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The Latest on Michael Schmidt Ontario Prosecution
Canadian Press Article update on Michael Schmidt plus a paper submitted by Canadian author and raw milk consumer.
Date: 11/19/2008 2:50:11 PM ( 5 y ) ... viewed 888 times latest on Michael Schmidt Ontario prosecution
Posted (at the raw Dairy Yahoo Group) by: "Gordon S. Watson"
Tue Nov 18, 2008 7:18 pm (PST)
Hello Everyone: I have 2 items to pass along to you regarding the press
conference with Michael Schmidt today at Queen's Park. Below is a link
for the paper I wrote on the debate over raw milk safety I submitted it
to the media today during our press conference ... The story
written in the Canadian Press was released about 2 hours ago. It is a
very favorable article. Be sure to read it to the end Pam Killeen
1)http://www.pamkilleen.com/Media/POSITION%20PAPER%20ON%20THE%20DEBATE%20OVER%20RAW%20MILK%20SAFETY-3.pdf
2) Raw-milk activist calls Ontario milk board an 'albatross,' wants it scrapped.
TORONTO
Ontario's milk marketing board is an "albatross" that has failed to
deliver on its legislated mandate to protect small-scale farming and
should be scrapped, farmer and raw-milk activist Michael Schmidt said
Tuesday.
Schmidt, who faces prosecution for allegedly violating the province's
ban on raw-milk sales, also threatened legal action against Dairy
Farmers of Ontario, the organization that regulates the supply of milk.
"It has done nothing to preserve the family farms of Ontario, which are
in steady decline," Schmidt told a news conference at the provincial
legislature.
"It is an albatross around all our necks."
Schmidt's news conference coincided with the second anniversary of a
raid on his farm about two hours northwest of Toronto, when authorities
attempted to shut down his "cow-share" operation.
Ontario, in line with the rest of Canada, forbids the sale of raw milk,
though farmers are legally allowed to consume it from cows they own.
Schmidt's system allows people to own a share in his cows, and he
supplies them with milk from "their" animals.
Devotees tout the health benefits of raw milk, and frame the vitriolic
debate over its safety as one of freedom of choice.
Maverick Progressive Conservative politician Bill Murdoch, whose riding
contains Schmidt's farm outside Durham, Ont., said consumers should have
the freedom to buy unpasteurized milk legally.
People are drinking it anyway, and regulating the supply would help
ensure its safety and protect their health, Murdoch said.
"The whole thing now is to go back to eat locally ... and the only way
to be able to do that is to have the family farm that produces different
things," said Murdoch, whose private member's resolution to examine the
issue was shot down by the Liberal government two years ago.
"Other countries all seemed to have worked out a deal somehow. We should
have a serious debate about this, like Michael wants."
Over the summer, Quebec announced it would legalize the sale of young
cheese made from raw milk - a dozen years after a major political feud
with Ottawa over the issue.
Schmidt, who is currently awaiting sentencing on a contempt-of-court
conviction for continuing to supply the unpasteurized milk, blames the
Dairy Farmers of Ontario for his legal woes.
The board has stonewalled his request to examine how raw milk could be
sold, which he said violates its mandate to carry out research for
"policy development and formation."
"Instead of spending a part of the public's milk money and exerting
their own energies on development to make certified raw milk available
... this legislatively mandated monopoly squanders these resources on
lobbyists, lawyers and regressive political influence to stand in the
way of progress," Schmidt said.
Board chairman Bruce Saunders could not immediately be reached for
comment Tuesday.
Canada is the only G7 country to ban the sale of raw milk on the basis
it poses a serious health hazard.
Activists, drawing on many jurisdictions where its sale is legal -
including 28 U.S. states - argue unpasteurized milk is perfectly safe if
properly handled.
They also note pasteurization offers no guarantee the milk is
uncontaminated.
A senior government source, who asked not to be named, said politicians
have been persuaded to believe raw milk is dangerous.
He also noted the provincial Milk Act dates to the 1930s, when farming
and cleanliness standards were far different.
*end of article*
And do read the paper by Pam Killeen! She restates the history on "the two milks" that was mentioned in my DVD: "Raw Milk: The Whole Truth" AKA "The Raw Milk Controversy: Fact & Fiction".
"The opposite of dirty milk is not pasteurized milk. The opposite of dirty milk is clean milk."
Chef Jem
Executive Producer:
"Raw Milk: The Whole Truth"
AKA "The Raw Milk Controversy: Fact & Fiction"
Featuring Mark McAfee and Dr. Dale Jacobson, DC
View four video clips Online at:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_play_list?user=ChefJem33
Over 10,000 views of this video just at YouTube!
Are afraid of the idea of drinking raw milk? If so, viewing this video may bring relief!
Over 20,000 page views at:
http://curezone.com/blogs/f.asp?f=1452
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