Re: Raw Milk Madness in SE Wisconsin and campylobacter case

[Guest guest]

Folks,

Here is 1) a comment (1000 character limit!) I left with the

Fond du

Lac

Reporter newspaper in response to their reporting the campylobacter

cluster in WI and 2) a letter to the editor of the same paper (it's too

long, but what the heck). This was today before I read nne's post

about larger issues at play in WI.

1) Campylobacter is one of the most common causes of diarrheal illness in

the US. The vast majority of cases occur as isolated, sporadic events,

not as part of recognized outbreaks. Common routes of transmission are

fecal-oral, person-to-person sexual contact, ingestion of contaminated

food or water, and the eating of raw meat. Unless milk is tested to

confirm the presence of the pathogen, it is unfair to emphasize raw

milk's role. Just as likely milk was not the cause. Was the raw milk

produced for direct human consumption? Likely not. More common: Dairy

workers or dairy farm families draw raw milk out of the bulk tank and

take it home to consume. This is risky behavior. This milk is for

shipping to a facility for pasteurization. Raw milk for human consumption

is handled extremely carefully with strict procedures. Reporting on

outbreaks linked to raw milk routinely omits these details and serves to

paint all raw milk with a broad brush of suspicion. This is not

justified.

2) To the Editor,

I am a raw milk drinker in Washington State. I raise my own goats

for my milk supply. I experience very good health and I attribute this in

large part to my daily consumption of raw milk and home-made raw milk

cheese. I am also an advocate for the right of people everywhere to have

access to clean, fresh raw milk. As an advocate, I have trouble with

aspects of the reporting of the campylobacter outbreak in Wisconsin,

allegedly linked to raw milk. Irresponsible reporting of illnesses

related to raw milk can create unwarranted fear and distrust of raw milk.

This does a disservice to responsible raw milk producers and consumers

wherever the sale of raw milk is legal, either retail or through dairy

co-ops (shareholder dairies where the consumers cooperate to maintain a

dairy herd in exchange for milk).

Your report seems to be based entirely on a press release from the

Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection

(

http://www.datcp.state.wi.us/press_release/result.jsp?prid=2351 ).

There is much information missing from the Department's report. First of

all the Department fails to state, as does the Center for Disease

Control, that " campylobacter is one of the most common causes of

diarrheal illness in the United States. The vast majority of cases occur

as isolated, sporadic events, not as part of recognized outbreaks. "

The common routes of transmission are fecal-oral, person-to-person sexual

contact, ingestion of contaminated food or water, and the eating of raw

meat.

According to the Department, a common thread among the 13 cases

was that they said they, or someone in their home, had consumed raw milk.

Okay, given. But since water is also a common source of the

contamination, it seems to me just as valid to ask these people whether

they, or anyone in their household, had consumed water, or had sex, or is

lax about hand washing after using the toilet and report that also. One

might find some correlations among answers to these questions as well.

Unless the milk is tested to confirm the presence of the pathogen, it is

unfair to emphasize raw milk's role. The milk was just as likely not to

have been the cause. There is an institutional bias in many health

bureaucracies against raw milk and this is reflected in the Department's

emphasis on the raw milk link to the exclusion of the other possible

vectors.

Another piece of missing information is whether all the raw milk

consumed originated from the same dairy. I find this to be a glaring

omission. I also find it troubling that your newspaper failed to

investigate on its own to answer such a basic question as this. The

Department and your article said the people affected were " in

southeastern Wisconsin " . Well, that is a big place. Were they from

the same town? You report " others in the same households fell

ill " . How many of the confirmed cases were in the same household?

Don't you have reporters working for you that can answer these basic

questions before publishing an article in your newspaper, or are you just

a free printing service for the state government? One of the main

purposes of journalism is to keep government accountable. Parroting for

the government does not serve this purpose.

