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Risking Jail to Defend Peaceful Voluntary Exchange
August 16, 2012-Washington, DC (Business Wire)—On August 18, 2012 a group of mothers and others, members of the advocacy groups, the Raw Milk Freedom Riders and Lemonade Freedom Day, will take their raw milk and lemonade to the lawn of the US Capitol to celebrate their right to “voluntary exchange.”
By offering raw milk and lemonade for sale or barter, which is illegal in many places including Washington DC, these mothers and other activists risk criminal charges, and possibly jail. Last August, in a similar protest, three people were arrested for selling 10-cent cups of lemonade.
The lemonade stands and raw milk tasting booths will be set up on the mall at 12:00 noon on the lawn of the Capitol reflecting pool. The approximate location is around 3rd Street Southwest between Maryland and Jefferson in Washington DC.
“The law has turned ordinary people into criminals for engaging in normal human behavior,” says Liz Reitzig, one of the event’s organizers. “I am proud to stand with others as we peacefully do not comply with these laws.”
National Lemonade Freedom Day founder, Robert Fernandes, began his annual event after seeing news reports about children’s lemonade stands being shut down because they did not comply with regulations. “The government has overstepped its boundaries by trying to regulate kids’ lemonade stands and farmers who are feeding their communities. We have the right to engage in voluntary exchange and peacefully obtain the food of our choice from the producer of our choice whether that’s raw milk from a local farmer or lemonade from the children next door without input from regulators.”
Joining the group will be Kristin Canty, director of the critically acclaimed documentary Farmageddon — The Unseen War on American Family Farms. “It is so sad that the Government is abusing its power by conducting armed raids on small farms. They are criminalizing farmers for feeding their communities and criminalizing mothers for trying to feed their families healthy food,” Canty says
James Stewart, the 65-year-old raw "milk man" and founder of Rawesome Foods, was assaulted near his home today by three armed men driving unmarked luxury vehicles with no license plates. Carrying firearms on their hips and dressed in gangster-style street clothes, Satanic T-shirt imagery and tattoos, they claimed to be making an "arrest" and verbally assaulted James, sprayed pepper spray in his face, then forced his head against a car and screamed, according to witnesses, "You better listen to me or you're gonna have a bad f*ckin' day!"
James Stewart's cell phone was on the entire time, and a phone witness told NaturalNews the arrest was conducted "Nazi style." Meanwhile, James was screaming to anyone who would listen, "HELP ME! HELP ME! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?"
A partial video of the incident was captured by a witness. The redness in the face of James Stewart is due to the pepper spray assault. That video link is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYTP9C7jtrI
James was wanted on $130,000 in bail by Ventura County, which had originally put him on $1 million bail -- an amount usually reserved for murderers, rapists or serial killers. James, accused of selling "unpasteurized milk" through Rawesome Foods, was made the target of an FDA-funded and politically motivated attempt to destroy the raw milk industry in California. He has been charged with financial crimes by Ventura County even though there is literally no legitimate evidence whatsoever linking James to any such crimes, and the entire case is already in the process of being unraveled.
In the Ventura case, there is no crime, no evidence, and not even any justifiable reason to arrest James and put him on bail in the first place! The entire thing was utterly fabricated as a publicity stunt to attempt to intimidate would-be raw milk producers.
Bounty hunters drive cars with no plates, carry weapons, intimidate witnesses
In the arrest video, James clearly says, "Sir I was trying to give you the information that I thought Mr. McAfee was giving to me." James is referring to Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures, California's largest organic milk producer. NaturalNews has confirmed that Mark McAfee, among several other people, had helped fund James Stewart's bail bond. According to James Stewart, who phoned from Ventura county jail, Mark McAfee was present at the "arrest" and watched the bounty hunters take James away.
During the so-called "arrest," one of the bounty hunters attempts to verbally intimidate the person filming the video, threatening them by saying, "You're interfering with an arrest, you're blocking traffic." In reality, the bounty hunter never identified himself, never read James any rights and was not involved in any legal arrest whatsoever. The whole thing was a charade carried out by what might appear to a rational person to be armed thugs driving stolen vehicles while impersonating undercover police officers.
In the video, what appears to be a firearm can be seen on the hip of one of the men wearing a pink shirt. At no point during the assault did these men show any badges or identification of any kind. According to California law, "All bounty hunters must carry with them a certification of completion of required courses and training programs."
According to witnesses, these armed men did not produce any certificates at all. Instead, they verbally intimidated the people filming the incident. One of the bounty hunters called the camera person a "retard" for daring to film him.
We can hear on the video another bounty hunter saying, "You're in a lot of trouble, you better get an attorney!" During all this, they are rifling through James' pockets and apparently stealing all his personal belongings. "You are in a lot more trouble than anybody up here," one of them says to James. "You are in a lot of trouble."
