David Gumpert of The Complete Patient blog has posted coverage of the start of the court hearing yesterday. Here’s a excerpt from his post:
“Three years ago, it appeared as if Schmidt was at a dead end legally, when he was threatened with extended jail time following legal setbacks in his long crusade to legalize raw milk sales in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada. But he was convinced by supporters and legal experts that he should pursue a new path to legalization—one that involved seeking an exemption to the raw milk ban based on newly published scientific evidence about raw milk’s benefits, and also on the legal argument that Canadians have the right under the Canadian Charter to consume raw milk as a matter of conscience if they believe it is essential to maintaining good health.
Ironically, Schmidt is not technically part of this latest legal push—it is being pursued by his wife, Elisa Vander Hout, along with the owner of a second Ontario dairy and a group of some 20 long-time raw milk drinkers. But in a Facebook post Monday, Schmidt stated: “There are 21 people who are challenging the law prohibiting the distribution of raw milk. They firmly believe that this law is discriminatory and goes against the Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Please understand that this case is not only of the essence to milk-drinkers, but to anyone who wants to be free to make their own (informed) choices about what to eat, drink and inject into their own bodies.”…”
Read the whole story on David Gumpert’s The Complete Patient blog.
Links to Youtube live feeds for all five days of the court proceedings.
The Bovine 