Wisconsin DATCP Bossman, Steve InghamJudge Patrick Fiedler’s decision on the Zinniker and Craig case, and his declaration that we have no right to own a cow or consume its milk, should make clear to Wisconsin farmers that there’s a new order, and a new bossman, out on the farm. So there’s a new etiquette required if you want to get along.
First thing, how to address Steve Ingham, the head of safety for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), or any of his lieutenants. Now, if you listen to him speak, he seems like a regular food safety guy, a bacteria-phobe who says he genuinely worries a lot about raw milk safety. But this latest decision by the judge has to have even the most modest fellow feeling pretty big for his britches. So when he arrives at your farm, you want to be prepared for the new way of relating in Wisconsin, as in, “Howdy, Massuh Ingham. Nice day.”
Now, if he’s in a bad mood and says, “I decide if it’s a nice day or not,” your response is, “Yassuh Massuh Ingham, yassuh. Don’t know what I was thinkin’, makin’ those kinda judgments. Sometimes I just go blabbin’ about. Absolutely, suh.”
Then, there’s the matter of how he addresses you. When he calls you, “Boy,” you need to smile, and, once again, say, “Yassuh Massuh Ingham. Yassuh.
Chances are, he’ll want to look around your farm. Of course, your response is, “Mah fahm is yuh fahm, Massuh Ingham. And it would be my honor, suh, to shine your boots, and give them a kiss before you start the inspection.”
If he’s still in a bad mood, he might say, “What kind of dunce are you? I’ll tell you when to kiss my boots. Today I’d like you to kiss my boots at the end of the inspection, when they’re good and dirty.”
Of course, your response is, “Yassuh Massuh Ingham. My fault for being presumptuous.”
If he then says, “Since when are you using such big words, like ‘presumptuous,’ ” you say, “I think I heard it on the television, Massuh Ingham. But I don’t usually use such big words.”
You might try telling him how wonderful his new study of the Wisconsin dairy industry is, the one about how big CAFO dairies produce milk that’s less dirty than small CAFO dairies. “I didn’t fully appreciate, Massuh, how much those big guys cared about all the little people. And why people shouldn’t automatically assume small farms are best, and not do so much business with the giant corporations.”
But be ready for him to ask, “Since when are you reading academic studies?”
Your best response? “I always want to know what smart things Massuh is up to. Yassuh, I want to be like Massuh.”
Be ready, though, for him to push back, something like, “Getting a little uppity, it sounds like, with all that reading and analyzing.”
Your best response: “Oh no suh. No uppity for me. Just admirin’ Massuh.”
And by all means, avoid discussion of raw milk. If it comes up, and he says he’s heard you like raw milk or have been producing it, you just say: “Raw milk? I heard that’s bad stuff, Massuh Ingham. Bad stuff. Why, I heard it can make you real sick, or even sterile, Massuh Ingham.”
He’ll like that. Probably say you are smarter than he ever thought.
But if he doesn’t like the way you say it, watch out. He may chuckle, say something like: “Ya know, I don’t care for your tone. If you don’t straighten out, I may just bring you before Judge Fiedler. He’s the guy who said DATCP tells the farmers what to do. We even decide if it’s okay for one of your kids to have a pet goat or pig. Last I heard, he’s thinking of bringing back debtor prison if you miss a payment on your farm loan. He also told me he thinks the old practice of public whuppins of slaves, er, farmers, with bad attitudes was a good thing. Now, he’s resigning soon, but his cronies all feel the same way. You wouldn’t want me to get a judge after you, would you, boy?”
Best to swallow any touch of pride you might have left, and say, “No suh. Absolutely not, suh. You da bossman, and you’s a good bossman. No need for any here-comes-da-judge routine. No suh.”
He’ll probably like that and smile, tell you, “Now that’s the kind of attitude we like to see from you farmers. Nice and cooperative. You keep behavin’ that way, and you know, we might just become more open minded about this raw milk thing I know you have your heart set on. You give us another, oh, ten, fifteen, maybe twenty five years, and we may just discuss your safety record and see what we can do. Maybe get you a special exemption to drink it on Sundays, just you and your family.”