Over raw milk? Really? Is this what California has come to now? If you sell unpasteurized milk, you get accosted by three armed men driving unlicensed (stolen?) vehicles, working for the state?
"We are not the police..."
When the witnesses filming the incident asked for the badge numbers of the individuals who claimed to be making an "arrest," they were told, "We're not the police so we're not gonna give you badge numbers."
Later in the video, a close-up image appears for one of the license plates of the luxury vehicles used by the armed assailants. It is clearly an Infinity car dealership plate number KMA-367. The vehicle is a white Infinity luxury sedan.
The other vehicle, which also has no California license plate, is a black sports car. While James is being stuffed into one of the vehicles, one of the bounty hunters calls him a "scumbag."
Public vigil needed
James is currently residing in the Ventura county jail. As NaturalNews previously reported, James was tortured in the Los Angeles jail system for a period of eight days (http://www.naturalnews.com/035208_James_Stewart_torture_county_jail.h...).
James has privately told me, the editor of NaturalNews, that he fears if he is taken back to jail, he will be tortured, subjected to starvation or even murdered by the authorities there. This may be more likely than you think, because the outright criminality of California officials who persecuted James Stewart is now being exposed.
For example, NaturalNews has already exposed Michelle LeCavalier and L.A. district attorney prosecutors for illegally signing search warrants and conducting armed raids on Rawesome Foods even though they had never taken an oath of office as required by California law (http://www.naturalnews.com/036523_Rawesome_District_Attorney_imperson...).
This means the armed raid against Rawesome Foods, the arrest of James Stewart and all the actions taken against him were illegal. Furthermore, James now has a potential multi-million-dollar civil case against Los Angeles County -- and possibly individuals in Ventura County -- for false arrest, kidnapping and violating his civil rights while they were "impersonating" officials.
Given these circumstances, James has legitimate reason to fear that county authorities there -- who almost certainly staged the armed bounty hunter interception of James last night -- may quite literally be trying to kill him.
James told me on the phone many times, "I love live, I will not give up. If they say I committed suicide, it means they killed me, Mike. They're gonna try to kill me."
That James was stuffed into unmarked, unlicensed cars driven by intimidating-looking men carrying weapons and verbally threatening witnesses at the scene only further supports the legitimacy of James' fear.
Let Ventura County know we are watching and that we demand the charges against James be dropped
Here, I ask for your support to let the Ventura County DA's office know we are watching them, and we hold them responsible for the treatment of James.
Call the main DA's office at 805-654-2500 and let them know that you are joining tens of thousands of other people who are watching this and carefully scrutinizing their behavior. The Ventura County case against James Stewart is, I can assure you, utterly fabricated and completely without merit. It should be immediately dropped and James set free.
Here's the full contact information for the Ventura County DA's office:
http://da.countyofventura.org/contact_information.htm
Ventura County has been waging a "war of personal vengeance" against Stewart. Both Ventura and L.A. counties have spent millions of dollars in taxpayer money in an attempt to incarcerate a raw milk man! A senior citizen! The man is 65 years old, utterly non-violent in every way, and yet has been targeted in the most vicious manner by district attorneys who apparently don't have any real criminals to go after.
Questions remain about the "arrest" of James Stewart
Some serious questions emerge tonight from the "hunting down" of James Stewart by Ventura county:
• What crime has James allegedly committed that is so serious it justifies $130,000 in bail bonds?
• Where is the evidence of such crimes? (It doesn't exist!)
• Why are armed individuals who claim to be working for the county running around Ventura with unlicensed vehicles that appear to be stolen off the new car lot of an Infinity dealership?
• Why were these "bounty hunters" dressed in Satanic imagery and sporting gang-style facial hair and tattoos while driving high-dollar luxury cars?
• Why were they so verbally abusive to James Stewart, calling him a "scumbag" if they were just bounty hunters looking to earn a paycheck?
• How were these bounty hunters able to locate James Stewart in the first place? Were they tipped off by someone?
• What will happen to James Stewart in Ventura county jail? Will they torture him? Will they silence him? Will they drop the charges and apologize?
This story is developing here on NaturalNews.com. We will continue to bring you details as we speak with witnesses and investigate more deeply. Share this story. Spread the word: No one who sells real food in California is safe from the "authorities" there. You can and will be targeted, kidnapped, robbed at gunpoint by the police, then tortured in the jail system.
'Thanks to the extraordinarily cruel and vindictive actions of the LA County and Ventura County District Attorneys' offices, California is rapidly losing its reputation as a state that promotes a healthy lifestyle. Instead, the state is becoming increasingly known as "the torture state" where senior citizen farmers and fresh food advocates are imprisoned, tortured, and charged with felony crimes for making fresh milk available to customers.