The next, perhaps most crucial piece of missing information is

whether the raw milk in question had been produced with the intention

that it be for direct human consumption or whether it had been produced

by a commercial dairy for shipment to a processing facility for

pasteurization. Although raw milk for human consumption cannot be sold

legally in WI, there are some shareholder dairies operating legally. Was

the milk from one of these? Likely it was not. It is far more common for

dairy workers, or members of dairy farm families who own or work for

dairies producing raw milk intended for pasteurization at a central

facility, to draw some of the raw milk out of the bulk tank and take milk

home to consume. This is risky behavior. Raw milk that is produced in a

facility where the milk is intended for direct human consumption is

handled extremely carefully and the protocols and procedures are much

more strict than at dairies where the milk is shipped out for further

processing and not intended for consumption in its raw state. But much

reporting on alleged outbreaks linked to raw milk routinely omits this

aspect and thus serves to paint all raw milk with the broad brush of

suspicion. This is not justified.

Perhaps Wisconsin should legalize the sale and distribution of raw milk

for human consumption since there is a growing customer base for raw milk

nationwide. Not only would it provide dairy producers with another market

niche to serve in these hard times for dairy farmers, it might also

reduce the chances of disease outbreaks since consumers would not be

tempted to resort to unsafe black market methods to obtain their food of

choice.

At 03:44 PM 9/1/2009, you wrote:

I recently alerted Sally Fallon

of the WAPF to this story and she was able to forward an announcement

from MidValleyVu Dairy (below). Several people in the Madison area

are writing letters to Organic Valley, which may be partially or wholly

responsible for the pressure on DATCP to ban raw dairy in WI.

Unbelievable!

See this announcement:

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Weston A. Price Foundation

<info@...

>

Date: Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 10:08 AM

Subject: URGENT WISCONSIN RAW MILK ACTION ALERT

To:

rosanne.lindsay@...

Dear Wisconsin Members,

Raw milk is under attack in Wisconsin. Please read carefully and

take action! With your help, we can stop this latest threat to raw milk

and real food!

Thank you!

Sally Fallon Morell, President

BACKGROUND

In November 2008, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and

Consumer Protection (DATCP) hired a new administrator, Steve Ingham, for

the Division of Food Safety after the previous person retired.

Prior to being hired, Ingham worked for the Extension Service.

Steve Ingham, along with DATCP attorney Cheryl s, has decided to

reinterpret the administrative regulation on the sale of raw milk that

was issued by DATCP in 2008. When DATCP first proposed the rule,

the agency announced the rule was to be consistent with administrative

law decisions made in 2002 and 2004. The 2004 administrative law

decision led to a February 2004 order issued by Wisconsin Secretary of

Agriculture Rod Nilsestuen that allowed the sale of raw milk to those who

invested in an entity that held a milk producer license. (NOTE:

PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT ANYONE AT DATCP.) The order has enabled many

Wisconsin consumers to purchase raw milk from farms in which they have

invested.

Contrary to the 2004 order, DATCP's current interpretation of the

administrative regulation is to NOT allow ANYONE to obtain raw dairy

products unless you are the farmer - period!

With the recent harassment of several Wisconsin farms by DATCP

investigators and inspectors, we have heard that DATCP intends to have

criminal charges brought against each farm for illegally selling raw

dairy products. Their intention is to shut down all sales of raw

milk. We know that there has been pressure from some of the large

corporations (such as Organic Valley) to either regulate or put a stop to

the sale of raw milk by shareholder dairies.

The farms involved are all members of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense

Fund. The Legal Defense Fund has agreed to represent the Wisconsin

farms in a suit against DATCP, if a suit is necessary to protect their

legal right to provide raw dairy products to shareholders. The suit would

request that the administrative regulation issued in 2008 be interpreted

consistently with Secretary Rod Nilsestuen's 2004 order allowing the sale

of milk to those investing in a corporate entity holding a milk producer

license (for example, a farm).

This suit would only go forward IF the Legal Defense Fund determines that

legal action by DATCP against any of the farms is imminent.