And once again, you tell him how grateful you are for his generosity. “Thank you, suh, I always knew you were a kind and giving soul, a man of the people.”
At this point, he may ask you if he can “borrow” you every once in a while, to come over to his farm, and milk the couple cows his wife keeps. Certainly you know the drill by now. It’s “Yassuh, that would also be my honor, suh, to milk your wife’s cows on my one day off every month. My absolute honor.”
If you really want him to glow when he’s leaving, turn up the speakers on your computer and play Louis Armstrong singing,”What a Wonderful World”. He especially loves this part:
“I hear babies cry. I watch them grow.
They’ll learn much more…than I’ll ever know.
And I think to myself…what a wonderful world.”
And if you have any free time, work on your slave talk, so you’ve got it down just right.
Sylvia,
The quote is from the bottom of page 6 in the ahead-of-print paper. The journal is no open access, so you need to have a subscription or send a request to the corresponding author asking for a copy.
Loss G, Apprich S, Waser M, et al. The protective effect of farm milk consumption on childhood asthma and atopy: The GABRIELA study. J Allergy Clin Immunol (In Press)
On page 7, the authors also say the key points of the study were:
Key messages
-Questionnaire-reported consumption of unboiled but not
boiled farm milk was inversely associated with asthma,
hay fever, and atopy.
-Higher levels of the whey proteins BSA, a-lactalbumin,
and b-lactoglobulin in milk samples were associated
with a reduced risk of asthma but not atopy.
-Neither total viable bacterial counts nor the total fat content of the milk were related to asthma or atopy.
MW
are comparable to the number of outbreaks linked to some other products.."
Where did he get his information? Fear-mongering…out right lies.
"how big CAFO dairies produce milk that's less dirty than small CAFO dairies. "
If this is what he believes then he is a moron. Just listening to him is nauseating.
MW: I see, it was not the study that you quoted.
I do believe access to raw milk and other foods of choice (healthy or unhealthy) is a civil rights issue. Perhaps I am ignorant of the law, but it just doesn't make sense to me that the distinction between legal and natural persons means access to a different set of rights.
The Zinnickers and Craigs are under CONTRACT with the state and therefore have to abide by the terms of the contract. Is this so hard to understand?
The fact that virtually NO ONE in the raw milk movement understands this is what is inherently wrong with the raw milk movement.
If we understand the rules, we can work with them, or work around them. Instead, we're trying to work through them and every time we do we just end up beating our heads on them.
We need to make an effort to understand the statutes and rules and how they apply, or don't apply, to us, instead of just crying fowl when we get caught breaking them.
I don't agree with "sanitizing" David's post. I think political correctness is actually more harmful than helpful. Why? Because in this case blacks were expected to speak that way to whites, and they were expected to be subservient. Sanitizing it makes it seem like it wasn't as bad as it actually was for blacks during that time period. Political correctness seems to be a tonic for white people. We can attempt to sanitize the language used in the past to attempt to make us feel less guilty for what happened to blacks in America. It sort of reminds me of the people who want to take n*** out of Huckleberry Finn. The only people who get any kind of help from that are the white folks who feel guilty about how the word was used.
Furthermore, as a Jewish woman, I'd be very offended if some politically correct group called the Nazis the "blue-haired, blue-eyed fan club". The Nazis were the Nazis, and what they stood for should not ever be sanitized by anyone. To do so is to minimize to the suffering of millions of people who died in the Holocaust.
OK….now back to raw milk. 🙂
It really makes me angry this power grab from Big Ag and Big Pharma. I think in some ways the raw foods/supplement/natural health people really need to go on the offensive on Big Ag/Big Pharma instead of going on the defensive. It was Cargill that recently added two more antibiotic washes to their line (whatever that means). That was REALLY irresponsible of them, and completely dangerous to the health of Americans. It was Cargill's salmonella outbreak that cost the lives of innocent people. It's time to compile the data against these guys, and start making massive campaigns about who and what they are and especially how dangerous their products are. These people are very nazi-like, does anyone know about this woman who approached Bachmann and said Gardasil made her daughter mentally retarded? The media attacked Bachmann as if she said all homeless people should be rounded up into a concentration camp (by the way, I'm not supporting Bachmann –just bringing up the situation). I do believe that this anonymous woman deserves a fair investigation of what happened to her daughter. It's simple common sense. Avandia, Vioxx, hormone-replacement for women,……people getting addicted to Xanax and pain killers. Just those facts alone are enough to warrant an investigation for this teenager. It's time to go on a propaganda campaign against Big Ag and Big Pharma. They truly are evil.
