The two-year-old legal challenge to the ban on interstate shipments of raw milk ended with a whimper late last week when a federal judge dismissed the suit.
U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett threw out the suit filed by the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund on behalf of eight consumer plaintiffs against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He did so, at the FDA’s request, without ruling on the substance of the challenge by the FTCLDF that the ban violated various plaintiff rights, including the right to freely travel between states and equal enforcement of the law.
He indicated that not only could he not rule on the substance of the case, but that he was obligated to dismiss it because there was no evidence any of the plaintiffs had actually suffered measurable injury because of FDA enforcement of the raw milk ban. “It is now clear that the plaintiffs have no ‘injury in fact’ and no ‘actual or imminent’ ‘threat of injury in fact,’ but only a ‘conjectural or hypothetical’ threat of injury.”
The case generated substantial, and substantive, back-and-forth with the FDA, including the now-famous FDA declaration that There is no absolute right to consume or feed children any particular kind of food…”
The case also led to charges and counter charges about the FDA’s role in a raid by the Georgia Department of Agriculture on a Georgia food club managed by Eric Wagoner after he brought raw milk back from South Carolina for his members. After at first denying as “a bizarre allegation” Wagoner’s contention that the FDA was involved in the raid, the FDA was forced to admit that one of its agents was present during forced disposal of consumers’ milk following the raid, based on video showing the agent.
According to the judge, the Wagoner confrontation with the GDA and FDA came closest to demonstrating an injured party. Close, but no cigar, said the judge. “Wagoners allegations that the FDA, rather than the GDA, enforced the embargo and destruction of his raw milk do not generate reasonable inferences, because
they are conclusory and speculative.” In other words, the FTCLDF didn’t quite close the loop that the FDA had been instrumental in planning and/or ordering the raid.
The judge also bought into the FDA’s contention that it had no plans to enforce the ban onto consumers. “Moreover, the record is now clear that there is no ‘threat of injury in fact’…to establish standing for any of the plaintiffs, where the FDA has made abundantly clear that it has not and does not intend to enforce the regulations against any of the plaintiffs.” Trusting guy, that judge is, to accept the FDA’s word.
Yet the fact that the judge failed to rule on the legality of the ban would seem to leave the door open for a followup suit on behalf of a plaintiff that has been injured. There are a number of those, most recently Amish farmer Dan Allgyer, and all the food club members denied access to his milk as a result of the FDA’s action in seeking a permanent injunction against Allgyer that resulted in putting him out of business late last year.
The judge had, six months after the suit was filed, rejected an FDA request to dismiss the suit. In acceding now, the judge has given a victory to the FDA, and a loss to the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, and all who support food rights.
http://theranch910.com/news/?p=945
Our routes continue to show massive increases in raw milk sales…..As the FDA oppresses….sales inversely increase.
The people of this country reject the FDA dogma. All the lies just stimulate sales.
FDA keep on lying…make your lies even bigger!!!
I suggest an appeal. There are real injuries to consumers that are denied access to raw milk. If left with one option…the most allergenic food in America, death is a potential injury.
Perhaps, sitting on the toilet for hours is also an injury. Lactose intolerance and gas and cramps….that is personal injury literally. FTCLDF is trying hard. They are pioneering the battle early in this fight. We must all appreciate the stage of this battle. We are still early in Americas awakening. Press on.
So the FDA gets to hide behind the state departments of agriculture? I hope that won’t last for long. As the pattern of repression grows in frequency, it will become more obvious and irrefutable.
“Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, the United States may be held liable in tort “for injury or loss of property … caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee … under circumstances where the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred.” 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b). That waiver of sovereign immunity is subject to a number of exceptions. If an exception applies, sovereign immunity is not waived, and no subject matter jurisdiction exists. Sabow v. United States, 93 F.3d 1445, 1451 (9th Cir.1996). Jurisdiction does not exist when the claim is “based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function.” 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a); see also Sabow, 93 F.3d at 1451.”
Be sure to cross your Ts and dot those Is. Use the written laws against them.
“the FDA depends upon drug companies for nearly half of its $680million review process for new drugs.”
Is this a true statement? If so it show exactly why they don’t care about the people. It’s all about money.
