Michael Schmidt’s Nov. 17, ’09 Queen’s Park press conference statement

Raw milk farmer Michael Schmidt with lawyer Karen Selick of the Canadian Constitution Foundation at recent Queen's Park press conference Nov. 17, 2009. Media, MPPs and supporters were in attendance.

November 21, 2009 is the 3rd anniversary of the armed raid on Glencolton Farms to shut down a successful legitimate local food operation, which provided amongst many other products fresh raw milk to its members.

I am here at Queens Park today for the 5th time to update the Premier his Ministers the MPP’s and the press about the current status in relation to the raw milk issue.

Canada and Ontario has a special significance in this world wide battle for food rights because of its total prohibition to sell or distribute milk which is not pasteurized.

It is crucial to take notice that there is no ban to consume raw milk.

In the last three years our battle here in Ontario gained world wide attention partially due to the reputation that Canada still claims to be the best and freest country in the world.

Vegetarian mythologies

Here’s a fascinating excerpt from a review on Marjorie Tietjen’s “Lyme Disease Sentinel blog” of Lierre Keith’s book “The Vegetarian Myth”:

Enduring controversy over vegetarian diets.

The author practiced a vegan lifestyle for approximately 20 years and she strongly feels that her health was destroyed by her total avoidance of all animal products. Her declining health and her aching desire to follow the ways of nature in a humane fashion motivated her to conduct further research and to write this groundbreaking book. She had tried desperately to be vegan and organic, hoping not to have to take life in order to preserve her own. However the more frantically she tried, the sicker she became and the more she realized that in order for something to live, it has to take the life of another….whether directly or indirectly. Keith softens this hard fact a bit by saying that we all take turns giving our life for the benefit of other life. While the reader might not agree with everything Keith has to say, this book is a compelling read and provides much food for thought for vegetarians, vegans and omnivores.

How far can we trust corporate science?

One of the sticking points in helping people wake up to the realities around them is the apparent collusion of many scientists and governments with corporate anti-human agendas. Dr. Mercola has kindly put together a couple of examples of this species of science in the report this is excerpted from. He titles his story: “Can you really trust Monsanto — how they corrupted science”.

Man at the centre of the controversy -- was he right, or "politically incorrect"? Or both?

“… Dr. Arpad Pusztai was considered the world expert on GM foods with more than 270 published studies relating to the subject. He was working at the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland, when he was interviewed for a World in Action television documentary on August 10, 1998. What he said was to destroy his career because of the reaction of Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, puppets of Monsanto and the biotech industry.

Dr. Pusztai told the program that rats fed on certain GM potatoes had suffered stunted growth, damage to the immune system, and their liver, heart and other organs got smaller. He later said this was also the case with the brain, but he had not mentioned that in the TV interview to avoid being ”alarmist.” However, he did say this of GM food: “If I had the choice, I would certainly not eat it.”

On the evening the interview was broadcast, Dr. Pusztai was congratulated for his contribution by Professor Philip James, director of the Rowett Institute. The next morning, the institute issued a press release highlighting that a ”range of carefully controlled studies underlie the basis of Dr. Pusztai’s concerns.”