France, on the other hand, has embraced the health benefits of raw milk. There, innovative dairy farmer Michel Cantaloube has created a raw milk vending machine (see photo below). The vending machine is a tastefully-designed kiosk that blends right into the urban setting, allowing it to be set up on a street corner on a French town or even a major metropolitan area. Customers can purchase whatever quantity of raw milk they wish, and unlike in the United States, they don't even have to go through the bizarre paperwork of owning a "cow share."'
In this exclusive interview, you can hear James Stewart describe, in his own words, the shocking details of prisoner abuse right here in America. Among the highlights from his interview with Mike Adams:
• How James was subjected to severe food deprivation.
• How he was interrogated by deputies and accused of being a "sovereign," then branded with a red arm band (Nazi-style) to falsely indicate that he was a danger to the general population.
• How James was shackled in long chains wrapped around his waist multiple times, then had his hands cuffed behind his back which was bound to the heavy waist chain to restrict his movement. His handcuffs were so tight he thought his wrists would break.
• James was then handcuffed to a cold bench, restricting his movement to just six inches, then left on the bench for 4-5 hours.
• James was then forcibly subjected to various medical tests, including forced chest X-rays even while he was handcuffed.
• He was placed in a cold cell wearing only a T-shirt and pants, where he soon began to suffer from hypothermia and found himself violently shivering just to stay alive.
• How he was made to suffer through total sleep deprivation all night long as other prisoners were screaming and banging on the walls.
• His cell was then flooded with raw human sewage, which flowed into his jail cell 2-3 inches deep, covering his shoes and shirt. LA County jail guards then ordered James to clean up all the raw sewage in his cell by handing him a small hand-held squeegee and demanding that he squeegee out all the raw sewage himself (which he reluctantly did).
• He was then forced to stay in the putrid raw sewage cell for over 30 hours, fighting off nausea and living in bacteriological filth that threatened his health.
• All along, the LA County prison guards gloated over their treatment of prisoners while laughing and joking about their power to subject prisoners to such abuse. This behavior openly mimics that of Gitmo guards who took pictures gloating over their torture and murder of prisoners of war.
• During this entire process, James was not allowed a single phone call nor any visit from an attorney. His right to speak to an attorney was repeatedly denied.
• At no point was James notified of what he was being charged with. He was never presented with an arrest warrant nor were any charges explained to him.
• James was mysteriously "lost" in the system and LA County officials claimed they did not know where he was. This was apparently a deliberate attempt to subject an individual to drawn-out torture without legal representation and make sure no one could locate them to check on their health or arrest status.
"Worse than torture... They're actually torturing you mentally and physically to break you down..."
These are the actual words of James Stewart that you will hear in this interview:
• "I thought I was gonna die in there."
• "It was worse than torture. They're actually torturing you mentally and physically to break you down."
• "I wrote the 'torture' on a piece of toilet paper to try to tell everybody what I had gone through, because I was worried they were going to mentally break me and put me in a psych ward."
• "What I experienced in downtown LA was brutality."
• "It's trauma. And they create this thing where you're not even sure what's coming next. What has this country come to? I don't sleep well at night right now, and I don't think anyone would if they had been what I've been through."
• "I'm shocked that this is America. Because it seems like you're in some third world country, in a gulag, like in the movie Midnight Express, where you're absolutely just tortured. That was the experience I had. Your mind goes, how can this be? This is America?"
NaturalNews calls on Amnesty International, ACLU to intervene
What we are witnessing here is a gross violation of civil rights and human rights, not to mention fundamental due process. The treatment unleashed upon James was not merely against the law in California, it was also a violation of federal law and a violation of the Geneva Convention and its ban on torturing prisoners of war.
"What happened to Stewart is horrendous," health freedom attorney Jonathan Emord told NaturalNews. He's the author of the new book "Restore the Republic" which lays out a plan to overthrow tyranny and restore a government that works on behalf of the people instead of declaring the People to be the enemy.
The bail amount set for James ($1 million) and the torture to which he was subjected clearly indicate that James Stewart is a political prisoner of the State of California, which has decided to spend millions of dollars in taxpayer money to target and incarcerate a senior citizen farmer. (By comparison, bail for alleged child rapist and sex pimp Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State sports coach, was only set at $100,000 and was unsecured!)
NaturalNews calls upon Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union to intervene in this extraordinary violation of basic human rights. For the record, James Stewart has no criminal record and is a permaculture farmer and fresh food advocate. His "crime" consists entirely of arranging for the distribution of raw milk to customers who actually line up to access this nourishing food (people love it!).
NaturalNews has no financial ties to James Stewart nor Rawesome Foods and has been the leading source of free press information covering this story. The mainstream media so far refuses to cover this story, most likely out of financial loyalty to the conventional (processed) dairy industry which stands to lose tens of millions of dollars if raw milk is allowed to be openly and legally sold.