Imagine what would happen if numerous people filed law suits against the gov…..More people would take notice of the injustice happening in this country.
Mark,
You do not understand the problem with FTCLDF. Behind all of the good work they do is an organization which continues to convince farmers, through their Cow-Share College, to give up the rights they have as individuals under the Constitution in favor of incorporation. As creations of the state, corporations only have the rights granted to it by the state.
Countless farmers have gotten themselves into way more trouble than they could have imagined thanks to FTCLDF, and as farmers find themselves in legal limbo due to these cow-shares, FTCLDF has the nerve to recruit even more farmers into this model. Is this ethical? Is this okay, because on the other hand, they do good work? It appears to me that theyre just recruiting farmers onto the sinking ship.
“Because many consumers have a desire to purchase milk directly from a dairy, Garcia recommends that if they purchase raw milk, they take steps to reduce the likelihood of foodborne illness by pasteurizing the milk at home.
“‘You can pasteurize milk at home by heating it briefly on the stove-top to 161 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 20 seconds, and cool quickly. And, in-home pasteurization machines can be purchased,’ said Joan Hegerfeld-Baker, SDSU Extension Food Safety Specialist.”
I had suggested this same idea a few months ago. There are many ways to support local farmers, and home pasteurization is an option for those who do not want the risks associated with raw milk.
And before anyone attacks me for this statement, consider this…do you support freedom of choice, or are you defending a belief system? Do you support a consumer’s right to choose, even if that choice is different than your own, or do you support a consumer’s right to choose as long as that choice is the same as yours?
sounds to me like you’re ready to go ‘bear-baiting’ . Listen to George Gordon explain what’s necessary for setting up a sting to get a good set of facts for a constitutional challenge
what you want is a bunch of people who live in a state where REAL MILK is illegal, who individually pay someone to cross the state line, into a state where REAL MILK is legal. WITH A LETTER OF AGENCY FROM EACH OF THOSE INVOLVED, DIRECTING HIS OR HER AGENT TO BUY SOME MILK FOR THEM, AND BRING IT BACK TO THEM. Make sure the Agent has in hand the precise, payments, kept discrete. Rather than bulk breaking, that Agent is then making a bunch of separate purchases on behalf of individuals
As long as this works, and the FDA leaves you-all alone, then just keep on doing it. If the FDA does intrude on this private association, those individuals will have a premise for redress, such as the Ohio case indicates. That Judge actually did all-concerned a favour = spelling-out the lesson. Much as happened with George Gordon in his “weigh-scale sting’.
Do you think sushi will now be banned?
My injunction does not address selling inside of CA…I just can not drive across the state line.
I am so sick and tired of the FDA. The Sushi comment by Sylvia, brings it all home. Sounds so “fishy” to me. I love Sushi…
Perhaps all raw milk consumers should make a pact, if you ever get diarrhea from anything….claim everything. Claim, sprouts, sushi, spinach, salsa, hamburger, deli meats, pasteurized ice cream…claim the top ten list for the FDA most risky foods. Really drive the PULSENET system digitally bonkers.
“FDA spokesman Curtis Allen would not confirm or elaborate on the information, saying the memo “contains numbers of cases and hospitalizations that cannot be confirmed at this time. It is too early to speculate on the cause of the outbreak,” Allen said. “The memo notes there is likely a 30-day lag time between when people become sick and when cases are reported to health officials.”
Right… unless it might involve raw milk, in which case the food source gets shut down before the proof comes in. Guilty until proven innocent, and then it’s often too late for a small non-corporate business.
Reading the comments there, is like a parallel universe to raw milk.
Example: “Raw fish, raw meat……not a good idea….. Why many don’t eat Sushi”
Right, they just eat sterilized factory food which is why, sooner or later they will get sick. Makes you wonder how many people ate the very same product and did NOT get sick. Not that this thought would ever occur to the prosecution minded blame-gamers.
I strongly encourage people to buy from local farmers, if you must, learn to cut your meats… Butchering chicken is easy, as is grinding your own ground beef…Sharp knives are terrific! Many years ago, my parents had my brothers friend raise a calf for beef on his small farm, My brother and his friend butchered the steer.
