John Langlois
john.langlois@...
www.foggybottomwebdesign.com
www.foggybottomfarms.com

Dear Members,

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is after raw milk again, this time
suspending the permit of Trent Hendricks, who operates a state-of-the-art raw
milk dairy in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. In addition, the PDA and the
Pennsylvania Department of Health have issued inflammatory press releases that
have greatly hurt the dairy's reputation and business. The PDA also carried out
another raid on Mark Nolt's farm.

Details are given in the press release below. Now it the time to take action and
express your outrage at this biased attack against raw milk in Pennsylvania.

ACTION TO TAKE

Call, email or write the Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture, the Governor of
Pennsylvania, the chairmen of the Agriculture and Rural Affaris committees, and
your state senator and representative.

POINTS TO MAKE

1. The actions of the PDA against Hendricks Dairy and Mark Nolt are contrary to
PDA regulations and outside of the law.
2. PDA and the Department of Health need to issue an immediate retraction,
stating that there has never been any problem with Hendricks Dairy raw milk.
3. Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Nolt should receive compensation from the State of
Pennsylvania for lost business and product seizure.
4. Mr. William Chirdon should be replaced with an official who understands and
supports the raw milk movement.
5. A congressional investigation is needed into PDA raw milk policies.

CONTACTS

For names and addresses of your state senators and representatives, go to
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/index.cfm, where you can search your elected
officials by zip code and county.

Ag & Rural Affairs - Senate Chairman
Hon. Michael W. Brubaker
Chairman, Ag & Rural Affairs
Senate Box 203036
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3036

Ag & Rural Affairs - House Chairman
Hon. Michael K. Hanna
Chairman, Ag & Rural Affairs
302 Main Capitol Building
PO Box 202076
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2076

Mr. Dennis C. Wolff
Secretary, Department of Agriculture
2301 N. Cameron St.
Harrisburg, PA 17110

Governor Edward G. Rendell
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120

PRESS RELEASE AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Please feel free to send this press release to local media where you live.

Sincerely,
Sally Fallon
President

Unwarranted Raw Dairy Recalls
Put Spotlight on Hostile Regulatory Procedures

Washington, DC--Sept 17, 2008-A series of rush-to-judgment raw dairy recalls and
actions against raw milk farmers around the country, has exposed inappropriate
protocols used to assess the safety of raw milk and extreme bias on the part of
investigators.

On September 12, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) rescinded
Telford, Pennsylvania raw milk farmer Trent Hendrick's raw milk permit, based on
a few recent cases of food poisoning. Without any test results showing that the
Hendricks Farm milk was contaminated, the state issued a press release naming
the farm and circulated warnings against the consumption of all raw milk.

Today all independent tests came back negative, not only for campylobacter but
for all other pathogens as well.

The state based their decision on reports of three families that were customers
of the dairy, several members of which were afflicted with intestinal pain,
cramping and diarrhea. According to Hendricks, two of the families were on
vacation at the time and were exposed to other possible sources of pathogens,
including questionable water sources. However, investigators for the
Pennsylvania health department discounted other likely vectors of disease and
neglected to determine whether non-raw milk drinkers had also contracted the
illness.

Prior to this incident, The Hendricks farm has been lauded by the PDA as being
an exceptional raw dairy producer, one who operated by permit and had a
superlative safety record. The farm's raw milk cheeses have won several American
Cheese Society awards. Hendricks had requested that the PDA wait until test
results were in before issuing the press release. The shut down of his operation
and press release resulted in financial hardship and considerable negative
publicity for the dairy.

"I have jumped through hoops in an attempt to meet or surpass the state
requirements," said Hendricks. "Our farm has an excellent track record on test
results, and we even go above and beyond by testing the milk weekly for
pathogens. All of our good faith efforts and compliance didn't amount to a hill
of beans. When we needed the benefit of the doubt from the state, it wasn't
there. We take food safety very seriously. All we asked is that PDA have
evidence before they convict us. Instead, they insisted on putting out a press
release damning our product before test results were back--before they had any
conclusive proof."

"Until recently, the PDA did not suspend permits or issue press releases until
appropriate testing confirmed the presence of pathogens in culture tests, says
Sally Fallon, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nutrition education
foundation that encourages the consumption of raw milk from pasture-fed cows.
"In fact, they waited until they got two negative culture results, because
pathogen testing is subject to error."

