

Lo and behold, the event elicited something diifferent from the usually sullen or threatening messages common from the FDA-- indeed, reactions that could actually be interpreted as conciliatory, at least in the context of FDA communications. This conrtinues at: http://www.thecompletepatient.com/journal/2011/11/1/raw-milk-freedom-rid... by raw milk and food freedom expert, journalist, newspaper reporter, magazine editor, and writer: David E. Gumpert of The Complete Patient, david@davidgumpert.com, http://www.davidgumpert.com, author of The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America’s Emerging Battle Over Food Rights.
 
Possible Promise of Face-to-Face Discussion with Obtario Premier; Michael Schmidt: "It's Dialog or Death": "Some days I have a bad feeling and some days I have a good feeling," Ontario dairy farmer Michael Schmidt said of his mood as his hunger strike bears on. He is on day 31 of the hunger strike, but the simple fact that he was able to travel to the Raw Milk and Cookies rally in Maryland suggested Schmidt was having a better day. 

Michael Schmidt being interviewed at the rally outside FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, MD. He reported that a growing number of members of Ontario's parliament are lobbying the province's premier, Dalton McGuinty, to meet with Schmidt. He has said he will give up the hunger strike if the premier will meet with him and launch a discussion about how to make safe raw milk available to Ontario citizens.
To those who have pleaded with him to end his hunger strike out of fear the food rights movement will lose its most important leader, Schmidt stated: "The movement can only be strong if there are 1,000 leaders, not one leader. You have to become a leader of your own body."
He intends to press on, he said. "It's either dialog or death."
Michael Schmidt Reported "Tired, But Well" ~ Five Important Lessons We've Already Learned from His Self Sacrifice. As he is in the fourth week of a hunger strike, Michael Schmidt's life still hangs in the balance. This from Jon Duschinsky, a Canadian organizer:

"Spent an awe-inspiring afternoon with Michael & Elisa and other campaigners today. He's doing well. Tired, but well. We taped a little videomessage for all his supporters which should be online tomorrow and there are a LOAD of things in the pipeline for this week. Watch this space - we're hard at work and will have more to share later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks all and keep up the fight!"

No matter how the Michael Schmidt affair ends, it will no doubt mark an important turning point in the food rights movement. And that is exactly as Schmidt would want it.

Here are five of its accomplishments thus far:

1. It has educated thousands of people about the realities of food rights--that we aren't necessarily the final arbiters of what goes into our bodies, and that public health and elected authorities aren't interested in correcting the situation. If a dairy farmer with hundreds of eager consumer share owners can't get a single individual in a position of authority to engage him on safety issues in 17 years of trying, you know something is wrong. And if, after starving himself, those same individuals are still unwilling to talk, well, you begin to realize how high they see the stakes. You understand that Schmidt could have spent several lifetimes just hanging around being polite seeking out someone to speak with him.

2. It has radicalized thousands. Once you realize the authorities are willing to let people die to maintain the existing system, your perspective changes. You don't have to look very far to see how upset people have become about the Michael Schmidt sacrifice. Mark McAfee pointed out in a comment on this blog how he had lost his appetite. I had a similar reaction. One woman on the "Support Michael Schmidt" Facebook page stated: "All of this is making me so emotionally exhausted! But, I am NOT complaining, what Michael and his family are going through must be unimaginable!"

3. It has elevated the issue of food rights to a new level. No longer will food rights simply be about accessing raw milk. Increasingly, it will be seen for what it is--the right of each individual to decide what foods should go into their bodies...and which should not. For a long time, I felt as if I was the only one writing regularly about this issue. It's gratifying to see a variety of bloggers, and even establishment media, taking note.

4. It has forced the beginning of important organizational work. No movement can go very far without serious organization. Sure, the efforts of the last couple weeks sometimes appear more like uncontrolled chaos. Some people pleading for a concerted media campaign. Others pleading for donations for Schmidt's legal campaign. Still others trying to organize a day of fasting.  But any number of people have gotten their feet wet on political organizing, and made contacts with individuals similarly inclined. The effective use of social media has been important. More significant, a cadre of leaders is emerging in both Canada and the U.S., which will hopefully prove important in promoting new efforts beyond Michael Schmidt's hunger strike.

5. We see how far we have to go. It's sobering, but important, to appreciate that this fight won't be won because a few public officials or judges will suddenly become sympathetic with Michael Schmidt's plight. They will do what their financial sponsors tell them to do...until they see their actual power being threatened because they are losing votes, or sponsor financing.