Assistance efforts for James Stewart and Sharon Palmer, the other person arrested in this case, can be emailed to:
friendsofhealthyfamilyfarms@gmail.com
More details to be revealed on national radio Sunday
Mike Adams will be discussing this issue on live national radio, Sunday at 1pm Eastern time, 10am Pacific, on the Robert Scott Bell Show.
Listen in at: www.GCNlive.com
In addition, NaturalNews has forwarded details to producers of the Alex Jones Show with the hope that Alex Jones will want to cover this for his own audience (InfoWars).
Information is also being forwarded to the Ron Paul campaign, as Ron Paul has openly spoken out against the absurdity of laws targeting raw milk producers. As Paul is extremely busy running for President, however, he is unlikely to be able to comment on this particular issue.
Tips have been forwarded to Matt Drudge for his consideration of the issue.
NaturalNews.com continues to be the breaking news source on this story with a voice of liberty and food freedom. Check NaturalNews.com for more details this weekend and all next week.
Action items:
• SHARE this story on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks. You also have permission to download and share the audio files and video files of the interview. Post it on every bittorrent in the known universe...
• Contact your local newspaper editors with letters and opinion pieces to express your outrage at this vindictive arrest and torture of a California farmer.
• Write the officer of Governor Jerry Brown, who has done absolutely nothing to stop this outrageous abuse of California's by rogue DA operatives in both LA and Ventura counties:
http://gov.ca.gov/m_contact.php
• Contact the Los Angeles County DA's office at:
http://da.co.la.ca.us/feedback.htm
• Contact the Ventura County DA's office (which arrested James at his court hearing) at:
http://da.countyofventura.org/contact_information.htm
LA County and Ventura county are engaged in what can only be called a vindictive campaign of hate crimes against raw milk farmers James Stewart and Sharon Palmer. As of late last night, James is free from jail, having spent eight days in what he described to me over the phone as being "tortured and interrogated" by county officials, then shackled for nine hours, unable to move, followed by days in an isolated cell with raw sewage running across the floor, deprived of food and sleep, driven nearly to the point of insanity.
He was subjected to hypothermia and deadly raw sewage pathogens, then required to clean the raw sewage out of his own jail cell using a hand-held squeegee tool. I spoke with James Stewart on the phone today and recorded a 30-minute interview describing the shocking details of this outrageous, inhumane treatment by LA County. That shocking interview will be posted later today on NaturalNews.
California is now a rogue state engaged in torture of innocents -- comparable only to North Korea. The worst part? The entire arrest was public theater and grandstanding by the DA's office, which had no legal basis to arrest James in the first place! Their charges involve a financial matter from 2008 which doesn't even involve James. He was arrested merely for knowing Sharon Palmer, who was also arrested.
NOTE: Cigarettes are known to cause cancer, hence the warning labels on the package and the consumer makes the choice. Why the criminal prosecutions for raw milk, considered safe in the rest of the world, but DANGEROUS & criminal in the US. It's about protecting industrial foods, and chemical manufacturers.
Total cesium is .143 Bq/l, or 3.87 picocuries/l (pCi/l) (1 Bq = 27.1 pCi).
The EPA Maximum Contaminant Level for radioactive cesium in milk is 3 pCi/l:
“EPA lumps these gamma and beta emitters together under one collective MCL [Maximum Contaminant Level], so if you’re seeing cesium-137 in your milk or water, the MCL is 3.0 picocuries per liter; if you’re seeing iodine-131, the MCL is 3.0; if you’re seeing cesium-137 and iodine-131, the MCL is still 3.0.” -Forbes.com
Current levels are about 40% higher than what was detected 6 months ago:
NOTE: Not surprising that the rates are higher, radiation continues to spew 24/7 for 10 months and is accumulating, not diminishing. We drink Raw Goat Milk daily. But the goats have been detoxed prior to milking. Plus we started detoxing, and antioxidant supplementation March 14 and will continue for the rest of our lives.
McAfee explains the early history of pasteurization, which began around 1893 with parboiling. Prior to that, people had brought their cows with them as they settled into cities, and the conditions under which the milk was produced were deplorable.
"In 1812 there was a blockade against Jamaica. We couldn't get rum in the United States and we wanted our rum. So these brewery/distillery dairies started to pop up in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Distiller's grains were fed to cows that had been brought into the city with the city dwellers. It was a cheap feed and the cows would produce milk, but the problem was that cows had never eaten distiller's swill [mostly grains] before … It changed their gut physiology.
They didn't have flushing toilets, no hot water, no chlorine… The cows were milked by hand and [the people] were… carrying tuberculosis, brucellosis. Typhoid was rampant.
