Financial pressure on Australian parents to vaccinate their children

From John Rappoport:

“The other day, I wrote about radical changes in Australian vaccination policy. Principally, the national government has unilaterally decided that parents who receive government money will have that money taken away, if they don’t vaccinate their children. (See:Australia: refuse vaccination, lose $15,000)

Now I have learned that all families in Australia receive some form of government money. So the policy change affects everyone.

Which, of course, is what happens when citizens become beholden to big government. Government taketh, giveth back, taketh again, on their own timetable, according to their own dictates.

GMOs in Australia; Raw milk in Ontario

From the Centre for Social Poetry:

West Australian farmer Steve Marsh, who is suing his long-time friend Michael Baxter, claiming the latter’s GM crops contaminated his organic farm. Picture: Marie Nirme Source: The Australian. Click image to go to the story in the Australian in which this photo appeared.

“Two court proceedings of global significance are currently underway. The first is in Perth, Western Australia; the second in Ontario, Canada. Both cases have relevance not just for the future of food, but of social life as a whole.

Steve Marsh is an organic farmer from Kojonup, Western Australia. He grew up using ‘conventional’ farming methods, and continued to do so when he took over the farm from his father. After experiencing a number of health issues, however, as well as observing reduced powers in some sheep dips and commercial fertilisers, he decided to trial, in 2004, organic farming, particularly grains. The yields were slightly lower, he said, but the quality was better. He also met a real consumer need for organic produce, and so was able to remain financially viable. Ultimately, he said he was happy to be providing a good quality, natural product to consumers.[1]

Cowsharing raw milk cosmetic farmer in Australia meets the Dairy Authority

From Paul Marks on Alternative Law Journal:

“Tyler set up ‘My Cow’, a cow-share program, about six years ago. Applicants purchase a one per cent share of a cow for $27.50. Shareholders then pay a small monthly boarding fee. Each share yields 6.5 litres of raw, unprocessed milk monthly. Shareholders may either collect the milk from the dairy or, if they pay a delivery fee, from one of a number of suburban Adelaide collection points.

A raft of Legislation, Regulation, Standards and Codes of Practice apply to milk production. Accreditation by the Dairy Authority is required to produce, transport or process milk. The sale of raw drinking milk is not permitted. A recent Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (‘FSANZ’) review of restrictions on the production and processing of raw milk decided ‘the risks associated with raw drinking milk cannot be reduced sufficiently and such products present a medium to high level of public health and safety risk’.

Australian supermarkets just say “NO” to factory farmed pork, in deference to “consumer sentiment”

From Ocean Robbins, on Common Dreams:

“In one of history’s most stunning victories for humane farming, Australia’s largest supermarket chain, Coles, will as of January 1 stop selling company branded pork and eggs from animals kept in factory farms. As an immediate result, 34,000 mother pigs will no longer be kept in stalls for long periods of their lives, and 350,000 hens will be freed from cages.Screen shot from video below

Another reason to avoid GMO wheat

From Mike Adams in Natural News:

“(NaturalNews) Genetically engineered wheat contains an enzyme suppressor that, when consumed by humans, could cause permanent liver failure (and death). That’s the warning issued today by molecular biologist Jack Heinemann of the University of Canterbury in Australia.

Heinemann has published an eye-opening report that details this warning and calls for rigorous scientific testing on animals before this crop is ever consumed by humans. The enzyme suppressor in the wheat, he says, might also attack a human enzyme that produces glycogen. Consumers who eat genetically modified wheat would end up contaminating their bodies with this enzyme-destroying wheat, causing their own livers to be unable to produce glycogen, a hormone molecule that helps the body regulate blood sugar metabolism. This, in turn, would lead to liver failure.

Lifestyle and diet affect jaw size, shape

What’s missing in this picture is any reference to the pioneering work of Weston A. Price on the relation between diet and jaw formation. Here’s the story, from Clare Pain, at ABC Science in Australia:

Click image to go to ABC Science story

“Lifestyle is known to affect many aspects of health but now a UK anthropologist says it could even change the shape of our jaws.

Dr Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel of the University of Kent reports her findings in this week’s edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

She made detailed measurements of the skulls and jaw-bones (mandibles) of nearly 300 individuals from 11 different subsistence cultures – some from hunter-gatherer societies and some from societies with primitive agriculture.

The measurements were of skulls in museum collections, which were from people who lived in the past couple of thousand years.

“These people are likely to be analogous to people living today,” says Cramon-Taubadel.

Time to end the war against the earth

From Vandana Shiva, an edited version of her talk last night at the Sydney Opera House, as published on TheAge.com.au. Thanks to Raoul Bedi for bringing this story to our attention:

Vandana Shiva, Indian food activist, from " Sydney Peace Prize". Click for source.

When we think of wars in our times, our minds turn to Iraq and Afghanistan. But the bigger war is the war against the planet. This war has its roots in an economy that fails to respect ecological and ethical limits – limits to inequality, limits to injustice, limits to greed and economic concentration.

Aussie gov’t decides to stick with local raw milk cheese prohibition, although imported raw milk cheeses are allowed

From Elaine Reeves on The Mercury.com.au

Nick Haddow of Bruny Island Cheese Company makes a hard raw-milk cheese. Photo via The Mercury.com.au

“CHEESE-LOVERS took heart when Food Standards Australia New Zealand agreed to take a second look at if it would allow cheese to be made with raw milk in Australia. The resulting report released recently, however, has brought them no cheer.

After examining all the options, FSANZ virtually has recommended leaving things as they are.

Slow Food promoting raw milk cheese

From the 3 Wheeled Cheese blog:

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“Slow Food has been fighting for the rights of consumers to buy raw milk and the rights of cheesemakers to make cheese from raw milk for almost two decades, and its biennial event, Cheese, has long been a forum for publicizing the issue. This year Cheese 2011 sees the launch of a new Slow Food campaign site for raw milk, www.slowfood.com/rawmilk. As part of the campaign, an international panel of cheesemakers, experts and cheesemongers came together today to share their experiences and describe the situation in their own countries.

“Legalize Milk, Real [RAW] Milk”

From Mark Thornton, at the Ludwig von Mies Institute:

“Most Americans think they drink milk on a regular basis. In fact, virtually all these people are consuming pasteurized milk, not milk.

Milk in its natural state — raw milk — is consumed by very few Americans, because it is illegal in many states and thoroughly discouraged by federal health organizations, regulators, and the Big Dairy lobby.

Raw milk is prohibited in Canada and Australia, although raw milk and raw-milk products are legal almost everywhere else. In fact, in countries with the best cuisines, such as France, raw milk and raw-milk products are considered the high-quality choice. No wonder. Raw milk is fresher, better tasting, and more nutritious.