The start of open dialog on raw milk at AVMA raw milk symposium in Seattle

This is truly a breakthrough report from David E. Gumpert at The Complete Patient blog, who by the way, also seems to be one of the speakers at this American Veterinary Medicine Association symposium. It seems he and Amanda Rose are finding some common ground with the regulators and officials in attendance. Here’s an excerpt from David’s report, titled “Lots of Frank Talk at AVMA Symposium — An Opening of Minds and Attitudes?“:

Header from the AVMA Conference program.

“…..As the day wore on, though, I sensed something else was happening—a shift in emphasis and attitude. First off, some of the messages by representatives of the public health community seemed different from the tired anti-raw-milk tirades of CDC and FDA. For example:

–Michele Jay-Russell, a manager at the University of California’s Western Institute for Food Safety, and one of the conference organizers, pointed out, “People are caring about how the food they eat is produced…They want to know their milk comes from real cows that eat real feed.” She suggested that the public health community hasn’t done its homework to learn about raw milk producers. “What’s missing is surveys of dairies that produce raw milk. That is a research need that must be addressed so we can have the conversation.” Yes, “conversation” sounds positive.

Ideal diet for people? — “Unprocessed”

Johnny Bowden, writing for Forbes.com, cuts through the noise around diet with a simple observation that humans have done well on a wide variety of diets, but that what these diets had in common was that they were “unprocessed”. One might add that they were also not genetically modified

The Paleolithic Diet -- one of many unprocessed diets that have served mankind well over the eons.

This piece has been reprinted or referenced on sites as diverse as CTV.ca and the “Countdown to 30” blog — as well it should. Mr. Bowden has distilled a key message and the sooner people hear it and act on it, the healthier we’ll all be. Let’s start with an excerpt from the Countdown to 30 commentary:

“…A topic that really, really interests me. It should interest everyone, really. What we eat is who we are. The food and drink we imbibe becomes the fabric of our cells. And given the spiral of ill-health around the world, the raging debate (at least in some circles you’ll find me visiting) around vegan-ism being the true natural diet for humans, my oft-hesitant carnivorous tendencies following nearly a decade of vegetarianism, and of course, the fact that I adore cooking, food history, etc, etc, it was serendipity that I came across this article today.

Bad Cow Disease

You never know what  your cattle will get into when you’re not around to watch them. Here’s a case in point from Mike Coachman, Brooksville Florida, as found on downhomelife.com:

Bad cow disease indeed. But is there a cure? Photo: Mike Coachman via downhomelife.com

“…..One evening I noticed a chair was missing. Our beef cattle keep the woods clear of underbrush, so it would be easy to find the chair with a brief search. I found it all right – about 500 feet away, broken in pieces. Our closest neighbours are about half a mile away, and strangers cannot pass through because of the high-voltage electric fence surrounding the property. So I was mystified as to how this happened. I thought the cows saw these chairs as four-legged critters and might knock them about, but would never be able to carry one 500 feet away.

Will food poisoning lawyer Bill Marler sue Weston A. Price Foundation over raw milk advocacy? — first noise from AVMA’s Seattle Raw Milk Symposium

Here’s a fascinating story from David E. Gumpert’s The Complete Patient blog about rumblings leading up to Sunday’s raw milk symposium to be hosted by the American Veterinary Medical Association in Seattle. An excerpt:

Lead image on the Marler Clark raw milk powerpoint for the AVMA symposium.

“I thought this symposium on raw milk Sunday sponsored by the American Veterinary Medical Association (described in my previous post) would be a tame affair. But food poison lawyer Bill Marler has signaled he’s coming with machine guns blazing. He posted his PowerPoint presentation planned for Sunday on his blog (click on the blue page below the introductory text to launch the PowerPoint presentation), and three slides in particular suggest he has trained his legal guns on the Weston A. Price Foundation.

Mercola advocates raw milk, discusses A1 A2 beta casein in connection with autism, diabetes, heart disease, etc.

Readers have drawn my attention to the fact that Mercola is quoting the Bovine as a source for his recent story on A1 and A2 milk. Mercola gets most of the idea about how A1 milk is implicated in increased incidence of diseases such as diabetes and autism, and A2 is not. A2 is typically associated with older breeds such as the Guernsey, Asian and African breeds, as well as goats and sheep. Most Holsteins are primarily A1. And of course, the Holstein is by far the most popular breed in North America. 

How now, brown cow? Holstein (left) is typically A1, while Guernsey (right) is typically A2. Seemingly minor mutations of the beta-casein molecule translate into significant effects on human health.

However Mercola does miss one key point, which is that even Holsteins can be bred to be A2, although it typically takes 10 years of concerted effort to convert a herd to A2 by selective breeding. And of course that’s possible only if you know the A1 A2 status of the bulls you’re breeding with — information that’s commonly made available in New Zealand but, to my knowledge, not in many other places.

Still, it’s important that Mercola is taking an interest in the A1 A2 issue and drawing people’s attention to Keith Woodford’s book “Devil in the Milk”. Here’s a bit of what he says in his report:

“As many of you know, I do not recommend drinking pasteurized milk of any kind because the pasteurization process, which entails heating the milk to a temperature of 145 degrees to 150 degrees F and keeping it there for at least half an hour, completely changes the structure of the milk proteins into something far less than healthy.

