Urgent for Raw Milk Lovers in every state and country

Hi, Raw-Milk Lovers in every state and country,

We have failed to stop California's new law AB1735 that will make commercial raw milk relatively extinct in California, and eventually every state. Organic Pastures Dairy and Claravale Dairy failed to file for Injunctive relief in their lawsuit. That means that it could takes months or years to resolve in court. The same thing that happened to Stueve's Natural Dairy in 1999 which bankrupt that commercial raw dairy producer that maintained about 2,000 cows.

As everyone can see from the article below, the state's response on Friday December 28, 2007 to Claravale and OPD's legal complaint was:

"Right now, the department is preparing to enforce the law when it takes effect," Van Rein said.

As I cautioned Ron at Claravale, Mark at OPD and Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund via emails, all of the niceties and assurances from any government official is nonsense regarding raw milk unless it is in writing and legal. As the State's spokesperson Van Rien stated, the State is preparing to enforce the new law January 1, 2008, and Mark McAfee's assurances from State officials that raw milk would not be interrupted were shallow and not legally binding.

We must get our consumer lawsuit mounted immediately. To get that lawsuit going and through the Injunctive process, $40,000 is required. To go beyond the Injunctive process, it will cost a lot more. Right To Choose Healthy Food gave $25,000 to begin the process. Right now, we need at least $15,000 to see us through the Injunctive process to stop the state from enforcing AB1735.

Please act now because raw milk will not be on your shelves in California very much after January 1, 2008. PLEASE donate immediately at www.SaveRawMilk.org

At that website, you can sign-up to be a petitioner/joiner on the lawsuit. We have about 500 people who have joined so far. We would like to have 10,000.

Thank you and have a wonderful New Year!
healthfully,
aajonus vonderplanitz, phd nutrition



San Francisco Chronicle

California dairies sue to stop enforcement of standard on raw milk

Carol Ness, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, December 28, 2007

California's two raw milk producers filed suit Thursday to keep the state from imposing a strict new standard that, they say, would put them out of business.

The suit, filed in San Benito County Superior Court, is part of an all-out effort by the raw milk dairies and the estimated 40,000 dedicated raw milk consumers in California to forestall enforcement of the new law, AB1735, which takes effect Jan. 1.

It was filed by Claravale Farm, which recently moved its herd to Paicines (San Benito County), and Organic Pastures of Fresno against the state Department of Food and Agriculture.

The agriculture department hadn't yet seen the lawsuit and had no immediate comment, spokesman Jay Van Rein said.

"Right now, the department is preparing to enforce the law when it takes effect," Van Rein said.

The new standard, he added, is "just a matter of staying ahead of the curve on food safety."

For the first time, the law limits coliform bacteria in bottled raw milk to just 10 per milliliter, the same standard that pasteurized milk must meet.

The lawsuit contends that "it's not technically possible nor economically feasible" for raw milk to meet such a low limit.

Van Rein, however, said California Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura has checked with his counterparts in Washington and Pennsylvania, which also have adopted a 10-coliform limit, "to make sure their dairies have been able to comply."

The suit also contends that the raw milk producers are being unfairly singled out because there are "no standards in place for other food providers, for example beef, poultry, pork, eggs, vegetables, bakers or fin or shell fish, to comply with a coliform limit in the food stuffs they produce."

Fans seek out raw milk specifically because it contains enzymes and beneficial bacteria that are killed by heat pasteurization.

Coliform exist everywhere in the environment, and most don't cause illness, both raw milk and food safety authorities agree. Raw milk is already tested for the pathogens that do, such as E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter.

Public health authorities have a contentious history with raw milk, which many see as dangerous.

The federal government doesn't allow raw milk to be sold across state lines for human consumption.

California has the nation's biggest raw milk industry, and its vocal consumers have maintained pressure on state government to keep raw milk available. California is one of just a handful of states to permit raw milk sales in stores; many more allow retail sales directly from the farm.

Raw milk proponents see AB1735 as a way for the state to effectively ban raw milk without actually saying so. The two dairy owners were not informed of the proposal as it went through the Legislature and weren't offered the chance to make their case against the coliform limit. Passage was routine.

The lawsuit asks that the law be declared unconstitutional and the court keep it from taking effect.

In addition, the owners of Claravale and Organic Pastures met for more than two hours last week with Kawamura to make their case that the limit is overkill and can't be met. They also have met with AB1735's legislative sponsors to argue for repeal.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/28/BAAPU5K48.DTL

California Raw Milk will live!

The following is quoted from a newsletter from Mark McAfee who runs the Organic Pastures Dairy Farm in California:
fffffff"It will be a happy, healthy New Year indeed! California consumers have spoken loudly against AB 1735's biased, scientifically unsupported restrictions on raw milk. Your passionate voices have been heard.
In the last three weeks, the California raw milk battle front has been abuzz with tremendous grass roots effort, back stage political activity and high level meetings. As a result, the course of California raw milk history has been changed.
Here is a brief update of the progress:
Three things protect your raw milk in California:
1. The Secretary of Agriculture has offered political support.
A.G. Kawamura has dedicated himself to safe raw milk for California, declaring that "AB 1735 standards will not act as a de-facto ban on raw milk." Secretary Kawamura made this statement adamantly and repeatedly at a December 20th meeting with Claravale and Organic Pastures dairy representatives. He pledged to review our four-inch stack of documentation entitled "AB 1735: The Unheard Argument" and promised to work with us to assure the continued availability of raw milk.
2. A new law will be introduced in January reversing AB 1735. An investigation has exposed certaiin CDFA employees who met without authorization and, using erroneous data, advised staff members of the Assembly Agriculture Committee to place "eight special anti-raw milk words" into AB 1735. All CDFA agency legislative matters and bills must be reviewed and authorized by the Governor's office, as required by the Executive Branch and administrative policy and procedure. Instead, highly misleading information was used to rapidly and secretly pass AB 1735 on a "consent item" basis without discussion or open debate. Assemblymen and State Senators who voted for AB 1735 are now very upset that they were misled, and support immediate repeal on procedural grounds. The Attorney General's office might step in, having noted an aberrant violation of established process in furtherance of a "biased agenda that is far from being a consent item."
3. A lawsuit is being filed this week in San Benito County. Part of that lawsuit includes an injunction which legally secures raw milk producers against enforcement of AB 1735 until a new law can be passed.