OK, that wasn't really about raw milk per se, but I felt a need to vent.
Judge Patrick J. Fiedler
Phone: 608-266-4325
Fax: 608-266-4080
Dane County Courthouse
215 S Hamilton St. Room 8103
Madison, WI 53703-3292
Knows-how-to-care-for-a-cow-and-owns-the-land (Party A) and I (Party B) have a my-word-is-my-bond agreement: I buy two cows and Party A keeps them on the land, cares for them and milks them. I collect the milk. I pay the bills connected with the two cows and I pay Party A for the time spent on my cows. Party A keeps the receipts and a record of time spent and when I pick-up my milk I pay Party A 100 cents on the dollar for the receipts and the time spent.
Party A has no dairy license of any sort. Party A has land and expertise. Party A is an astronomer and has the land for a little observatory, the land is cow-suitable.
What have Party A and Party B done?
Mr. J. Ingvar Odegaard
It is crucial for Share Operators to understand that the politics of efforts in the courts are different than efforts in the executive branch ( CDFA ) or efforts in the court of public opinion, or….efforts to pass legislation. Each of these efforts require different collaborative efforts and provide different end point objectives. To win a lawsuit, to pass a law…to gain public support or negotiate a definition for what a "Animal Share" actually is are each specialized processes. CDFA readily admits it has no definition in the Food and Ag Code for a Animal Share. To alienate support on our side is destructive and weakens the raw milk team. OPDC and RAWMI are your biggest supporters.
I am concerned that the more than 120 share programs in CA are not coming together in consensus and do not appear to want to engage in the process.
Lesson one…if you do not engage in the process, you will not be a part of the process and you will not have a part in forming the results of the process. You will get scraps of the left overs. Please engage….please join the bigger team. The other side is collecting it's act….we must have consensus.
I support the Animal Share operatives in CA. We are team.
"It is worth noting that raw milk production and distribution is legal in California, as long as production facilities are licensed and inspected by the state."
There is no trust in the govt entities I have a feeling the laws will be changed in big ags favor…..
http://www.realrawmilkfacts.com/raw-milk-news
http://theagrevolution.com/2011/07/raw-goat-milk-and-herd-sharing/
http://www.progressivedairy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6137:new-cdfa-secretary-ross-hails-great-partnership-with-california-dairy-families-at-wud-convention&catid=38:progressive-events&Itemid=64
https://blog.cdfa.ca.gov/wordpress/?p=38
http://www.agalert.com/story/?id=2482
http://ukiahcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/michael-foley-the-great-raw-milk-brouhaha-%E2%80%94-four-easy-pieces/
"The department, she said, would do everything it could to help these folks get licensed."
http://envirobeat.com/?cat=22
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:yeaFwH23B9kJ:www.ftcldf.org/press/Hulme-Complaint_07-22-11_redacted.pdf+raw+milk+Sec+of+Ag+Karen+Ross&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiDSME7R7mmwg50DuPH3pB68oLe4HSyPE2N_QMVrWRIMI8D9l7rXj341u83q4FoKidhkQt39Wz_0PXWTRspQneUIubNe9CTrsh0QaN0BJ2qJDpSLNUoyrwBjivaIqGQdy7oIxvP&sig=AHIEtbSPpK9pLDs50zzG81B-foJED3QagQ
It sounds like you and Party A have formed a mutually beneficial private contract, with a clear line of ownership. I believe this system would withstand a legal challenge much better than the farmshare/cowshare type being advocated by many in the raw milk movement.
Lola
We all know how well our govt upholds treaties…… Perhaps many feel they are not breaking any laws and feel there is nothing to negotiate. Perhaps, many fear the govt coming down on them should they have any voice…….