For those wondering how they might join in the efforts, Ann Marie Michaels at Cheeseslave has some excellent advice. We don't know yet the outcome of this high-stakes drama. But Michael Schmidt has already performed a huge service to many thousands, and eventually millions, of people.
10 Ways to Help Michael Schmidt
1. Join Our Facebook Group http://www.facebook.com/groups/252024518183380/
Follow the link and click the Join button at the top right. (It’s not super obvious so if you have any trouble, comment below and I’ll walk you through.) Example shot of Facebook here below

Join the Facebook group

2. Add Your Friends to the Facebook Group
Once you’ve been added, add your friends and fellow raw milk supporters to the group. http://www.facebook.com/groups/252024518183380/
Just click the +Add Friends to this Group button at the top right and add everyone you know who loves raw milk.
3. Change your Facebook Profile Picture to a Picture of Michael Schmidt
When you change your profile photo, people see it in Facebook feed updates.
Change your photo to Michael Schmidt and post on your wall about why you are changing your profile photo — in solidarity with Michael Schmidt.
Ask your friends and fellow raw milk supporters to change theirs profile pictures, too.

Look at all those pictures of Michael popping up!

Got Freedom? This makes a great Facebook icon

When you change your photo, it shows up in the Facebook feed

You can grab photos of Michael from the Raw Milk Facebook page

 
4. Email Dalton McGuinty
Michael’s one request is a meeting with him and this will END the hunger strike:
Here’s an online form you can use — it’s so easy! I’m committing to emailing him every day until the hunger strike ends.
https://correspondence.premier.gov.on.ca/en/feedback/feedback.aspx
Or you can use this email address: dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org.
Consider emailing him every day, and more than once a day if possible.
 
5. Tweet Dalton McGuinty
We tried posting on Dalton McGuinty’s Facebook page but all of our comments have been deleted and we have been blocked from the page. Nice, eh?
So Twitter is the best option. They can delete our Facebook comments but they cannot delete our tweets!
I tweet daily and retweet all tweets about Dalton McGuinty, raw milk and Michael Schmidt.
Click here to send him a tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/Dalton_McGuinty
Click here to see what other people are tweeting to Dalton McGuinty: http://twitter.com/#!/search/dalton_mcguinty

Add #rawmilk and Please Retweet on your tweets. Also please RETWEET any tweets you see about #rawmilk and Dalton_McGuinty. Go to my Twitter page — I’m retweeting everybody — and just hit the RETWEET button on all relevant posts.
 
6. Call Dalton McGuinty
416-325-1941, Get him on your speed dial. I’m committed to calling every day starting on Monday (you can’t call on weekends — they don’t have voice mail set up).
 
7. Fax Dalton McGuinty
(416) 325-3745, Don’t just fax once day. Fax multiple times per day. Imagine how annoying it will be to get piles of faxes every day from all around the world.
If you don’t have a fax machine, sign up for http://faxzero.com/ It’s free! I haven’t started faxing yet but I am going to start sending daily faxes today.
 
8. Write Letters to Dalton McGuinty
Premier Dalton McGuinty
Room 281, Main Legislative Building, Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A1
The clock is ticking so you may want to send your letters by FedEx. If you live in Canada, maybe you could mail him empty milk bottles, or drop by his office and leave them for him with a message asking him to meet with Michael Schmidt.
 
9. Do a Raw Milk Fast This Tuesday
Join us on Tuesday for a raw milk fast in solidarity with Michael: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=239117019478021
If you don’t have access to raw milk or can’t fast for health reasons, sign up anyway and ask your friends on Facebook to join us.

