Dear Serena,
Last week you called me up out of the blue to ask about Michael Schmidt and raw milk. I shared some of my thoughts on the subject with you. However, when I read the story that appeared in print I felt that subject did not appear in the light I had intended and so I am writing you this “letter to the editor” in hopes that it can be printed in the paper by way of correction.
We talked about “milk allergies” and how more and doctors are having to tell their patients that they have to stop consuming dairy products. You even mentioned that you yourself had a milk allergy and couldn't drink milk. I told you about being at the Health Ministry hearing that took place after the last public incident with Michael Schmidt and raw milk back in the mid 90s.
The hearing witnessed a procession of people who told similar stories -- they were “allergic to” or couldn't drink commercially processed milk, but were doing fine drinking Michael's raw milk. Now I may not be a scientist, but this raises the question in my mind as to whether the supposed “milk allergy” is really not to milk, per se, but to how it is handled -- most obviously homogenization and pasteurization, but also to the farming practices involved (ie agribusiness, using pesticides, artificicial fertilizers and pushing the cows to give more and more milk). In contrast, Michael's cows are biodynamically raised in harmony with the cycles of nature and fed on organically grown feed and pasture and not pushed to produce more milk.
All this milk allergy stuff can't be good for the dairy industry. And according to the Weston A Price Foundation, milk consumption in the US has been declining at a rate of one percent per year for the past twenty years. That's serious. Folks at the Milk Marketing Board have got to be asking themselves how they can turn this trend around.
Slick ads can only go so far. When people can no longer stomach the product, something has got to change. The auto industry is very slowly learning the lesson that what's needed to combat declining sales is product innovation. I believe that what Michael Schmidt has accomplished in running his raw milk operation of 100 to 150 families, without health incidents for in excess of 12 years can serve as a valuable prototype for the future of a renewed and vibrant dairy farming movement. I see it as a viable growth opportunity for the future of milk. The model of a personal relationship between farmer and consumer is healthy and valuable in many ways, not least in that it gives urban consumers a very personal connection to the land and to the animals that sustain their life.
Media coverage of the story has fallen into a pattern. First they interview Michael and show what a nice, sensitive, caring farmer he is, and so committed to people having choices that include raw milk. Then we hear from some health ministry official telling us that sure raw milk is alive, it's alive with all kinds of nasty bacteria that can cause dire disease and death.
So here's the crucial issue. Are these kind of experts truly believable? Or are they discredited in our minds by our knowledge of how the great mass of “scientific” research being done, is being funded by large corporate interests to prove what they want proven.
There are many of us who have learned not to trust the experts, but to do our own research on questions related to our own health and well-being and that of our families. In our minds, the raw milk issue is a lot like the issues around the compulsory vaccination of schoolchildren law that was passed in the 80s, no doubt also on the advice of experts – probably experts bought and paid for by the pharmaceutical industry. Fortunately, a group of concerned individuals was able to eventually persuade the government to amend the law to include the possibility of opting out not only for religious reasons, but also for “conscientious objection.”.
Lastly, I want to correct the caption you use with the photo. Michael is not drinking a glass of raw milk for the press. He, along with 100 or so of his supporters, is toasting the Queen, who recently vetoed legislation in Britain that would have prohibited raw milk.
Best wishes,
Richard Chomko
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