On a cold morning people would put their feet in the milk to keep warm when they milked the cow. Filthy conditions!… Fifty percent of the people who drank the swill milk died… In fact it was called 'the milk problem' at the time.
… In 1893 a guy by the name of Coit developed the udder milk… the certified milk; and determined that doctors should prescribe raw milk that comes from clean dairies; grass fed, sunshine dairies with sanitary practices and low bacteria counts… So you had two kinds of raw milk in America…"
Today, the milk from grain-fed cows raised in large confined animal feeding operations (CAFO's), sometimes referred to as factory farms, is rendered safe by heating, while the milk from grass-fed cows raised on smaller, clean farms can be safely consumed without being pasteurized. A difference in safety between the two types of milk is due to the cow's diet and the conditions under which they are raised.
"From the 1910's through 1940s or so, raw milk and pasteurized milk lived in harmony, in parallel. There were thousands of certified raw milk dairies. Raw milk was very popular. It brought a lot of value to the farmer. It brought a lot of nutrition to the consumer. Kids had… no ear infections, asthma, and good immune systems from the good bacteria found in this carefully prepared, approved, physician-authorized milk.
But in 1945, we had World War II… We were bankrupt as a country. We had the industrial revolution. DDT was good for your skin and smoking was good for your health. We really didn't have a deep appreciation for nutrition.
… Young guys would be hurt in battle, get a shot of antibiotics, and they lived. It was miraculous. So mankind had this supercharged, fix-anything mentality [when it came to] industry and medicine… Dirty milk was rendered less important because you could fix it with pasteurization. Why deal with all these quality assurance issues of certified clean milk? So you saw a decline in the certified raw milk movement."
The Reemergence of Raw Milk
It took 120 years, but the benefits of raw milk are finally starting to be understood and acknowledged again. Unfortunately, many are now under the misperception that all raw milk is unclean and unsafe, completely ignoring the circumstances of the debacle that led to the creation of pasteurization in the first place, and the fact that not all raw milk is the same.
In confined animal feeding operations (CAFO's), large groups of animals are kept in a small space, oftentimes without natural light or access to the outdoors. The conditions are filthy, with animals standing in each other's waste. Needless to say, harmful bacteria naturally thrives in these conditions. To combat disease, the animals are fed antibiotics. They may also receive hormones, which increase milk production, and they're fed a diet of grains and soy (most of which is now the genetically engineered variety) rather than grass, which alters their gut flora and makes them even more prone to disease.
As a result, drinking CAFO milk raw would be extremely dangerous. It must be pasteurized for safety. Unfortunately, most of the actual nutrition found in milk is destroyed during pasteurization.
The process also alters the milk molecule and as a result, pasteurized milk tops the list of allergenic foods. Raw organic grass-fed milk, on the other hand, has many well-recognized health benefits and medicinal qualities. According to McAfee, increasing numbers of doctors are now starting to prescribe raw organic dairy for children with asthma, recurrent ear infections or chronic inflammation, rather than just telling them to quit dairy altogether, because they recognize it's not the dairy itself—the problem is pasteurized dairy.
Raw grass-fed milk can even be tolerated by most that are lactose intolerant.
"… [T]wo huge studies were done in Europe – the PARSIFAL study done in 2006, studying 15,000 kids, and the GABRIELA study, which was just completed this year, done in Basel, Switzerland. Peer reviewed, internationally published, wonderful documentation showing that whey protein in raw milk stabilizes mast cells and actually makes asthma get a lot better, and in some cases, completely gone," McAfee says.
"What we have is this polarity, these polar opposites between pasteurized milk, which has lots of dead bacteria… which actually trigger inflammation in your body because your body doesn't recognize these waste products… Your body then reacts by mast cells breaking open, histamines being released, and things like asthma and inflammation flaring like crazy; mucus being laid down, which causes ear infections. Raw milk does exactly the opposite… [T]he milk is alive [with beneficial] bacteria and your body recognizes it… [These beneficial bacteria] colonize and become part of your immune system."
On Raw Milk Safety Standards
McAfee created and published the first international raw milk safety standards. The State of California has set very good, high standards for raw milk producers, but as he traveled around the US and other countries to talk about raw milk, he realized that other areas were sorely lacking in such safety standards. In response to the requests from dairy farmers around the country, he published Raw USA as a guide to producing clean, safe raw milk.
Last year, the publication evolved into The Raw Milk Institute, a non-profit organization (not affiliated with Organic Pastures Dairy), to help establish common standards that all farmers can embrace.
"It's kind of an interesting evolution in the movement, because where you don't have standards you have chaos," McAfee says. "Although the standards don't have to be particularly strict, they need to be there in some kind of guideline form so consumers know what they've got. And farmers can say, that's what I do."