Also on September 12, the PDA carried out its third raid against Mark Nolt's
farm. Nolt, a passive resister to the state permitting process, claims a
constitutional right to sell the products of his farm without a permit. To
date, the state has seized over $65,000 worth of product and equipment.
According to Nolt, the judge's order giving the PDA authority to seize and
discard products from his farm was lifted on August 5, 2008 and the courts have
denied the PDA a permanent injunction against the sale of raw milk. "The
seizure and destruction of our farm products was an unlawful action by the
state," says Nolt.

PDA head of dairy safety William Chirdon has frequently stated that Nolt would
be able to sell his raw milk without interference as long as he obtained a
permit. "Friday's actions demonstrate that PDA has no qualms about harassing raw
milk farmers who have permits," said Taaron Meikle, president of the
Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. (FTCLDF) "This is why more and more raw
milk farmers are choosing to operate outside the permitting system. They
consider the raw milk permit a 'permit to harass.'"

In light of these two incidents, Jonas Stoltzfus, farmer and President of the
Pennsylvania Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (PICFA), called for
the immediate ouster of William Chirdon. "The FDA's negative statements about
raw dairy have resulted in an aggressive stance against raw dairy farmers by
state agencies across the nation. Persecution of Pennsylvania raw milk farmers
began under Bill Chirdon's regime. His actions of September 12 demonstrate his
willingness to persecute and prosecute farmers on no evidence at all," said
Stoltzfus.

"We are concerned about extreme PDA bias against raw milk," says Meikle, "It is
inappropriate for the state to issue warnings against the consumption of all raw
milk when raw milk has helped thousands of Pennsylvania consumers overcome
health problems and has a long history of safety. Last year, three people died
from contaminated pasteurized milk in Massachusetts and thousands have been
sickened by fresh produce. Where are the warnings against consumption of
pasteurized milk and raw produce?" Meikle notes that tainted, heat-processed
baby formula killed three infants and sickened over one thousand babies in
China, during the week of the PDA actions against raw milk.

Fallon notes that a recall of raw cream in California highlights similar
inappropriate protocols in that state. The California Department of Food and
Agriculture (CDFA) recalled the raw cream when it tested positive for
campylobacter after 12 days of highly specialized laboratory culturing. No
illnesses from the raw cream were reported and CDFA admitted to a sample mix-up
that sent the cream to the wrong lab. "Not only did the cream travel over 900
extra miles and sit for several days at the wrong laboratory before being sent
to the correct laboratory, the source milk from which the cream was well under
the mandated 10 coliform limit-- it was 6 coliforms, pathogen-free and
campylobacter-free. CDFA officials consider this the gold standard for raw milk
testing," said Fallon. "We are waiting for Governor Schwarzenegger to sign
SB201, the 2008 California Fresh Raw Milk bill, into law. This legislation will
eliminate the 10-coliform limit, which is very difficult for raw milk dairies to
pass on a consistent basis, and mandate frequent intensive testing for pathogens
like campylobacter instead. Campylobacter is not a coliform and so it is missed
by the coliform standards currently in force.

Raw milk defenders note that coliforms are mostly beneficial bacteria, which
have pro-biotic effects. "The presence of good bacteria is one reason consumers
want to drink raw milk," says Fallon. "The official attitude that the only good
bacteria is a dead bacteria is a discredited paradigm based on 40-year-old
science."



The Weston A. Price Foundation is a 501c3 nutrition education non-profit,
dedicated to fostering a return to nutrient-dense foods and traditional farming
methods. The Foundation promotes the consumption of raw milk and pasture-feeding
of livestock. The Weston A. Price Foundation is based in Washington DC and has
400 chapters and 10,000 members worldwide. Websites: westonaprice.org and
realmilk.com

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund provides legal defense for sustainable
farms engaged in raw milk production and direct farm-to-consumer sales. Website:
farmtoconsumer.org.

The Pennsylvania Independent Consumers and Farmers Association is a group of
Sustainable Farmers and the Consumers that support them. Their mission is to
help defend the rights of farmers to provide humanely raised meats and farm
fresh dairy products direct to consumers who value these foodstuffs without
government interference.

CONTACTS:
Kimberly Hartke, WAPF Publicist (703) 860-2711 or (703) 675-5557,
kimberly@...

Jonas Stoltzfus, Pennsylvania Independent Consumers and Farmers Association
Home 717-536-3618, cell 717-275-3016 mailto:jstoltz@...

Maureen Diaz, Weston A. Price Chapter Leader, Pennsylvania 717-303-3832 cell
717-253-0529 mailto:motherhenof9@...

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