“Dairy and gluten have become evil twins in “elimination” diets, the holistic therapy of the moment, as people swear they feel less bloated and lethargic without them. (Not incidentally, sales of cow’s milk have essentially flattened in recent years, while nondairy alternatives, led by almond milk, are up nearly 100 percent, reaching about $2 billion in annual sales.)
Best-selling authors like the integrative physician Mark Hyman maintain that, like the gluten in wheat, milk elements interact with our gut bacteria in such a way as to trigger an inflammatory response from the immune system….”
QUEENS PARK, TORONTO: An estimated 80-some food rights supporters converged on Queen’s Park for a rally and food rights declaration signing today. Elisa and Michael Schmidt started things off by speaking briefly about recent developments in the ongoing raw milk saga.
Michael Schmidt speaks to the crowd, prior to the signing of today’s Food Rights Declaration, flanked by his wife Elisa and farm share member Mascha Perrone. Nov. 26th, at Queen’s Park in Toronto.
Michael then read the text of the Food Rights Declaration, which was also printed on both sides of the milk truck, which had been brought to Queen’s Park for the occasion. After that, folks were invited to sign both a smaller copy of the declaration to be presented to Premier Wynn and then the large copy on the side of the truck. Continue reading →
Click link at top of post to watch video on National Post site.
“What’s white and illegal and the subject of government raids?
It’s raw milk — unpasteurized — straight from the farm to your table.
For more than two decades, Michael Schmidt has been fighting the Ontario government — and others across the country — for the right to sell raw milk. Just last month his farm in Durham Region was the subject of another raid — the fifth standoff with ministry of natural resource and agriculture officials he can remember since his battle began in 1994.
After years of legal wrangling — he took an appeal of one of his provincial convictions all the way to the Supreme Court, which opted in 2014 to not hear his case — Schmidt said he’s fed up. He told a Queen’s Park press conference on Wednesday that his campaign isn’t a matter of questioning the value of pasteurization and the safety it provides, but allowing consumers the choice to make their own decisions….”
Declaration of Food Rights on side of Glencolton Farms milk van, with lots of room for people to sign it tomorrow, November 26th, 2015, starting at 1 pm at Queen’s Park, in downtown Toronto.
“In response to the escalating government enforcement against dairy farmers providing fresh milk to their communities, community members are declaring and standing up for their food rights.
Enforcement over the past 21 years has included raiding farms and cow share programs designed to connect farmers to the consumers who want the products.
“It is the people who want the fresh milk who are leading this,” Schmidt says. “They have bought the cows, they have equitable ownership and rights. The government is saying that they cannot have the products on their own farm and from their own animals. The people are saying they are going to anyway and suffer the consequences. Now it is time for the government to change their aggressive and unlawful policy on raw milk.”
BACKGROUND:Since 1994 Schmidt’s Glencolton farm was raided by multiple Government agencies. Since that first raid, Schmidt has tried to work extensively with the legislature, the Premier the Courts and people of Ontario to change the policy in regards to raw milk.” — text from the Facebook event page for this event.
If you support the right of people to make their own food choices, you are invited to sign a declaration of food rights at Queen’s Park on Thursday November 26th at 1 pm. Queen’s Park is the home of the Ontario Legislature in downtown Toronto.
The day before, on Wed. Nov. 25th, at 9 am, there will be a news conference at Queen’s Park to talk about the declaration of food rights and other topics related to recent raw milk standoffs.
Michael Schmidt will be at both the Nov. 25 news conference and the Nov. 26 food rights declaration signing.
As you will see from the video above and from the photo below, there’s been a shift away from focusing on Michael Schmidt’s role in all this, and putting the focus instead on the farm share members, like Masha Perrone, whose access to milk from their own cows has been put at risk by the recent actions of governmental agencies.
Farmshare owner Masha Perrone seems to have become the poster person for food choice, seen here with Elisa from the farm. Masha’s picture is now on the back of the milk truck. Photo: David Pickett.
Note that the video was shot a while ago and thus does not reflect the fact that a meeting has in fact taken place with York Region Public Health. See transcript of that meeting here. There was also some subsequent correspondence with Joe Lamarca of York Region Public Health, which was essentially a restatement of the Health Unit’s previous position.
"Bernard is right; the pathogen is nothing; the terrain is everything."
-- Louis Pasteur's deathbed words
"One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all'." (Martin Luther King - Letter from Birmingham Prison, Alabama)
The Bovine 