Organic Pastures Latest Victim in Raw Milk War
On November 15, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the California Department of Public Health swooped down on Organic Pastures and recalled all their raw dairy products after five people in four nearby counties fell ill and tested positive for E.Coli O157:H7. The Department of Public Health claimed that the only common denominator between the five victims was that they'd purchased raw milk from Organic Pastures. However, the CDFA itself tests all of Organic Pastures' products for pathogens on a regular basis. And the farm also tests their products with a third- party to ensure its safety.
This is yet another example of how raw milk is almost instinctively pegged as the culprit, even when there's absolutely no evidence.
Meanwhile, just two days after Organic Pastures was shut down without any proof of contamination, RTT News reported that California-based Ready Pac Foods Inc. was voluntarily recalling 5,379 cases of bagged salad due to fears of E. coli contamination after one random FDA sample tested positive for—you guessed it—E.coli O157:H7! The recalled salad products had been sold in California, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Texas, and Washington
On December 12, the CDFA delivered the environmental (food contact surfaces) lab results, which came back negative for E.COli 0157-H7. Third-party lab testing also found no traces of E.Coli.
Finally, after a month-long quarantine, Organic Pastures was cleared and allowed to resume business on December 16. The release from quarantine came on the same day Organic Pastures filed an emergency injunctive relief petition with the Fresno County Superior Court, along with all of the test results showing hundreds of product and facility environmental samples tested negative for E. Coli 0157-H7.
Raw Milk is about as Safe a Food as You Can Find…
While the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claim they're raiding raw dairies out of concern for your health, the facts truly do not support such a harsh stance. Similarly, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have long claimed that between 1998 and 2008, there were two deaths from raw milk. This number is often used in media reporting about raw milk. But those illnesses actually appear to have come from a form of cheese that isn't legal under current FDA regulations, called queso fresco.
What the CDC is telling you about the dangers of raw milk is actually completely contrary to the truth. The truth is that the risk of foodborne illness from many other foods (such as pasteurized milk, mass-produced meat and poultry, and bagged greens) is much greater than from raw milk, provided the raw milk comes from a dairy that adheres to proper raw milk standards. Yet the CDC and the FDA both continue to misuse, manipulate and suppress data in order to frighten the public.
If you want to be afraid of milk, you have far more reason to fear drinking pasteurized milk.
While there has not been one single death due to raw milk between 1998 and 2008, the United States' largest recorded outbreak of Salmonella resulted from pasteurized milk. However, the CDC never issued a specific Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for this outbreak… The incident, which occurred between June 1984 and April 1985, resulted in 200,000 illnesses and 18 deaths! Yet this and other outbreaks of illness resulting from the consumption of pasteurized milk are kept from public knowledge, and escapes warnings from both CDC and FDA.
In fact, they have never issued a warning against commercially pasteurized milk! This is just one example of the CDC's ongoing bias against raw dairy products.
"We haven't seen any deaths from raw milk since the data started being collected in 1973," McAfee says. "[There are] no deaths in the CDC website from raw milk. There have been over 80 deaths from pasteurized milk during that time period if you include the Jalisco cheese incident which killed 50 people all by itself in 1985 – pasteurized milk cheese.
The safety record is really, really good as far death is concerned, but we still see 30 or 40 people a year that get sick from raw milk because of misunderstood or misapplied practices. But it's not rocket science. That's why the Raw Milk Institute was founded; to help farmers get a reference point and help farmers build their food safety plans. Again, they are just daily checklists to make sure that conditions are right so that you have a reliable outcome all the time."
While there are no guarantees of perfection, it's worth keeping in mind that the potential for foodborne illness applies to ANY food. Twenty-five deaths were recently traced back to cantaloupe, for example.
Unfortunately, matters are made worse from consumption of conventionally raised foods laced with antibiotics and pesticides that destroy your delicate gut flora—remember; about 80 percent of your immune system resides in your gut, so maintaining a balanced gut flora is very important. Without it, you can become more prone to foods contaminated with even small amounts of harmful bacteria.
How You Can Support the Raw Milk Movement
"I encourage everybody to go to RawMilkInstitute.org and become a member because not everybody is as privileged as we are in California to have raw milk on shelves and many people embracing it. In the majority of the states, you can't get raw milk," McAfee says.
"We encourage everybody to support it because the only way it's going to fly is by everybody joining together and putting their two cents in. It's important that we all collectively get together on this… Nobody is collecting the information to show that… when you do raw milk for human consumption, it's really safe. We're going to prove that, and show that.
We know it's possible. We have done it ourselves in California… Now we're going to demonstrate it very publicly, to educate the FDA, make them friends of ours, get the legislatures behind us, get regulations behind us, and actually go forward to serve, ultimately, the farmer and the consumer – the two people in the food chain that really matter."
