Canada's Ministry of Health Attacks Raw Milk

It appears that Canada's Ministry of Health has taken a page from the FDA's playbook, conducting a raid ominously similar to that carried out against Dr Jonathan Wright in the 1980s.  In that raid, agents of the FDA and DEA — supported by the local sheriff's office — burst into Dr Wright's clinic, guns drawn, as if it had been a drug raid. 

The reason? 

Dr Wright treated some of his patients with vitamin B injections, and the vitamin B he used didn't contain preservatives.  Perfectly legal; yet his patients and staff were terrorized for hours as the agents conducted their raid, and all of Dr Wright's computers and patient records were confiscated by the authorities — and were never returned, despite the fact that charges were never filed.

If you're concerned about losing your freedom to choose what you eat … (think … read … ), you might be interested in this.  It doesn't sound much like a democracy to me.

This incident has widespread implications — not only for the raw milk movement, but for the basic right to farm — and the outcome could affect America and other nations, as well as Canada.

Armed agents raid a cow-share farm in Ontario

On Tuesday, November 21, 2006, Glencolton Farms, in Durham, Ontario, Canada, was raided by agents of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the enforcement arm of the Ministry of Health.  The proprietor of Glencolton Farms, Michael Schmidt, has operated a cow-share program — without incident — for the past eleven years.  (For background, visit www.realmilk.com/real-milk-canada.html.)

On the morning of November 21st, Michael loaded up the vehicle that carries his goods into Toronto — the famous Blue Bus that arrives at the Toronto Waldorf School every Tuesday.  There, the shareholders line up to receive the products of their cows.  But, as Michael drove out of the laneway, the bus was surrounded by a swarm of armed Ministry of Natural Resources officers, approaching from all sides.  They presented Michael with a search warrant and, for the next seven and a half hours, the investigators searched, questioned and confiscated.

The six individuals who live and/or work on the Farm were ordered to stay in the kitchen.  Visits to other areas of the house or outdoors had to be conducted, accompanied by an officer.  Every bottle of milk, cultured milk, quark, cream and sour cream, along with fresh cheese, that had been put on the bus was confiscated … and then dumped into a local landfill site in the contaminated substances area!  The farm's cheese-making and other dairy equipment was completely dismantled and carted off.  Two investigators from the Ministry of Finance also arrived and spent several hours in the office, eventually leaving with one computer hard drive, its monitor and keyboard, back-up CDs and boxes of paper files. 

The investigating officers were very polite, respectful and somewhat surprised, it seemed, at the farm crew's friendliness and cooperation.  Michael and his son, Markus, filmed much of their activities.

On Thursday, two days after the raid, Michael Schmidt publicly vowed to continue distributing raw milk products, and announced that he had begun a hunger strike to back his demand that the provincial government stop interfering with the business.  Schmidt, 51, told the gathering of press, supporters and interested individuals, held at his family farm northeast of Durham, that he will live on one glass of milk a day until his milk processing equipment is returned.  He also wants the Province to compensate the 150 families he supplies with raw milk products for their loss when their food was seized.  He's also demanding the Province's assurance that it will not interfere in his unpasteurized milk operation, until or unless the matter is resolved in court or in the provincial legislature.

"Eleven and a half years ago, when I asked (the government) for co-operation in researching the raw milk issue (and they turned me down), I said I would go ahead alone; and if (they) interfered again with legal action, I would go on a hunger strike. …  I'm simply following up on what I had promised at that time," he said. 

Concerns about raw milk fabricated by the government, according to Schmidt

According to Schmidt, the government has been fabricating stories that link milk products from his farm to two cases of sick children last summer.  He said that it was common knowledge that they had become sick from eating tainted hamburger meat.  The family was unknown to Schmidt, were not members of his cow-share program, and did not consume his unpasteurized milk.  Bill Murdoch, Member of the Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound in Ontario, where Glencolton is located, has expressed outrage at the strong-armed tactics used against the Schmidt farm.  He plans to introduce a private member's resolution on December 7, calling for an all-party task force to look into the issues surrounding legalized sale of unpasteurized milk.

Thus, while the actions taken against Schmidt were inexcusable, this situation actually presents a golden opportunity for positive change in Canada, even perhaps legislation to legalize the direct sale of raw milk.

For updates and further details, visit www.glencoltonfarms.com.

Only one point in the fight for health freedom

It's not just that we want the right to make our own choices for our health — we have the right to make my own choices regarding our health.  We shouldn't need to ask the government's permission to take care of ourselves as we choose.  It's just up to us to make our representatives see that it is in their best interest to stop interfering with our freedom to choose, and that there are many of us who are demanding a more natural alternative to healthcare.

The issue regarding real milk is but a small pinprick of the issues facing us.  A small issue, but like an insect bite that looks small, it can have a wider effect.

Let me illustrate this with a small detour: We are very concerned with what happened to this farmer of Raw Milk in Durham.

The folks attempting to prohibit real milk sales from clean dairies present the same mentality that is pushing Codex Alimentarius, fluoridation, vaccines, etc. at us.  It is the same mentality that is pushing for legislation in the US for NAIS.  NAIS means: National Animal Identification System.  They are pushing for the identification of every single animal in the United States.  Right now, the program is voluntary, and 300,000+ premises are registered. 

On the surface, this seems like a good program; something to help protect our food supply from Mad Cow Disease and other problems.  However, there are other ramifications of this perfidious program.  NAIS networks with the agricultural departments in every state.  The agricultural departments work with farms and dairies, which brings us right back to mad cow, real milk, etc.  The problem is that this program, because of its expense, would drive natural, organic farmers out of business, and help to perpetuate the very conditions that make our food unsafe to begin with.