 
10. Write Letters, Call and Fax Other Representatives
Deborah Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-term Care
dmatthews.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
10 th Floor, Hepburn Block
80 Grosvenor Street
Toronto, Ontario M7A 2C4
Tel.: 416-327-4300
Fax: 416-327-3679
Margarett Best, Minister of Health Promotion
mbest.mpp@liberal.ola.org
8 th Floor, 777 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1S5
Tel.: 416-326-8500
Fax: 416-326-8520
Linda Jeffrey, Minister of Natural Resources
(e-mail address not listed on website)
Suite 6630, 6 th Floor, Whitney Block
99 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1W3
Tel.: 416-314-2301
Fax: 416-325-5316
Federal Cabinet Ministers:
Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health
leona.aglukkaq@parl.gc.ca
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Tel.: 867-979-4193
Fax: 867-979-4196
Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
gerry.ritz@parl.gc.ca
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Tel.: 306-445-2004
Fax: 306-445-0207
These suggestions from http://www.cheeseslave.com/2011/10/22/end-the-hunger-strike-10-ways-to-support-raw-dairy-farmer-michael-schmidt/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Cheeseslave+%28CHEESESLAVE%29 - Ann Marie Michaels in Los Angeles.
*******************
Previous Updates: “If we are not even free anymore to decide something as basic as what we wish to eat or drink, how much freedom do we really have left?” Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) in his May 16 Texas Straight Talk. He was referring to the Food and Drug Administration’s ban on the interstate sale of raw milk - milk that has not been pasteurized. The FDA believes raw milk is unsafe because it “can carry dangerous bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria, which are responsible for causing numerous foodborne illnesses.” The agency also claims that raw milk is no more healthful than pasteurized milk.
The FDA instituted the interstate milk sales ban in 1987 but didn’t really begin enforcing it seriously until 2006. Then, in typical ham-handed government fashion, it went overboard, not merely issuing warnings or levying fines (which would have been bad enough) but engaging in sting operations and armed raids of dairy farmers and their willing customers.

Last year, for example, Los Angeles police officers, FBI agents, FDA agents, and even one Canadian bureaucrat, guns at the ready, raided Rawesome Foods in Venice, California. The store’s crime: selling raw milk, which might contain dangerous bacteria, to people who knew full well what they were purchasing. If the enemy is bacteria, then “why,” asked one Rawesome member, “do you need guns?”

Congressman Paul recounted a similar 2011 incident: "On April 20th, after a year-long undercover sting operation, armed federal agents acting on behalf of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raided the business of Pennsylvanian Amish farmer Dan Allgyer to prevent him from selling his unpasteurized milk to willing, fully-informed customers in Maryland. Federal agents wasted a whole year and who knows how many of our tax dollars posing as customers in order to catch Allgyer committing the “crime” of selling his milk. He was not tricking people into buying it, he was not forcing people to purchase it, and there had been no complaints about his product. These were completely voluntary transactions, but ones that our nanny-state federal government did not approve of, and so they shut down his business. The arrogance of the FDA and so many other federal agencies is simply appalling. These types of police state raids on peaceful businessmen, so reminiscent of our tyrannical federal drug war, have no place in a free society."
Michael Tennant's reporting on raw milk continues at: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/7558-fda-raw-ron-paul-v-milk-police
****
from: http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/news/news-12july2010.htm
There's "A Strong Case for a National Dairy Association - One of the things Ontario Judge Paul Kowarsky marveled at when he ruled in favor of raw dairy farmer Michael Schmidt and his herdshare arrangement last January was that there was "no evidence of any illness" in the 16 years the farmer and government authorities battled over availability of raw milk. Moreover, tests by the regulatory authorities never found any evidence of pathogens.

The other side of that observation by the judge is that, when a case involving raw milk comes up for court consideration, there damn well better not be evidence of illnesses lurking in the background (not that it guarantees a win, by any means). Or, to put it another way, just a few bad apples - farmers whose milk causes illnesses - can make things very difficult for the vast majority of dairy farmers who are being meticulous in ensuring their milk is produced according to the highest possible safety standards.

Unfortunately, there are a few producers who are creating all kinds of problems for the vast majority of raw milk producers. I don't mean to suggest anyone is doing anything intentional, but definitely in this business, shit does happen. Complicating the situation, there are many who don't want to admit that raw milk can become contaminated with pathogens and result in illness.

In that vein, I want to thank Blair McMorran (of the Raw Milk Association of Colorado) for sharing with us (in a comment following my previous post) her candid assessment of the recent illnesses attributed to raw milk in Colorado: "In this case, certain standards of production were not followed...more outbreaks will happen unless we focus on herd health before consumer demand."

She concludes by making the case for a raw dairy association with teeth: "We need more testing, more administration, website function, more educational brochures, some training videos, and more part-time help - including a field-worker who can go onsite and help new producers."