While it can be a challenge finding raw milk in some areas, for the most part, you can access it one way or another no matter where you live. RealMilk.com is a wonderful resource that can help you locate your nearest raw milk supplier in the US.
"It has a national state-by-state layout map of where you can find raw milk," McAfee says. "And even where it's illegal you can connect with somebody. If you want raw milk you can get it. It may not be as convenient in some places but you can certainly find it. The more you go out and buy raw milk and support local farmers, the healthier you're going to be, guaranteed, with very few exceptions.
Most of people, I think you have a challenge with some casein or something in your gut. You have a hard time with raw milk but most people have no problem at all drinking raw milk."
Your Milk on Drugs - Just Say No!
Own this eye-opening documentary on the hazards of milk containing rBGH which includes footage from a
news series prepared for a Florida Fox TV station canceled after they received a letter from
Monsanto’s attorney threatening “dire consequences.
The Health Hazards in Milk from Cows injected with rBGH
Milk from rBGH-treated cows has much higher levels of IGF-1, a hormone considered to be a high risk factor for breast, prostate, colon, lung, and other cancers. IGF-1 levels in milk from treated cows with rBGH can be up to 10 times higher. Studies suggest that pre-menopausal women below 50 years old with high levels of IGF-1 are seven times more likely to develop breast cancer. Men are four times more likely to develop prostate cancer. IGF-1 is implicated in lung and colon cancer.
Milk from rBGH-treated cows with its heightened IGF-1 levels also likely increases the rate of fraternal twin births in humans. In the United States, the number of fraternal twins grew at twice the rate as that in the United Kingdom, where rBGH is banned.
Milk from cows injected with rBGH also has lowered nutritional value, increased antibiotics and more pus from infected udders. Cows given rBGH experience higher rates of mastitis, a painful udder infection. When treated with antibiotics that are also used for people, bacteria resistant to these antibiotics end up in the milk, air, soil and water, resulting in increased antibiotic resistance in humans, a major health problem.
Labels that Lie
Within the US, many school systems have banned milk products from injected cows and dairies have refused to inject their cow with it. But a milk carton from Maine’s Oakhurst Dairy stating, “Our Farmers’ Pledge: No Artificial Growth Hormones” became the subject of controversy when on July 3, 2003 the dairy was sued by Monsanto over their labels. Oakhurst eventually settled, agreeing to add a sentence saying that according to the FDA no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from [rBGH]-treated and non- treated cows. But it’s a statement that is not true.
Both Monsanto and FDA scientists had acknowledged the increase of IGF-1 in milk from treated cows. Higher amounts of pus and antibiotic residues in the milk were noted are as well. This misleading addition to the label was written by the FDA’s deputy commissioner of policy, Michael Taylor, previously Monsanto’s outside attorney who, after running policy at the FDA, became vice president of Monsanto. Could this revolving door between Monsanto and the government regulators (i.e. the movement from positions as biotech leaders to government policymaker and back again) be the one of the reasons why the FDA isn’t protecting US consumers?
The potential link between rBGH and cancer was one of the topics revealed in a four-part news series set to air in February of 1997 by a Tampa-based Fox TV station. Just before the series was to air, however, Fox received threatening letters from Monsanto’s attorney, threatening “dire consequences for Fox News.” The show was postponed indefinitely. The reporters who had created the series later testified that they were offered hush money to leave the station and never speak about the story again. They declined. Read the full detail in this exerpt from Jeffrey Smith's Seeds of Deception.
Progress and New Battles
Over the past few years, several organizations have worked to raise awareness of the rBGH issue, such as the Campaign For Safe Food launched by the Oregon Chapter of the Physicians for Social Responsibility. Getting attention to the rBGH issue was slow at first, but by educating consumers about the health dangers associated with rBGH and producers making rBGH-free brands readily available, we have seen a widespread consumer demand for rBGH free dairy products. Within the last two years, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Kroger, and about 40 of the 100 top dairies removed rBGH products as consumer concerns reached a tipping point on this issue.
The protest sprang from an FDA sting operation on Amish farmer Dan Allgyer's tiny dairy of three dozen cows in Kinzer, Pa., that culminated in a predawn raid on the farm last year. Allgyer had been selling milk to consumers in Maryland who had formed a buying club. None of Allgyer's milk was contaminated. His alleged crime was selling it across state lines.
Raw milk, also known as fresh or unpasteurized milk, comes straight from the cow. Pasteurization kills pathogens by cooking the milk at high temperature. Fresh milk fans say cooking also kills milk's flavor and nutrients. They contend that if similar rules were applied to other foods, sushi, raw oysters and most fresh fruits and vegetables would be banned.
