Amish dairy farmers to sue U.S. govt. over “mark of the beast” RFID tags

Hey now -- are there marks on those beasts? Associated Press Photo

It seems Michael Schmidt is not the only dairy farmer thinking about taking government agencies to court. It may be too soon to conclude that it’s a mooovement; but read this November 17th report from Tom Leonard in New York and see what you think. This comes to us via the Telegraph in the UK:

“A group of seven Amish farmers in Michigan say the state’s insistence that they use radio frequency ID devices on their animals “constitutes some form of a ‘mark of the Beast’ and/or represents an infringement of their ‘dominion over cattle and all living things’ in violation of their fundamental religious beliefs,” according to their lawsuit.

Some Amish, who have a booming business in producing organic milk, disagree with radio ID tagging so strongly that they said they will give up farming if they do not get an exemption.

theStar.ca readers weigh in on Michael Schmidt’s comments on the milk board

thestar.ca ran the Canadian Press report on Michael Schmidt’s Tuesday Nov. 18, 2008 news conference. And now they’re starting to get some reader feedback on the issues. It’s the same story as excerpted in the post below. Here’s some of what readers have to say:

“What Bill Mitchell from the Milk Marketing Board said about the Health Department is dead wrong. The job of the Health Department is the safety assessment of food and drugs, NOT their development. There is a big difference between the two. The Health Department is not going to go around and invent new procedures for certified raw milk any more than they would go around and invent a new drug for say cancer. But if you give them a new cancer drug, or a new food processing procedure, they will tell you if the drug or the food is safe or not. That is their expertise. Bill Mitchell’s comment is an intentional diversion. They know the facts, or at least are paid big enough bucks out of our pockets that they should. The Milk Marketing Board has a statutory obligation to do the research on certified raw milk and submit it to the Health Department for a safety assessment. This is why Michael Schmidt will be taking the Milk Marketing Board to court.

Submitted By mclaren at 6:39 AM Wednesday, November 19 2008″

“Milk marketing board an albatross” — Michael Schmidt in press reports

Michael Schmidt and Sean McGivern at Queens Park press conference Nov 18, 2008. Click on picture to go to Sun Media video.

Here are two of the first media manifestations from Michael Schmidt’s press conference yesterday at Queens’ Park. Click on the picture above to watch a short video and read the accompanying story on the Sun Media website. And here’s an excerpt from the report by Canadian Press. We’ll have more on material that was released at the press conference later this week:

“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.