Why not a national raw dairy association? Every other food category has an association of some type. At least some of the good ones establish standards of excellence that everyone has to abide by to remain a member in good standing. Yes, it costs money. But there's money to be made in producing safe high-quality raw dairy products. An active and credible association helps to politically protect the industry. Just like any other industry association."
****
"I have just accomplished what might be called "a minor tuneup" on my book, The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America's Emerging Struggle Over Food Rights. The book is going into a second re-printing, and the publisher gave me the opportunity to do some minimal but important updating. Many thanks to those who have so enthusiastically supported the book's publication. There'll be lots more copies out there, so feel free to tell your friends about it." Go to http://www.davidgumpert.com for lots more...

****
Doing Business Under a State of Siege: Looking Beyond the Scare Tactics Being Used By the Regulators in WI, CA, MN

Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures Dairy Co. with actor and comedian George Lopez, sponsor of the George Lopez National Kidney Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic in Toluca Lake, CA, in May. I've wanted to write on the tremendous business opportunity represented by raw dairy, and nutrient-dense foods in general. Each time I started writing, though, there seemed to be yet another government raid on a dairy or a food club.

Just today, agents from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection, accompanied by eight police officers, executed a search warrant on Vernon Hershberger, a dairy producer who's been resisting government efforts to shut down his farm store. According to one witness, the police surrounded the store and warned off anyone who tried to approach. They had previously been frustrated in trying to enter the store because the warrant didn't give them authorization to use force, and the store had been locked. But this time, they used the element of surprise to accomplish their goal. They confiscated a computer and several boxes of business records, but took no food. Presumably DATCP wants to make a case that Hershberger violated the ban on sales of raw dairy by breaking the seals on his coolers applied by DATCP agents.
In recent weeks, we've seen raids on food clubs in Minneapolis and Venice, CA, and on farms related to these clubs in Minnesota and California. Kind of makes you wonder... why are judges issuing search warrants as if they are grocery store discount coupons?
Clearly, the authorities are trying to scare producers and distributors away from producing raw milk and from organizing private groups seeking to guarantee themselves a supply of food unavailable in supermarkets.
What to do?
It's certainly easy for me sitting at my computer to exhort others to continue the fight but there are multiple ways to fight the fight. "Yes, the authorities are waging a more intense campaign against small farmers. Those that are plucked up in the storm must need to fight the gale, but it seems wise for many others to hunker down and weather the onslaught... after all, as long as people are getting their food, that is what it's all about."

To the extent Milk Farmer is encouraging people to not be scared off, to fight the fight by pushing good food into the system partly as an act of defiance and liberation, and partly as an act of economic independence, I'm with him. And if more people can make a decent living and keep money in their local communities, why, it's even more of a bonus.

A woman on a foodie listserve wrote this comment recently from a state where Whole Foods pulled out of the raw milk market: "I have been selling raw milk for about four years, minimally. It has now shot up enormously since Whole Foods stopped selling here. I can't keep milk in the fridge. Years past I had a freezer full of it by this time of the lactation. I'm kind of stuck between trying to accommodate (more milkers) to turning people away (staying small)."
I was one of those that was very pissed at Whole Foods for pulling out of the raw milk business, but when I read the preceding testimonial, it occurred to me that, from a business perspective, the grocery chain has helped create a major business opportunity for dairies producing raw milk. As I wrote in May, primary demand for healthful food is exploding. Rapidly increasing numbers of people are coming to understand both the problems of the factory food system, and the health benefits of locally produced nutritionally dense food. All this is happening at a time when corporate behemoths like Whole Foods and Organic Valley are pushing back from raw milk. (And Whole Foods is pushing back in general from living foods, with its ban on kombucha sales.)

In business terms, the Whole Foods and Organic Valleys of the world are creating a huge vacuum. Organic Pastures Dairy Co. in California has been masterful, from a business perspective, of "branding" raw milk, even going so far as making it a major cache' item at a celebrity golf tournament http://www.organicpastures.com. Above, you see Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures with actor and comedian George Lopez, sponsor of the George Lopez National Kidney Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic in Toluca Lake, CA, in May. I mean, did you ever think you'd see a raw milk brand prominent at a golf tournament?

While Mark McAfee has paved the way via aggressive marketing of raw milk as a healthy food, smart farmers like the one I quoted earlier in this post are moving in and filling the vacuum.