While the raw milk fight is far from over, the safety of the California raw milk supply has been secured with multiple layers of strategic political, legislative and legal efforts. Hearings will soon be announced as part of the new bill and legislative process that will start in January. Your participation will continue to be essential to deepen the protections put in place.

Keep sending a powerful message: In order to strengthen our work going forward, we ask that you take pictures of yourself and your family holding raw milk bottles from Claravale and/or Organic Pastures Dairy. Write on the picture: Please support repeal of AB 1735." Then mail them to the Governor's office, your State Assemblyman, and the State Senators' offices. The impact of a personal plea with a picture of your family is worth a thousand words.

Congratulations to all who participate in the "grass roots raw milk revolution." Your thousands of letters and calls made all the difference! California raw milk is SAFE from AB 1735 and those that sought to eliminate this sacred healing whole food.

Warmly, Mark McAfee, Founder of Organic Pastures Dairy"

Post Script: a US Senator has introduce legislation that allows transportation and sale of unpasteurized milk and milk products, as long as the milk both originates from and is shipped to states that allow the sale of unpasteurized milk and milk products....

Stay informed regarding raw milk in California

Keep yourself informed regarding the California state raw milk issues and actions.
Your actions count and may make the difference.

A California dairy that provides excellent raw milk...

is warning us that the State of California has passed new legislation which would severely limit the availability of raw milk. Find the details and the way to support their actions now.

Raw milk - act now so you can benefit from the raw food diet in the future

AB 1735 ACTION ALERT
Final action short of lawsuit necessary
to overturn AB 1735

Please, immediately contact:

California Senator Abel Maldonado
CA Secretary of Agriculture Mr. A. G. Kawamura

As a direct result of your recent actions, key assembly representatives support overturning AB 1735.

However, California Assembly members expressed concern that we do not have the support of California Senator Abel Maldonado who head the agricultural committee and California Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. A.G. Kawamura.

It is critical that we create an avalanche of political pressure by sending them strong messages (see below). Please call and FAX Abel Maldonado and A.G. Kawamura immediately. Faxes are more important than calls but both work best. Thank you.

Contact the CA Senator Maldonado immediately!
<>
Senator Abel Maldonado (R)
California State Capitol
Room 4082
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 651-4015 or (805) 549-3784
Fax: (916) 445-8081

<> Contact the CA Secretary of Agriculture immediately!

A.G. Kawamura
Secretary of Food and Agriculture
1220 N St., Suite 400
Sacramento, Ca. 95814
Phone: (916) 654-0321 or (916) 654-0433
Fax: 916-654-0403

suggestions: The following points may seem harsh but they reflect truth (see "Background" below). The Senator and Secretary need to know what has happened on there watch:

1. I want and need raw milk to maintain and increase my health and well being. It should not be so regulated that it will bankrupt dairies and not be commercially available to me.
   

2. Certain staff members within CDFA who maintain personal prejudices against raw milk participated and conspired in an illegal, secret and silent process to deny me access to raw milk.

3. Demand that they use their powers to immediately suspend or reverse AB 1735 and the "less-than-10 coliform" standard for raw milk in California.

4. Demand that the CDFA staff who misrepresented raw milk science and snuck the groundless coliform standard into AB 1735 be dismissed immediately

Background:

Certain staff members in CDFA introduced negative language into a bill which would be applied to an industry which it regulates. That is illegal activity which defies written administrative policy and must not be tolerated within CDFA. The normal legal process requires CDFA to bring any legislative language to the attention of the governor's office prior to contacting an assembly committee. CDFA misrepresented facts, claiming AB 1735 was so insignificant that it could be handled “as a consent item” and did not require discussion or debate. Other substantial and material misstatements of fact also occurred to keep AB 1735 secret and silent.

This may be the last effort needed to overcome AB 1735. Please call and FAX your letters today. See www.SaveRawMilk.org

Green Star juicer

for the asking or for the cost of shipping.
A Primal Diet person has moved out of the USA and will
simply get a new juicer in her new location. This Green
Star juicer works perfectly; it is in San Diego. First come
first serve. If you want it shipped to you, I suggest you
tip the person who has been taking care of it as well as
pay the shipping.
Make sure you are first by calling or faxing to (323)230-9809

Raw Milk hits the news year after year.

The Real Reasons Why Raw Milk as part of the raw food diet is becoming more popular.
Should This Milk Be Legal? New York Times, August 8, 2007
See how concocted the attack on raw milk is.

What would Thomas Jefferson on the topic of

children's health, specifically the ongoing efforts to enforce vaccination? And efforts to enforce drugging children in schools?
"If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as the souls who live under tyranny."

Thomas Jefferson
(submitted by a 3rd party)