I was part of a conference call with the State of Washington regulators and several raw milk producers last week in an effort to smooth over and discuss some issues that WA state is having with some irrelevant Q fever issues and raw milk. The CDC reports one case in 9,000,000 people nationally and they call for action about raw milk from Q fever that is not even transmitted by raw milk. It is transmitted by contact with amniotic fluids from the new born calf.
The FDA is going to do anything they can to destroy raw milk….anything. Even harping about data from 90-100 years ago. They refuse to even mention any recent studies PARSIFAL or GABRIELA etc.
Nealry all of Garcias comments center on Campylobacter. Just found out that campylobacteria is cold sensitive…it dies off when milk is frozen. Just an FYI….if you are really paranoid, freeze your raw milk. Also….campy is a one shot illness and most get over it very quickly and then have a titer to it for life. One of the great gifts of raw milk is its immunity building elements…this includes immunity to travelers diarrhea.
I went and saw “Hunger Games” last evening. I did not love it…but it sure as hell makes you think about our choices, life and food as a control mechanism. In a “world after Farmageddon” the surviving people are enslaved to a super rich class of filthy rich that keep them oppressed by control of food. To get food…the masses must participate in a pagan lottery of life, where the children that have recieved food from the rich,fight to the death as the super rich wager on the outcomes of this fight. The more food you get from the rich the more times your names gets entered into the lottery.
All very sick…but all very FDA and Food Inc.
These FDA bastards ( and their bed partners ) are the control drunken super rich and they are demanding that we all conform to their definition of what food is….as we dollar vote for this super processed garbage food we enter into the death lottery of life and our children do pay with their lives.
No Hunger Games for us….the conscious. Drink your raw milk, eat your grass fed beef, ferment your foods, breast feed your children, eat pastures eggs, avoid antibiotics and refuse vaccinations…..Thrive. Stay out of the lottery. The FDA said it themselves…. ” Russian Roulette with your health”. This was a Freudian slip of the truth. Interesting…Life Lotteries and Roullette…The odds are worse than Roullette….with 1 in 3 kids with diabetes….insane.
It is all so clear.
A few quick links for your reading pleasure, or perhaps to extend your exasperation:
http://www.helladelicious.com/our-food/food-facts/2012/03/four-common-anti-raw-milk-strategies/
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Market/US-judge-dismisses-milk-price-fixing-racket-claims-against-Dean-Foods
https://www.farmtoconsumer.net/EducationalDVD-Farmageddon.asp
David: Hope these are ok to post here, feel free to delete if not.
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/cover-story-excerpt-jennifer-lawrence-20120328
“This is not a health issue,” said Bill Marler, a prominent food safety lawyer. “This is an ‘I’m grossed out by this’ issue.”
Yes, it is a health issue. It is fraud, out right lies to the public. The public was never given the information of what was put in and on the product. It was sold as ground up beef. NOT adulterated meat scraps. Consuming ammonia is NOT healthy.
“The food supply is full of all sorts of chemical additives that people don’t know about,” said Michele Simon, a public health lawyer and president of industry watchdog consulting firm Eat Drink Politics.”
Indeed it is, more so than anyone ever imagined.
“That is because it is often considered a “processing aid,” which is not required by U.S. regulators to be included on food labels”
This should be disturbing to everyone.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/opinion/kristof-arsenic-in-our-chicken.html?_r=1&src=tp
It is all FOOD INC food spin. Nothing is beyond corporate America when it comes to making money and burying the truth behind their FDA approved labels. Change takes a true disaster to come to pass. The worse the incident the faster the change.
We should embrace the sick humor and get really good at exposing the dark side to bright light.
I do however sometimes wonder about how you straddle the line between “corporate America when it comes to making money and burying the truth,” because you are after all a fairly large for-profit business entity.
Some of the personal attacks on you come from much smaller raw milk farmers, and I understand their concerns too. For me, it’s a much larger issue than just milk, it’s more about food freedom or just plain freedom regardless of food.
So my question is: What do you see as our raw milk Pearl Harbor or 9/11 event? What kind of disaster will it take, and does it have to be manufactured or government initiated?
This is not intended to be a personal attack at all, just an inquiry to someone that might actually be able to shed some light in a very long tunnel.