There are a couple of special wrinkles about the nature of the business opportunity being created by raw milk.
On the positive side, it is feeding off a major reorientation of the food distribution system. Gwen Elderberry put it well in a comment following my post in May about the business aspects of the raw milk market: "I discovered that the local community was much more tenuous and interconnected than I had realized. There are more people than I ever imagined who are interested in co-op'ing local food; people I didn't think would be remotely interested. I worked in this area as a home care nurse for several years. I picked the brains of the elderly, the infirm, and those who cared for them. Even if the government raided any one person's farm, the rest would quietly pitch in and replace them. Gosh, in some ways not even dealing with food, but with home care, they already have! It is a huge discovery for me. I don't NEED to think of it as a black market."
On the negative side, raw milk has a safety problem. People can debate all they want about how dangerous raw milk really is, and about what the data do or don't show, and about whether raw milk is to blame in certain incidents, but the fact is that raw milk is under the microscope, as it were. And what has happened over the last year is that there have been some notable outbreaks attributed to raw milk affecting sizable groups of people. Most recently, there have been outbreaks very likely attributable to raw milk contamination in Minnesota and Colorado. Once again from a business perspective, the regulators, dairy industry, product liability lawyers, and others who oppose raw milk are using the outbreaks to lift the pasteurized milk brand, and denigrate the raw milk brand.
The practical problem raw dairy producers face is this: How do you deal with legitimate safety issues while under a state of siege? The regulator/public health communities may carp about safety, but these people really don't want raw dairy producers to succeed. If they do, these regulators know they'll find other excuses to come down on the producers.

All this doesn't mean producers shouldn't pay attention to safety; they should, but it should be because they care about their customers and don't want to get sued, not because they expect anything in return from the authorities.
My sense is that everyone involved in the production and distribution of nutrient-dense foods will need to become ever more conniving to survive. As Gwen Elderberry suggests, this isn't unlike fighting a guerrilla war. Fighting a guerrilla war requires more than business smarts. More on that upcoming.
 

Sharon Palmer Is Left to Wonder If She's a Main Actor, or a Bit Player in a More Intricate Plot
When the approximately twenty agents arrived at her farmhouse door at 7 a.m. last Wednesday - from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Ventura County sheriff, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture - Sharon Palmer didn't know what to say. She had just the previous day pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of mislabeling goat's milk cheese that took more than a year to materialize from two previous raids in late 2008 and 2009, pushed by CDFA. She thought that at the least the authorities would leave her alone until that case was resolved, since she had made no attempt to get back into her original business of selling raw goat's milk and cheese.
But her 12-year-old daughter, Jasmine, wasn't the least bit tongue-tied. "She started back-talking to them," recalls Palmer. "She said, 'If you take my computer again, I can't do my homework.'" This would be the third computer we will have lost. I still haven't gotten the computers back that they took in the previous two raids." (I wrote several posts about Sharon Palmer after the first raid, and then about her ongoing legal problems - http://www.thecompletepatient.com)

Alas, the agents took nearly six hours to conduct their "search," and took the replacement computer, along with goat's milk Palmer feeds her chickens and pigs, since she can't sell it - "The chickens get the curd and the pigs get the whey," she told me.

The raid last Wednesday on Sharon Palmer's farm was carried out on the same day as a raid on Rawesome Foods, the Venice, CA, buying club run by nutritionist and raw-food advocate Aajonus Vonderplanitz. The main difference seems to be that her raiding party didn't include agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and Canada, as did the Rawesome raid.

Because the CDFA had previously suspended her dairy license, in late 2008, Palmer says she had worked hard to survive without selling dairy products, instead selling beef, pork, chickens, and eggs she raises on the farm. "They nearly forced me out of business with the previous raids," she says. She and her three children "are barely surviving."

She had continued providing milk to Vanderplanitz's Rawesome as part of a previously existing herdshare arrangement. "I'm not part of Aajonus' business," Palmer told me. He and other owners of the goats "have their herdshare and pick up their milk here." They even do their own bottling.

The search warrant, executed by a CDFA agent, refers to "ongoing criminal actions since January 2009." She says one of the agents said it was ongoing "about cheese and milk." When she inquired of the man who identified himself as being with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office as to why they were after her again when all she was doing was fulfilling terms of a herdshare agreement, he said, "We don't agree you can have a private membership."

What's perhaps most astonishing to Palmer is that, at a time when California state and local agencies are announcing mammoth layoffs - more than 200,000 state employees have been furloughed - an assortment of agencies are throwing huge amounts of manpower at her and Aajonus Vonderplanitz.

"They can afford to have between both locations (Rawesome and Palmer's farm) 65 different people spend a day. And how much time was spent preparing everything? Who authorizes that kind of money from Los Angeles County to go through my receipts?...It's not about public safety. These are all private members. I could see if I was peddling milk to the public, but I'm not. It's disgusting that they can abuse public funds for something that doesn't involve public safety."

