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Year End Greeting, Thanks, and Good News
As 2007 comes to an end, the Weston A. Price Foundation would like
to express
sincere thanks to all its members for their enthusiasm and support throughout
the
year. We've achieved many important milestones in 2007, most notably
the
establishment of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. It is also
encouraging to observe the increasing availability of raw milk.
In a December 20, 2007 report, Reuters lists raw milk as the number
one health issue in 2008. And as we begin the new year, we can report
excellent news on the raw milk front.
OPTIMISM IN CALIFORNIA
We have the following report from Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures Dairy:
There will be no interruption of California raw milk availability in
January 2008 or
beyond!! California raw milk consumer voices have spoken loudly against
AB 1735, the sneak-attack anti-raw milk legislation passed earlier this
year, and raw milk will be protected in California!
Huge amounts of passionate grass roots effort combined with back stage
political
activity and high-level meetings have occurred on the California raw
milk
battlefront in the last three weeks. As a result, the course of California
raw milk
history has been changed. The credit goes to the consumers....their
voices have
raged!!
Three things protect your raw milk in California and as a direct result
it will
continue be sold legally in the future. Consumers get the credit for
the grass roots uprising against AB 1735 and its biased, scientifically
unsupported and unfounded standards.
1. Support from the Secretary of Agriculture. The Secretary of Agriculture
has
dedicated himself to safe raw milk for California and declared that
"AB 1735
standards will not act as a de-facto ban on raw milk." AG Kawamura,
the Secretary of Agriculture, made this statement adamantly and repeatedly
at a 2.5-hour meeting held with representatives from Claravale and Organic
Pastures (the two raw milk dairies in California) in Sacramento on December
20th. He pledged to review the 4-inch thick bound stack of documentation
that was delivered to him titled "AB 1735... Raw Milk--The Unheard
Argument" and work with us to ensure that raw milk would continue
to flow uninterrupted. (That document includes our most up-to-date version
of the Raw Milk PowerPoint presentation and our Rebuttal to the FDA
PowerPoint presentation against raw milk, both posted at realmilk.com.)
2. A new law will be introduced in January reversing AB 1735. After
an
investigation it was revealed and admitted that certain California Department
of
Farm and Agriculture (CDFA) employees met with staff members of the
Assembly
Agriculture Committee to place "eight special anti-raw milk words"
into AB 1735.
These CDFA employees intentionally misled the legislature using erroneous
and false data. In addition, these CDFA employees had not been authorized
to meet with the legislature. The governor's office is supposed to review
and authorize all CDFA agency legislative matters and bills. This was
not done as required by executive branch and administrative policy and
procedure. Instead, highly misleading information was used to pass rapidly
and secretly AB 1735 on a "consent item" basis without discussion
or open debate. Assemblymen and state Senators who voted for AB 1735
are now very upset that they were misled, and they support immediate
repeal on procedural grounds. The attorney general's office may eventually
get involved because of this aberrant violation of established process
in furtherance of a "biased agenda that is far from being consent
item."
3. The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund is filing a lawsuit this
week in San
Benito County. Part of that lawsuit requests an injunction which would
legally
protect raw milk producers against enforcement of AB 1735 standards.
This allows a deeper and more certain protection against AB 1735 until
a new law can be passed.
You have spoken and your grass roots voices have been heard loud and
clear. Raw milk is here to stay. While the raw milk fight is not completely
over (and will not be over any time soon), the safety of the California
raw milk supply has been secured with multiple layers of strategic political,
legislative and legal efforts. Hearings will be announced as part of
the new bill and the legislative process that will start in January.
The support and attendance of raw milk consumers will be essential and
welcomed. Stay tuned!
Congratulations to the "raw milk grass roots" and the thousands
of letters and calls that made all the difference! CA Raw Milk is SAFE
from AB 1735 and those that sought to eliminate this sacred healing
whole food.
Action to take:
As we go forward....we ask that you take pictures of you and your family
holding raw milk bottles from Claravale and/or Organic Pastures and
send them to the governor's office and to your state Assemblyman and
State Senator offices. Write on the picture, "Please support repeal
of AB 1735." A picture of your family is worth a thousand words.
Pictures of you and your raw milk food choice can not be denied. They
are too personal.
GEORGIA
We have won an important raw milk victory in Georgia. The Georgia Department
of Agriculture (GDA) followed North Carolina's lead and proposed a rule
amendment to the Georgia Feed Laws to require the addition of food coloring
to raw milk for animal consumption "which will render the milk
charcoal gray in color" (the sale of raw milk for human consumption
is illegal in the state).
Opponents of the rule forced a public hearing on the proposed change
by sending far more than the required 25 letters (under the Georgia
Administrative Procedures Act) to GDA asking for an oral hearing. The
opposition to the rule surprised the agency. One GDA employee commented
that an agency generally receives only 5-10 comments on any rule change.
On the proposed rule requiring the dye, comments in opposition ran into
the hundreds. The committee voted to nix the proposal-an important victory.
Thanks to WAPF chapter leaders Alison Tyler and Lynn Razaitis, along
with Alice
Rolls, director of Georgia Organics, for spearheading this success.
WISE TRADITIONS 2008
It's not too soon to start planning for our ninth annual conference,
to be held at
the Hyatt San Francisco Airport in Burlingame, California, just south
of the San
Francisco Airport, November 7-10. The theme this year is "Life
in its Fullness."
Speakers will explore the connection between nutrition and mental and
emotional
health. We'll be posting details on our website as plans materialize.
SHOPPING GUIDE MAILING
Our traditional year-end Shopping Guide and funding appeal is in the
mail-later than we had planned due to a printing glitch. The success
of this mailing determines the type of projects we can take on in the
coming year. Please remember the Weston A. Price Foundation in your
end-of-year giving.
The staff and board of directors of the Weston A. Price Foundation
join me in
wishing you vibrant health in the year to come.
Sincerely,
Sally Fallon, President
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