There are centuries of mistrust towards the govt and most likely always will be. They have not proven that they can be trusted. They have proven that they follow the lead of big ag et al.
Many have seen or heard what the govt has done to innocent farmers, how, even when the law was on the farmers side, the farmer still lost. Words will not wipe these visions away.
Whether or not they join RAWMI, If you show and speak to the whole community as a group then they tend to listen openly.
"Lesson one…if you do not engage in the process, you will not be a part of the process and you will not have a part in forming the results of the process. You will get scraps of the left overs. Please engage….please join the bigger team. The other side is collecting it's act….we must have consensus."
Perhaps re-wording your statements would open others to listen….. There is power in numbers, we, in the raw milk environment, don't agree on everything, yet to combat against govt et al interference, we need to stand together……. Telling people that they will only get "scraps of the left overs" only alienates you from the whole……
"the more than 120 share programs in CA are not coming together in consensus and do not appear to want to engage in the process. "
Did you ask them their opinions? Did you tell them it appears to you that they are not "coming together in consensus" and you would like to know their thoughts on it? You NEED their input for your proposal to work….otherwise you will not be able to work as a group. And if you cannot work as a solid group, it will fail from lack of strength.
I would guess that they are working their farms 24/7 2Xday milking plus other farm stuff and it may be difficult to get to any meetings.
A consensus is a general agreement/ judgement of the majority (M. Webster) Exactly what are you asking the share operators to consent to?
Mark, I am not trying to be a snot to you. I think what you are trying to do has a lot of merit. Teaching all aspects of the raw dairy environment, to include the legal stuff is very important for everyone.
To mandate you are either with us or against us…is lethal to your ideas.
To gain trust, you must first show what you intend, and be TRANSPARENT in all operations of your entity. If people see what you are doing and where you are leading to, if you are going in the same direction as they want to go, then they will listen and walk beside you.
This does not mean that everyone needs to agree with everything. It does mean having respect for each others views.
Keep in mind that many may have deep fears of govt taking their farms, their livelihoods…they don't have the money to fight and this may deter many from speaking out.
If you were to go to jail, your family would still be able to live comfortable, If many of these small farmers go to jail, after the horrendous legal fees, their families would be destitute.
I learned something similar when I tried to get rid of the seiu while working for the Ca DOH….many stated they would sign anything I sent them, but to actually stand beside me…not going to happen, they were afraid of repercussions from the union, from their supervisors, many wanted change but didn't want it bad enough to fight for it, they were happy to let others do the fighting.
To Mark and everyone,
I got into the sale of raw milk because of FTCLDF and I got out of the sale of raw milk because of FTCLDF. I got out before their ineptness bankrupted me.
what you have described is indeed a cowshare agreement. person a owns the land and takes care of cows that are owned by person b. clear lines of ownership. known as an agistment agreement, recognized in english common law as early as 1777, perhaps earlier.
http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2011/08/raw_milk_controversy_weve_pass.php
Free association for me; free association for you.
Freedom of speech for me; freedom of speech for you.
The right to keep and bear arms for me; the right to keep and bear arms for you.
& so forth.
The responsibilities of freedom for me; the responsibilities of freedom for you.
So what is slavery? If our obvious answers are not complete answers, they will not meet our needs. If we want slavery gone, out, and we do not know what slavery is, we cant really give it its walking papers. Can we? Exchange of masters is what David has described above. Culture (Food-Clothing-Shelter-Entertainment-Religion-Thought) is not simplistic. It does not have to be corrosive to the human spirit either, even in metropolitan areas where millions of souls dwell. Culture is based either on a slave model or freedom model. The cultural (F-Cl-Sh-Ent-Rel-Th) complexity exists in either model. Respect for individual human life, or not, is the other constant in our world. Look at the Soviets Stalinist famine of 1932-3 that took millions of lives in the Ukraine- a slaughter based on a lack of respect for individual human life. A slaughter of purposeful starvation of Ukrainians. The Nazis kept oh-so-careful records of the horrors they perpetrated. Why would they keep such records? The Nazis had concocted themselves into a box where they had careful, murderous, disdain for individual human life. The Marxist-Leninists of the Soviet Union did the same thing. The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz (1953) helps to illustrate the contrast between these two models as they play out in the 20th c. in Europe and America (USA). The most perceptive predict these performances decades before the curtains open because what will be acted out is present in the underlying philosophies, or beliefs. If the philosophical foundation is rotten, the fruit will be rotten. It takes time. The destination of the road you walk (and defend) will be your home.