Her main hope is that by going after Aajonus Vonderplanitz and his food club, authorities might at last rile up consumers enough that they will contact their local politicians, and force authorities to explain what is driving such a high-priority investigation. Following the previous raids on her farm in late 2008 and early 2009, she says she didn't see much evidence of consumer support. "People tend to stand back," she says.

Vonderplanitz, for his part, is threatening to sue government agencies for the attack on the food club. He said in a statement over the weekend, "The club is severely in debt because of the confiscation of members' food. The warrant stated that authorities could take samples (vials) but they took 17 huge coolers of product." He added: "Several of the volunteers for our club, including me (I do not make one cent from anything distributed at Rawesome and I pay for farmers' services like everyone else), conferenced with several attorneys and paralegals. We have decided to sue the government for their violations."

Vonderplanitz had previously stated that his nonprofit organization, Right to Consume Healthy Food, "contracts with farmers (including Palmer's) to lease their animals and/or fields and owns the produce of those animals and fields. Therefore, all members of all clubs owns the produce, not the farmer. The farmer does not sell people anything but gets paid for his services to cultivate, grow, harvest, board and care for animals, collect, package and ship the produce owned by club members."

For all the dust and confusion raised by last week's raids, I'd say one major target is the entire herdshare/buying club structure. And don't be surprised if there are others.

The Vonderplanitz Affair - "They Have Come to My Backyard to Cut Off the Legs" - of Food Rights Movement
From the Aajonus Vonderplanitz raw milk web site, www.rawmilk.org. The question I keep asking myself about the raid Wednesday on Rawesome Foods is this: why is the government confronting Aajonus Vonderplanitz?

Certainly officials had to know going into his private food outlet in Venice, CA, that they were taking on someone who is both extremely knowledgeable about the laws and also more than willing to challenge the authorities.
Quite simply, Vonderplanitz won't take grief from anyone, least of all public health regulators. He's already made that clear. Yesterday, his lawyer walked out of a hearing scheduled by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. "That hearing was to occur less than 24 hours after the raid; impossible, no sane court would support such brief notice," he says.
Moreover, according to Vonderplanitz, the search warrant used in the Wednesday raid claims the buying club was "used as the means of committing a felony." Serious allegation.
In an email to members explaining the events of the last couple days, Vonderplanitz says he previously confronted the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in 2005, when it tried to shutter Rawsome, quoting from a letter he sent then:

"Without intending to be antagonistic, we must face the legal implications regarding your trespassing onto that property clearly posted as no trespassing. Seven of the members testified that you enter the posted NO-Trespassing premises without permission or warrant. Four of them testified that they told you to leave the property immediately but you refused and did not leave for about 30 minutes. That was antagonism and harassment against us. We are willing to forgive your trespass unless you and the county continue to harass us. Resultantly, the Hearing Notice is without legal merit. This letter and supportive document have explained everything that you would have learned in a hearing and we choose not to attend."

In his email, Vonderplanitz asks, "Why, five years later, is the county attempting to close Rawesome?"

He offers some possible reasons, including his backing of raw dairy farmers who have been targeted by federal and state officials in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Government officials "are upset," he states.

But beyond those immediate issues, wonders Vonderplanitz, "What is the larger picture/story here?"
He offers his ideas: "We must consider that the government is aligned with Big Dairy and has clandestine representatives in government. They want to continue to monopolize dairy and regulate it to the point that small dairy farmers cannot survive with or without them. The proverbial thorn in their sides is the healthy raw dairy movement. It has also been suggested and argued by many people that there exists a ruling class that wants to dumb-down everybody so that they can be easily controlled. The greater civilization grows in numbers, the more they feel the need to control people. Lowering people's health results in a weak populations that is not going to have the health, energy and time to stop politicians from stealing tax dollars for banksters,"
He also argues that local government agencies are doing the work of the federal government because they are so dependent on government funds.

His conclusion: "Obviously to me, they have come to my backyard, Los Angeles, to cut off the legs of Right to Consume Healthy Foods/me. (RTCHF is his nonprofit organization that sponsors other private food organizations.) They want to win this here so they can establish precedents. We cannot allow that to happen. It will affect everyone in USA and Canada."