Wisconsin raw milk dairy farmers have found a lobbyist by the name of

Jolene Plautz, who is willing to work for the Wisconsin consumers in

introducing a Raw Milk Bill. The Raw Milk Bill being drafted would

allow farms to sell milk and milk products directly from the farm.

Jolene is charging $1,200 per month. This could take between two and six

months. We'll know more as time moves forward.

ACTION TO TAKE

Here's what you need to do . . .

- You need to contact your STATE REPRESENTATIVES and STATE

SENATORS.

- They need to hear from you - the consumer! You can call them,

email them, or send a letter via snail mail. The choice is yours,

but please remember: you need to express your frustration with DATCP's

position on Raw Milk Sales direct from the farm, and let them know you

are in favor of passing the pending Raw Milk Bill.

Working together, you and the other real dairy consumers in Wisconsin

will be heard! This is the beginning of future attempts at government

restrictions regarding your freedom of choice. Even if you

are not a raw dairy consumer, it's time to speak up and become a food

choice advocate!

TALKING POINTS

Here are a few discussion topics you may want to include in your

telephone call, letter, or email correspondence:

- Please give your name and address and please be polite. You can

(and should be) angry, upset and frustrated, but remember, we want these

people on our side. They are your messengers and have

influence.

- Tell them that you have no interest in milking your own cow and that

you demand and need access to raw dairy products for yourself and your

family.

- If you are not a Raw Dairy consumer, you can still encourage the Raw

Milk Bill as a " Freedom of Food Choice Advocate. " You

believe in a consumer's personal right to choose!

- You believe that your farmer has been harassed without

justification.

- You are making an informed decision about your own food source and that

you don't want or need the governments help in making that

decision.

- That by going to the farm where the milk is produced you are helping

your farmer stay financially solvent.

- Describe the benefits you believe you have seen from consuming raw

dairy products.

- Question whether this is the best use of staff time and resources in

this time of state budget deficits.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Now, who do you contact? Your Wisconsin State Senator and Wisconsin

State Assembly Representative. To find out who they are, go to:

www.legis.state.wi.us

In the middle of the page is the question: " Who Represents

Me? " Click that and on the next page fill in your

address. Your Senator's and Representative's pictures, names and

contact information will pop up.

ALSO IMPORTANT

Once you have the names of your Senator and Representative, please pass

them on to Janet Brunner, along with your name and address. The

lobbyist has requested this information as soon as possible.

You can email them to:

janet@...

Or mail them to:

Midvalleyvu

W8481 County Road Z

Arkansaw, WI 54721

DONATIONS NEEDED

Donations are needed to pay for the lobbyist; any monies in excess will

be donated to the Legal Defense Fund. Dan and a Siegmann have

set up a checking account to handle donations. Checks should be

made payable to: Dan Siegmann - Lobbyist Fund. Mail checks

to:

Dan & a Siegmann

W 1969 County Rd. N

Rubicon, WI 53078

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This message originated from or was forwarded by:

Chrys Ostrander

Chrysalis Farm @ Tolstoy

Organic Micro-permaculture

33495 Mill Canyon Rd.

Davenport, WA 99122

chrys@...

http://www.thefutureisorganic.net

" From each according to their ability, to each according to

their needs "

Louis ph Blanc - " The organization of work "

1839

Karl Marx - " Critique of the Gotha Program " 1875

" The purpose of agriculture is not the production of food, but the

perfection of human beings "

Masanobu Fukuoka (February 2, 1913 - August 16, 2008) - " One

Straw Revolution " 1978

" The community whose every member possesses the art of deriving a

comfortable subsistence from the smallest area of soil... will be alike

independent of crowned-kings, money-kings, and land-kings.... "

Abraham Lincoln: Address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society,

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1859

" We will never have an organic future and a stable climate until we

pull all the troops out of Iraq

and redirect our annual $650 billion military budget to greening the

economy and guaranteeing

a sustainable environment and economic justice for everyone. "

Ronnie Cummins, National Director, Organic Consumers Association

at the " Farms Not Arms " public forum and protest in Manhattan,

September, 2007