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The Big Showdown Hearing, April 15, Sacramento - Be There!

The following email just came out from Organic Pastures. - AuLait
Raw Milk Needs You Like Never Before on April 15th

It is now official. Senator Dean Florez and Senator Abel Maldonado
will hold joint hearings on raw milk in California.

Representing the CDFA and the FDA will be the chief of FDA dairy
safety, John Sheehan, along with eight other university food safety experts.

Protecting our right to drink raw milk will be a very special Raw
Milk Dream Team. These experts include Sally Fallon, Jordan Rubin,
Ted Beals, MD., Cat Berge DVM PhD, and more to come in the next two

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New Bill Introduced; Big Hearing in April (date TBA)

Finally, an email update from Mark of OPDC indicates a new bill, AB 2782, has been introduced. There will be an April hearing that needs to be really big, so plan to attend, even though we don't yet know the date! Testify! More from Mark here (dated 3/14, but email sent 3/24):

Upcoming California Raw Milk Events

Senate Hearing in April Critical to Keeping Raw Cream Alive in California

March 14, 2008

In the last 60 days Claravale and OPDC have been handling the bruising technical details of the new AB 1735 raw milk testing standards.

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Underground Wellness Video on Raw Milk

Check out Underground Wellness on the issue -- on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5ZO3B2butg

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Great Article on the Raw Milk Issue - from North Carolina, But Applicable Everywhere!

This article first appeared in Independent Weekly, June 20, 2007. The issues, the science(s), and the political economy of raw milk are all well-represented. Go read it all!

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A155882

Drink it raw -- Why is unprocessed milk the only illegal food in North Carolina?

A few choice quotes:

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The Real Reasons Why Raw Milk is Becoming More Popular

 

By Dr. Joseph Mercola
     with Rachael Droege

I was happy to see a published story that documents how some families have become aware of the health benefits of raw milk and are switching to it, despite the warnings of public health officials who are ignorant about the serious damage that pasteurization does to the quality of the milk.

Less than 1 percent of the milk consumed in America is raw, which is most unfortunate as raw milk is a highly health-promoting food. Public health officials warn that raw milk poses the risk of transmitting bacteria such as listeria, E. coli and salmonella, but pasteurizing the milk kills these bacteria while extending the milk's shelf life, which also happens to be more profitable for the dairy industry.

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The science behind why AB1735 is well-intentioned but misguided.

The wording that makes raw milk inaccessible concerns "coliform assay" - a test thought for years to reliably show if harmful organisms are present in water and food. Recognizing the unreliably of this test, raw milk producers do specific tests for harmful bacteria, to guarantee safety.

The crucial wording in the California bill AB1735 addresses not the actual safety of raw milk, but instead changes the allowable "coliform count" meaning that high-temp pasteurized milk is sale-able, but raw milk is not, and safety (in a state where raw milk for sale is already held to a higher standard of safety than factory-pasteurized milk) is not addressed.

This article published last year by two professors at the Center for Food Safety explains why coliform counts are not the way to test for food safety, and shows that AB1735 is misguided at best.

If you agree, please take action now to keep raw milk legal in California!
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