If courts and legislatures and executives allow large(r) commercial interests to exert control (or if they themselves do so) in violation of the spirit of human freedom and in violation of respect for individual human life, then those that refused the bait and didnt come to the table will be the ones leftover. They will still able to feed whoever else is left after a gross collapse. I guess what I am saying here is echoing part of Sylvia Gibsons comment above, there is nothing wrong with keeping your good name and labor off the list makers round-up lists. In the meantime, those that are at the table can judge themselves by looking in a mirror to see if they will resist the slavery/tyranny model in whatever subtle, tempting, American, scientific, well-meaning, precedent-conforming, manner it manifests itself. The Ukraine famine was only 80 years ago, the Nazis crushing of the human spirit in themselves only 70 years ago. We We have been largely idle in tending to our own education, let alone that of our succeeding generations, in these matters, making for a risky situation vis–vis percentage of citizens and percentage of deciders (voters) that have a clue.
So what Mark is doing is very, very hopeful. How Judge Fiedler comes across in legal sound bites is quite insane. Iola Granola knows that Judge Fiedler is quite sane. I I just want a glass of milk.
Mr. J. Ingvar Odegaard
I'm still mulling over this idea of how having a contract with the state applies to raw milk production for private arrangements. Just because you have a contract with the state in one matter does not mean that every move you make falls under its jurisdiction. I'm thinking of a personal case where I babysat a friend's kids once a week during the school year. I got paid for this work (a few hundred dollars), and I paid full independent contractor taxes for this income (i.e. state and federal income tax as well as self-employment taxes). My "contract" was with the IRS. However, I certainly didn't fall under whatever agency licenses child care providers. This was a private arrangement between my friend and me.
Private arrangements between farmers and citizens don't fall under public health regulation jurisdiction, period.
I agree with you. It appears that tptb are trying to make it under their jurisdiction.
As far as I know, babysitters are not regulated under state or federal law. As long as you pay your taxes and aren't running a daycare, they don't appear to care.
Oppression is unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power and this is what the govt is exhibiting. By prohibiting or making raw milk extremely difficult to obtain is to some detrimental to their health. Thus, akin to with-holding vital food is no different than enslaving someone. Forcing vaccines or any belief/issue on another person is also oppression.
What is offensive to one person, may not be to another. I've heard a coworker speak in "slave talk" to a supervisor, the coworker was black, I think she did it to get her point across. Many Native Americans take great offense with sports teams using Native names, ie braves, redskins, etc. Yet, Seminoles in Florida want Florida State to use their name as a mascot. I think many of the controversial team names were based on respect years ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/us/a-mothers-war-on-germs-at-fast-food-playgrounds.html
You're not alone in your discomfort with my language in this post. I received a few private emails to that effect as well. I'm not surprised–I debated with myself a good deal before finally deciding that the post was the best I could do, without simply ranting, to use satire to make the point that Wisconsin via Judge Fiedler has given DATCP what amounts to absolute power over Wisconsin's dairy farmers, indeed, all farmers in the state. Giving one group of people absolute power over another, without any form of appeal, seems to me a modern-day equivalent of slavery. I was in part hoping to wake up Wisconsin farmers and consumers to their unfortunate, even pathetic, plight.
Your point about private contracts is related. If WI were open to allowing private contracts to govern raw milk distribution, DATCP and Judge Fiedler would articulate realistic parameters. Private contracts are a mainstay of commerce for all manner of products in America, yet raw dairy, in their view, essentially can't be distributed via private contract. Essentially, a ban. Not many products in that category, and I would hope some judge on appeal will step in and make things right.