I wonder if there's another factor here that Vonderplanitz doesn't allude to directly. If you read through his buying club membership materials, he takes what many in public health would consider to be a radical view of food rights. The application says the member wants food that is not only free of chemicals and undue heating or cooling, but also "may contain microbes, including but not limited to salmonella, E.coli, campylobacter, listeria, gangrene and parasites..." In other words, don't try to give us protection we don't want.
This promises to be a protracted battle. Vonderplanitz invites those who want to support his legal efforts to contribute through his web site - http://www.rawmilk.org.

by David E. Gumpert, david@davidgumpert.com and http://www.davidgumpert.com

He is a journalist, author and writer - http://www.thecompletepatient.com. When he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001, he received his first introduction to the business of health care - in doing research into his prostate cancer. Surgery was indicated and the best approach for him. But his research also indicated that surgical outcomes varied widely, with some patients experiencing both urinary and sexual difficulties post-surgery. Most troubling, his research suggested that surgical outcomes in his home area of Boston were worse than in other areas of the country. So he went scouring around looking for a top-notch surgeon. At one point, he was considering a highly-recommended New York City surgeon, who wanted $11,000 for the surgery, with half in advance. He went to his HMO to seek permission to have the surgery done outside its network, so the expenses would be covered. He didn’t foresee any problems - he figured they’d appreciate the disparity he'd uncovered in surgical results and would have the same interests as he did: that he not subject himself to unnecessary risks and that he receive the best care possible - but  permission denied. “We feel the care here is equal to what you’d receive elsewhere.”

As things turned out, he had an opportunity to switch insurance coverage just before his surgery, but the experience stayed with him and he has become ever more interested in the business of health care.
more raw milk articles at:
UPDATES ~ Prosecution of Raw Milk Farmer in BC - http://www.thehealingjournal.com/node/1364
Raw Milk Supply - http://www.thehealingjournal.com/node/159
RAW MILK - Michael Schmidt Wins in Ontario; in BC the Fight Has Just Begun - Update - http://www.thehealingjournal.com/node/1212
Drugged Milk is Dangerous - Corporate Manipulation - http://www.thehealingjournal.com/node/999
U~moo's classes in Vermont & Beyond Milk Politics: Raw Dairy "Pet Food" - http://www.thehealingjournal.com/node/942
Raw Milk Stories - http://www.thehealingjournal.com/node/930
Raw Milk Intolerance Continues Unabated in Ontario - http://www.thehealingjournal.com/node/906
Raw Milk  Cow-ops Still Under the Gun - http://www.thehealingjournal.com/node/897
RAW versus PASTEURIZED MILK - http://www.thehealingjournal.com/node/158
A Raw Milk Story With an Almost Happy Ending - http://www.thehealingjournal.com/node/1211    
editor's note:
and if you live in BC and want to drive over the border and PURCHASE raw milk in Washington State! Heaven forbid! Then take back 20kg per person - your right! Here are the addresses: check for days and times of business
straight from the farm - Jackie's Jersey Milk "Healthy Milk From Healthy Cows" - info@jackiesjerseymilk.com, 5424 Aldrich Rd., Bellingham, WA 98225, (360) 398-1889 (message),
and
Anacortes Health Food Store
1020 77th St.
Anacortes, WA 98221
Contact Don @ 360-293-8849
 
Belfast Feed Store 
6200 North Green Rd,
Burlington WA 
360-724-3075                                  
 
Bromley's IGA
315 Cherry St.
Sumas, WA 98295
Contact Bob @ 360-988-4721

Community Food Co-op
1220 N. Forest St.
Bellingham, WA 98225
Contact Chuck @ 360-734-8158

Community Food Co-op
315 Westerly Rd.
Bellingham, WA 98226
Contact Emily or James @ 360-734-8158

Emilkman.com
Home Delivery
Contact Rod @ 206-650-3501

Garden Treasures
3328 State Rt. 530
Arlington, WA 98223
Contact Mark Lovejoy @ 360-435-9272

Green Barn
8858 Guide Meridian Rd.
Lynden, WA 98264
Contact Dave or Tim @ 360-318-8869

Greenhouse Nursery
Oak Harbor, WA
Contact Meredith Green @ 360-969-6412

Laurel Farm and Western Supply
325 W. Laurel Rd.
Bellingham, WA 98226
Contact @ 360-398-1216

Terra Organica
1530 Cornwall Ave. Suite 101
Bellingham, WA 98225
Contact Brittany @ 360-715-8020