note: I have donated to Aajonus in the past and will do so for this
, I believe he is correct and needs all the help he can get!
KG

Dear, raw milk lovers,

I would not want to rain on anyone's parade but we must think
rationally rather than naively. Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures may be
burying himself the same way the Stueve’s Natural did in 1999.
Health department employees are not his friends and want him to lose
his business. History speaks for itself. It is the actions that show a
man’s intent, now his words or personality.

Since 1972, California Department of Health Services (CDHS),
California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and Los Angeles
County Department of Health Services (LACDHS) have been trying to
outlaw raw milk. My first major participation in the battle was in
1978 to get a CA Senate bill passed legalizing raw milk with equal
standards to pasteurized milk. The week prior to the vote, CDHS
claimed that the raw milk was contaminated and issued a press release
warning people of danger of death from drinking Alta Dena’s raw
milk. The bill failed in the vote. One week later, the Los Angeles
Herald Examiner obtained documents that proved CDHS’ accusation was
contrived to kill the Senate bill. It did. The people should have sued
CDHS for fraud and conspiracy.

In 1982, 1986, 1991, and 1996-2000 the battles were long, depriving us
of milk for 1-2 years each time. The last major assault was 1999-2000,
when LACDHS unwarrantedly raised the regulations for raw milk to the
level that raw milk passed only 51% of the time. Stueve’s Natural
raw milk was the only major raw-milk producer in California at the
time. Stueve's Natural had been Alta Dena Dairy. Every time Stueve’s
raw milk failed the coliform tests, LACDHS did not allow Stueve’s to
sell raw milk until the raw milk passed coliform counts for 10
consecutive days. The milk was sold maybe 2 weeks of every 6 weeks.
That virtually bankrupt Stueve’s and they stopped producing raw
milk. The law stated specifically that the department was to ensure
safe raw milk, not ban or eliminate it, but they did. Boyd Clark, who
managed Stueve’s could have sued but did not. LACDHS escaped its crime.

From 1997-2000, I attended every LACDHS’ Medical Milk Commission
meeting for raw milk; 3YEARS of meetings. I rallied pro-raw-milk MDs,
Dentists and scientists but the commissioners were all so prejudiced
against raw milk they ignored expert testimony and evidence. None of
the commissioners had any experience or done any empirical research of
raw milk and of those who drank it. They were not qualified to judge
raw milk; they were a board of MDs with one DVM. Several of the
meetings were attended by CDHS employees who were just as insistent
that the regulations for raw milk continually increase until the tiny
raw-milk industry was bankrupt. Stueve’s was bankrupt and stopped
producing raw milk.

We had to smuggle Claravale raw milk into Los Angeles to have raw milk
even though it rarely passed regulation limits for coliform. No one
got sick. I took the matter to the County legislators and pushed for a
bill to make raw-milk standards reasonable. Finally, the bill was
introduced in November 2000. LACDHS wrote a fraudulent report stating
that raw milk was dangerous and had caused deaths to children, and
that their search of scientific literature did not uncover any science
about raw milk benefits. They claimed that raw milk took the life of a
10-years old girl. Under investigation, it was discovered that the
little girl drowned and did not drink raw milk although her family
members did. Repeatedly, LACDHS has committed fraud in their
zealousness to ban raw milk. Do you really think they intend to help
Mark and us have raw milk?

Since I had had raw dairy experience and expertise gathered since
1969, I wrote a report. Dr. Wm Campbell Douglas, MD, an expert on raw
and pasteurized dairy, gave me permission to use much of his research
as well as mine and to use him as narrator, the Supplemental Report In
Favor Of Raw Milk. It was concise and as thorough as necessary to show
that the history of raw milk used as therapy dated back to Hippocrates.

Los Angeles County legislators reviewed the health department's report
and claims and mine from February-March 2001. The final hearing
occurred on March 20, 2001. Employees from CDHS and CDC flew on
taxpayers dollars to testify against raw milk. After listening to
testimony, County legislators voted for equal standards of testing and
regulations for both raw and pasteurized dairy. We had won the first
and only major battle.

In 2001, Mark McAfee created Organic Pastures Dairy that intended to
sell raw milk since we had paved the legal path. (I invested $20,000
dollars and friends of mine invested a total of $40,000(?) for a
one-year loan. Mark has not repaid us although he has made millions.)
James Stewart and I put Organic Pastures on the map to become a
predominant raw milk producer. Because of my years of experience, I
warned Mark that health department employees were his enemy. They
believed without empirical or scientific evidence that raw milk is
inherently dangerous. I warned him that those public servants would
continually harass him and prevent him from selling raw milk and act
as if they were his helpful friends.

I instructed Mark that health personnel would find any fault to stop
him from selling raw milk, for instance, he used the wrong paint on
walls of the milk-production room, the sink was not an exact distance
from certain machinery, and all of the other ridiculous regulations. I
suggested that when any health-department employee told him he could
not sell the milk until the infraction was resolved, he should ask
them to put it in writing and cite the law so that he could give it to
his attorney because he wanted to follow the law and wanted to
understand it. Mark did not follow that wisdom because he sincerely
but naively believed they want to help him.

For the next 15 months, Mark was prevented from periodically selling
his raw milk and constantly made changes as instructed by CDHS
employees. Finally, Mark did as I suggested and they stopped telling
him that he could not sell his milk. About a year ago, CDHS attacked
Organic Pastures (OPD) again on the heels of the spinach-E.coli
0157;H7 caper. They accused OPD’s raw milk for causing 4 children
severe illness, 2 with kidney damage. After much inspection, no E.coli
0157:H7 was found on Organic Pastures farm. Mark sued the CDHS and
CDHS settled for an undisclosed amount out of court.

Within a month of settlement, CDHS mounted its sneak attack on raw
milk again by slipping AB1735 anti-raw milk legislation into the State
House farm bill. The governor signed the bill and it is now law to be
effective March 15, 2008.

Why in the world would Mark and Sally Fallon and any of us believe
that CDHS, including its CFDA have any intention of helping us have
raw milk? Look at the history. I think that they are trying to make
Mark and all of us believe that they will be helpful and we will not
file a timely injunction against their fraudulently maneuvered
anti-raw-milk law. Once the time passes, Nov 7, the only recourse is
through the Senate or House. That is a long process and the CDHS and
our politicians are obviously in cahoots together. This may be the end
of commercial raw milk in California and all states. An injunction and
class action are the only things that are going to save raw milk in
California and elsewhere. I hope that I am wrong but what reality do
you think is true? Are you willing to risk your raw milk or do you
think that Mark and all of us should file a class-action injunction?

Isn't it time for us to remove the gloves and fight hard and
mercilessly against CDHS, CFDA, USDHS, USFDA and any other
governmental coven that wants to deprive us of our constitutional
right to health by depriving us of nutritious raw milk?

healthfully,
aajonus


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