David
Chris heart rate had escalated up to 180 beats per minute. A group of doctors seemed to appear from nowhere. The whole experience was so surreal. They told us that Chris was too weak to continue breathing on his own and they would have to take over for him. He had congestive heart failure. When I heard that he was being placed on a ventilator (or doctor speak, intubated), I felt faint. The room began to spin and I had to sit down. I had a difficult time breathing. As they spoke, I could barely keep my eyes open. This wave of tiredness came over me and I had a hard staying awake. My mind and body was attempting to protect me from what was happening. What I understood from a laymans perspective is that Chris was being placed on life support. My baby was dying. It is so difficult to put in words the flashes of information that flew through my head. I envisioned Chris in a coffin at his funeral. The vision was so painful. They whisked Tony and me out of the room. We signed papers and then they took us to a private room with couches and chairs. We were to wait there until he was done being intubated and then we could see Chris again. I was so tired I just wanted to sleep and block it all out. Tony on the other hand, paced the hallways.
I dont even know how much time passed when they told us we could see Chris. When we walked into the room, it seemed so peaceful. It was quiet, expect for the hum of the ventilator. In a strange way, it was soothing. Chris looked like he was asleep. He had a small tube going down his throat and his entire body was covered with a blue blanket with bright colored fish all over it. I flashed to the dream Chris had a few nights back; where he told us he was swimming with the fish and he could breathe under water. It was as if Chris had a premonition and it was his way of telling us he was O.K.
The doctors explained to us that Chris would never remember being on the ventilator. They gave him morphine for pain and versed to induce a twilight sleep. He could hear us and respond to us by shaking his head, but he would never remember any of it. We were relieved.
By this time, Tony and I were emotional wrecks. We had gone from severe panic and despair to this new feeling of being relieved. Chris was no longer suffering. He was sleeping for the first time in 9 days and all of his vital signs were normal. It was a beautiful site. They also explained to us that he was not on life support. The ventilator was doing the breathing for him so that his body could rest. Yes. Chris needed rest. He had fought a good fight. He was so amazingly strong and brave. All that witnessed the past nine days agreed that he must be part angel.
Something psychologically happens to parents that have to endure watching prolonged suffering of their child. It is not that we were happy; it was just so nice to have a break from watching Chris suffer. We went back to the hotel room to share with our friends that Chris was no longer suffering. They thought we meant that he had died and that is why we were acting so odd. Throughout this whole ordeal, there were funny moments. The humor kept our sanity.
We had been staying in a hotel nearby, but found out from the social worker that we were eligible for the Ronald McDonald House across the street because we lived at least 50 miles from the hospital. We needed to go home to get clothes, etc for a long stay at the hospital. We also had bills to pay and phone calls to return. The nurses strongly encouraged us to get away from the hospital for a while; besides they didnt want Chris waking up by hearing us in the room.
Tony, me and our two friends drove home to take care of business. We needed to do laundry, so we farmed batches out to a few of our neighbors. There were also many phone calls to return from people calling who were concerned. A tornado had torn through our back yard on September 5th, so neighbors talked to us about the new fence we all needed and we also needed to figure out who could take care of our pool. Our neighbors were wonderful. They told us not to worry about anything. One would collect the mail, another would call their pool guy and a third would get his brothers to help with moving the fence that had fallen and all would decide on the fence and take of the details of having it installed. Another friend had already taken our dog and would keep him as long as needed. We gathered a weeks worth of clothes and other necessities and headed back to LLUCH.
Once back at LLUCH, we got checked into the Ronald McDonald House and spent the rest of the day and evening getting use to Chris on the ventilator.
Even though Chris was sedated, he was uncomfortable. He hated the NG tube down his nose and that his hands had to be tied to the bed (to prevent him from pulling out the vent tube or NG tube). I can still envision very clearly the sight of him hooked up the ventilator. When the covers were pulled down, there was no hiding how sick Chris was. He had tubes and lines connected to him everywhere. On the left side of his chest was the central line for food, meds and blood draws, the right side was the dialysis catheter, lower down on his sides he had drainage tubes connected, one on the left and one on the right, syphoning fluid out of his body. His abdomen was distended and his whole body swollen from the fluid overload. His testicles had grown to the size of a grapefruit. He was not recognizable as our son. The pathetic part as a parent is that you get numb and all this becomes normal. The horrified feeling goes away and this medical scenario becomes a day reality to be dealt with.