The FDA considers unpasteurized milk unsafe because it is prone to contamination by cow manure, a predominant source of E. coli in food.
The agency has been waging a low-profile campaign to eliminate raw milk, despite rising demand from consumers. Raw milk is legal in California and 29 other states, while 20 states prohibit at least some sales. Raw milk is common throughout Europe, where it is considered essential to fine cheeses, creams and butters.
The FDA did not say anything about its campaign against interstate transport of fresh milk. In June, the agency's food safety chief, Michael Taylor, defended the FDA's actions against raw milk producers, saying, "We believe we're doing our job," and describing his agency's campaign against raw milk producers as "a public health duty." Taylor denied that the agency is spending too much time and money targeting boutique dairies.
"Our main issue is not to legalize something, but to decriminalize it," protester Reitzig said, arguing that the government has no business telling people what they are allowed to eat.
"We are taking a stand for civil rights," said Dennis Winstead, 72, of Silver Spring, Md. "Milk should be legal to drink and sell, not be controlled by the government. They are trying to drive people to large industrial farms that sell a filthy product."
Note: On the one hand a natural raw food, fresh, pure and with 50 nutrients. Or an industrial soup of chemicals, including steroids, vaccines, antibiotics, and GMO Bovine Growth hormone, not to mention the Distiller grains that dairy cattle are fed. Read More
While cow’s milk remains one of America’s most common daily drinks, it is interesting to note that it may also be the reason why many Americans experience gas, bloating, mucous and other forms of indigestion.
Moreover, in a world where the common cow is pumped full of growth hormones, antibiotics, GMO feed, vaccinations and exposed to toxic conditions, it is no wonder that many humans experience negative effects of consuming pasteurized cow milk.
Goat’s milk is a much healthier alternative, especially if it is consumed raw and from a good organic source. The most common form of milk used on a global scale, it is estimated that around three fourths of the milk consumed worldwide comes from goats, not cows. And most of the people drinking this milk are not fat and do not have allergies or digestive complaints.
The Benefits of Goat Milk
Goat’s milk offers a wide variety of health benefits, with very few of the negative side effects of drinking regular cow milk.
1. Natural Anti-Inflammatory
Some research suggests that one of the main benefits of goat milk is that it may hold anti-inflammatory capacities. Another reason why it is easier for people with bowel inflammation to drink goat’s milk, instead of cow’s milk.
2. Environmentally Friendly
Goats requires far less space and food than cows. Typically, you can comfortably raise six goats on the same acreage as two cows.
3. Metabolic agent
Studies done at the USDA and Prairie View A&M University, link goat’s milk to an increased ability to metabolize iron and copper, especially amongst individuals with digestion and absorption limitations. Besides drinking goat’s milk, you can also take a digestive enzymes supplement to help with this also.
4. Bio-availability
Another main health benefit of goat milk, is that it is closer to human mother’s milk than cow’s milk is. Because it has a chemical make up that is much closer to human milk, it is easier to digest and assimilate in the human body.
5. Lower in Fat
Goat’s milk is a great option for people who want to lose weight. It has less fat, but still maintains the high levels of proteins and essential amino acids found in cow’s milk.
When the 20 agents arrived bearing a search warrant at her Ventura County farmhouse door at 7 a.m. on a Wednesday a couple weeks back, Sharon Palmer didn’t know what to say. This was the third time she was being raided in 18 months, and she had thought she was on her way to resolving the problem over labeling of her goat cheese that prompted the other two raids. (In addition to producing goat’s milk, she raises cattle, pigs, and chickens, and makes the meat available via a CSA.)
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.”
North America offers pasteurized or raw milk, they are not created equal, nor is getting raw milk an easy task. During the early 20th century drinking unadulterated raw milk was considered normal and healthy scientifically, legally and medically. Raw milk was considered an expensive medicinal food, straight from the cow, goat or sheep. The famed Mayo Clink Foundation used Raw Milk Therapy on over 18,000 patients for a broad range of disorders.
The fight over raw milk is reaching a boiling point. I believe only 9 states allow the sale of raw milk. Transporting raw milk across a state border is considered the same as drug traffic and with similar punishments. Lining up on one side of the battle are the growing numbers of people who are demanding to choose pure, natural foods.
On the other side are the FDA, Farm Bureau, USDA and the Industrial Food Giants who are financially persuaded to support outlawing pure, natural foods. The FDA has the arrogance to say that the American people do not have a God given right to choose which foods to eat or drink, that they must first seek permission from the FDA.
The American public are considered captive consumers for the pharmaceutical and chemical giants who depend on a legally drug addicted, demoralized, weakened, sickened and uninformed public to suck up their toxins, which keep them raking in billions in yearly profit. I say we can still vote with our dollars and not support the industrial giant companies that do not represent our interests.