Pasteurized cow’s milk is the number one allergic food in the United States. It has been associated with a number of symptoms and illnesses including:

Government lies and obfuscation over whether they had advance knowledge that 1976 Swine Flu vaccine could cause neurological complications and damage

So what happened the last time there was a mass vaccination for Swine Flu? Here’s a video clip from a 1979 episode of the CBS show “60-Minutes” — an episode that was banned after its first airing on American TV and not seen again for 20 years.

What did CBS reveal in 1979 about the "side effects" of the mass Swine Flu vaccination program that had been heavily promoted to the American public just three years earlier. Click image to see video.

And here’s an excerpt from the story that accompanies the video on the Health Truth Revealed website:

“Among the many topics mentioned in this volume, I was revealing the ineffectiveness and dangers of vaccination. At that time, I was a practicing physician in Quebec, Canada, under the name of Ghislaine Lanctôt, and the owner of numerous medical clinics. Because of my professional status, my words weighed significantly in the public eye. The Medical Board’s reaction was immediate and strong. Its leaders demanded that I resign as a physician. I answered that I would do so as long as they could prove that what I had written was false. The Medical Board replied with a call for my expulsion.

It’s so easy to make raw milk yogurt!

Here’s a quick and simple primer on making your own raw milk yogurt, from the folks at “We Don’t Buy It — One Family’s Quest to Stop Buying New Stuff”:

Step by step instructions with pictures!

“I opened the packet up and poured it into a bowl… (At this point, please note how literal my pictures are. Do you really need to see how I open the packet? No? Well, that is how I illustrate with photos and I will show you every step. I’m sorry, you’ll just have to deal with it.)…”

Read all the words and see all the pictures here on “We Don’t Buy It…“

If Women can end war (as in Liberia), maybe they could also fix agriculture!

Strange as it may seem, something of the sort may already be happening. According to a recent report in the Globe and Mail newspaper, conventional agribusiness-style farmers in Quebec are having trouble finding women who want to share the farming life with them. Here’s an except from the story by Ingrid Peritz, from June 30, 2009 “Heartache in Quebec’s Farming Heartland“:

He looks like a nice guy. Too bad he didn't go into organic farming instead of agribiz. Perhaps it's time to look at some new answers to the age-old question "What do women want?". Photo from the Globe and Mail.

“He’s got blue eyes and a rugged gait, steady work and a sensitive side that makes him appreciate the beauty of a big country sky. By many standards, Mario Bouthillier is a catch.

He farms two sprawling pieces of land in rural Quebec that have proven fertile soil for corn, hay and soya. But they haven’t proven fruitful for producing love.

“You could be the best person in the world,” the 27-year-old said on his farm recently, “but you remain a farmer. It’s the best job in the world to me, but there are still prejudices….”

“…..Women willing to sacrifice long hours to farm work are scarcer than they once were, and farming’s image has suffered over the years.

Young singles like Mr. Bouthillier are sprouting up all along Quebec’s lonely rural roads, causing not only heartache in the Quebec heartland but a threat to the survival of the province’s family farms.

Only a generation ago, a farm typically had a hard-working couple and a brood of children. Now it can easily be populated by a single male like Mr. Bouthillier, who has had several girlfriends but has yet to find his lifelong companion.

In less than 40 years, the percentage of young single farmers has doubled in Quebec, leaving one in four farmers under the age of 35 unmarried, according to Statistics Canada….”

‘When we were a Catholic society, the image of agriculture was held in esteem,’ Prof. Parent said from Quebec City. ‘Now it’s the opposite. It’s one thing if you’re an organic vegetable producer. Being a pig farmer is not exactly a winning formula when you show up at a bar.’…”

Note that difference! Women go for organic vegetable farmers and don’t go for pig farmers who run Confined Animal Feeding Operations. Which sort of farms and which sort of farmers will be soon be dying out due to lack of descendants and which will have flourishing farm families to carry their modes of food production into the future?

Read the whole story here on the Globe and Mail website.

Test tube meat — sadly, it’s no joke!

The idea of food that’s not grown by conventional agricultural methods is actually not so far from reality as we’d all like to think. Check out these excerpts from recent stories in Wired magazine about meat grown in test-tube like conditions in vats.

Click image above to view spoof video from Onion News Network.

Imagine that, meat that’s grown without ever being part of an animal. How unnatural is that? What possible consequences and ramifications might that have for human health? Judging by how GMOs are being handled by the regulatory community, we’re not likely to find out what effects this new form of artificial “meat” will have until it’s “tested” on unsuspecting customers. Also, going by the GMO marketing precedent, we’re perhaps unlikely to see labelling to indicate whether the meat we’re buying came from an animal or a vat. 

And now, the Wired stories — first “Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow and Sell Test Tube Meat”:

Giving up life in New York to herd goats

Here’s an excerpt from a Salon.com story about a couple of artist/intellectuals who gave up the New York way of life to become goat herders in Vermont. Sounds like fun. Thanks to Gordon Watson, our west-coast correspondent, for bringing this story to our attention.

picture from the Salon.com story.

“June 29, 2009 | Brad Kessler was living in a rent-controlled apartment in New York’s East Village, writing fiction and teaching creative writing at the New School, when he decided to say goodbye to all that and move to rural Vermont.

There he and his wife, the photographer Dona Ann McAdams, began to raise goats. What was initially a brood of four and a lighthearted hobby has since expanded to 17 animals and a licensed operation that sells goat cheese to a few of New York’s most cheese-famous restaurants. Kessler’s memoir “Goat Song” is the story of this transformation.