Chris received dialysis every day. Now that he was intubated, dialysis would interfere with the effectiveness of the morphine and versed. When the machine cleaned Chris blood, it cleaned out the meds also. There is timing to all of this, so once Chris started opening his eyes and becoming restless, they would pump more meds in. I never got use to the look on his face when he would begin coming to. It was so full of fear and confusion.
During this timeframe Chris was receiving plasma, blood and platelets. On the 16th he had received blood, today he received plasma. The PICU team was artificially keeping Chris alive until his body started working again. HUS kills the red blood cells and as they die they clog the kidneys; this was the simple layman explanation we were given. The Shiga toxins attack the Gb3 cells which are located in the kidneys, pancreas and brain. Children have more of these cells than adults and it is one theory as to why more children develop HUS.
The doctors had conversations with us about donating blood. They told me and Tony not to donate our blood to Chris. In the event that Chris would ever needed a kidney transplant and one of us was a donor match, if we donated blood to him he would develop antibodies and reject the kidney. Even though Chris is adopted, we learned that Chris and Tony share the same rare blood type of B-. What are the chances that both adopted and birth parents would have the exact same blood types? Moms both have O+ and Dads both have B-; quite the coincidence.
This is the day I believe I met Melissa Herzog. Chris was only allowed 3 visitors at a time in his room, so Tony and I would rotate out to allow others to see him. I went down to the waiting room where there was always a group of family and friends. I overheard a woman talking on her cell phone about her daughters condition. What she was describing sounded like HUS. After she finished her call, I asked her if her daughter had HUS and she said yes. I then asked her if she ate spinach, and she no, raw milk.
We compared stories and timeframes. Both children drank the same brand of raw milk on the same weekend. They went to the emergency room days apart and were diagnosed with HUS on the same day. It appeared that Laurens symptoms were about 12 hours ahead of Chris. I had to laugh when Melissa asked me how many times I had fainted. We became instant friends and provided emotional support to one another throughout the entire hospitalization ordeal.
It is important to note that LLUCH has three different units:
1. The 5700 unit is a locked pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and is where Chris was being treated. The kids in this unit are in critical condition and the nursing ratio is 1 to 1. This is where kids die.
2. The 5800 unit is a locked step-down PICU and where Lauren was being treated. The kids on this unit are still in critical condition, but getting better. The nursing ratio is 1 to 2 or 3.
3. The 5100, 5200 and 5300 units are non-critical floors for children who are ill. The nursing ratio seemed to be about 1-4 or 5.
Lauren and Chris were physically in the hospital together for a couple of weeks, but never shared the same unit until sometime in October.
Day 12 in the hospital.
At this point, it became a waiting game. How long would Chris need to be on the ventilator and how long would it be until he urinated? If he urinated, that meant he did not have permanent kidney failure. Some children who develop HUS never regain renal function. We had some insane discussions about who would be donating a kidney to Chris if he needed a kidney transplant. We have an open adoption and many members for the birth family came to visit. Birth mom came every week. Birth mom and I decided that the most likely candidate would probably be birth dad since Chris and he shared the same blood type. But who knows, there could have been some rare chance that Tony or I could have been a match.
Chris had received dialysis the past four days, so they wanted to see how he did without it. He did receive a plasma and blood transfusion. During this timeframe, one of the nurses at the school district where I had worked for 11 years and where Chris went to school started a blood drive for Chris. It was a way to give back for the blood Chris was taking from the blood bank.
Communication became a huge challenge. I had so many people calling my cell phone I couldnt keep up with returning all calls. I figured out a way to leave a new message on my phone each day. I would give a medical update and people could call and listen and then hang up without leaving a message. I also coordinated an email list with one of my former colleagues. I would call her each day after the doctors did their morning rounds, give her a detailed update and she would send it out via email every day. I didnt know it at the time, but people forwarded their emails to others they knew. We had so many people praying for Chris.
This was also the day the Melissa Herzog called the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and made a report about the raw milk. It had been 14 or 15 days since the kids drank the same milk. There is some belief out in the raw milk world that doctors discriminate against raw milk and once they hear a person drank it, they dont ask any more questions about other food. This certainly didnt happen in our situation.
The doctors at LLUCH are mandated to report cases of HUS and E.coli 0157:H7, but who knows how long it takes from the time it is reported to the time someone would investigate. Melissa Herzog speeded up this process by calling CDFA. It is important to note that we live 40 miles from the Herzogs and 70 or 80 miles from where the girlfriend lived out near Palm Springs. We did not buy the milk at the same store. It was sheer chance that we ended up in the same childrens hospital.
Melissa Herzog is not the person that gave her daughter raw milk. The Herzogs were divorced. Laurens father was dating a woman that consumed raw milk. Lauren was at this womans house over Labor Day Weekend. She consumed raw milk in a smoothie. A week passed before raw milk was even mentioned. It wasnt until Lauren was diagnosed with HUS and placed on kidney dialysis they thought it might be a good idea to mention she drank raw milk. The girlfriend also wrote down everything she could remember Lauren eating when she was at her house. The only common food that Chris and Lauren both consumed was raw milk.
The only new food in Chris diet had been raw milk. In 2006, Chris had been on a very restricted diet for the past two years. I mean restricted in that he didnt eat any junk food or eat at any restaurants. When I say no junk food I mean he did not eat any food that was made with processed white flour, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, artificial colors or flavors, or preservatives. Chris did not eat candy or drink sodas. If fact, he has never had a soda. The typical foods other children consume, Chris did not.
He had ADD without hyperactivity and I had been successfully treating it with diet and supplements for two years. He is also a very picky eater, so there wasnt a huge variation in what he ate. The foods he did eat were either organic or natural, meaning no added chemicals. I bought the same brands of everything every week at the same health food store. All the ADD literature said to eliminate dairy from the diet. Chris was such a picky eater. If I eliminated dairy, what would he eat? Dairy is in everything. Chris was constantly congested and I thought it was due to dairy. He loved his organic milk. So instead of eliminating dairy, I tried raw milk. He had been drinking it for only 2 weeks when he became ill.
David, this is patently false. What Judge Fiedler has done is uphold a CONTRACT between the Plaintiffs and the state. Now, understand, that I don't necessarily like it, but this is the way it works. If we are to get anywhere in this movement we have to start understanding the law for what it is, and stop perpetuating emotionally charged half-truths.
"If WI were open to allowing private contracts to govern raw milk distribution, DATCP and Judge Fiedler would articulate realistic parameters. Private contracts are a mainstay of commerce for all manner of products in America, yet raw dairy, in their view, essentially can't be distributed via private contract."
DATCP has no jurisdiction over private contracts (see Ingvar's example on page 1 of the comments); it only has jurisdiction over those who form voluntary contracts with it (i.e. those who want to sell milk into commerce or the public food supply). No contract, no jurisdiction. Vernon Hershberger is a prime example of this. Why hasn't DATCP pursued charges against Vernon? No contract, no jurisdiction!
One significant problem in the process of learning is that in our discussions of how we ought to properly apply rules and regulations, we lump together commercial operations (like OPDC) with private operations. That habit ought to change. But the very big problem–the seemingly unseen rotting moose in the middle of the conference room–is a nearly complete absence of good teaching about how the law works.
Undoubtedly, as we move along, even properly constructed private agreements will be attacked by poorly educated bureaucrats, police, and even judges. Straightening that mess out is the duty of the citizenry.
David,
Regarding this: "Private contracts are a mainstay of commerce for all manner of products in America, yet raw dairy, in their view, essentially can't be distributed via private contract. Essentially, a ban."
I believe that "their view" is a function only of 1. False understanding of the state's interest in private agreements, and/or 2. The participant's false understanding of private agreements.
Notably, if milk were not a legal product (it is unquestionably legal) things would be very different. There is no right to privately contract for, say, a nuclear warhead, or a slave. But milk…