The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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FARMING WITHOUT A LICENSE IS A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE
http://www.newswithviews.com/Hannes/doreen106.htm
By Doreen Hannes
September 9, 2010
NewsWithViews.com
Throughout this nation it is becoming commonplace for state and
federal governments to raid food buying clubs, private food co-ops,
family farms and even micro farms. The reason these raids are taking
place is that the FDA has determined that we are not smart enough to
decide what we want to eat. They are making sure that we have a hard
time getting food that is actually good for us and fulfilling their
public health mission. This is the first in a three article series
profiling two cases in the state of Missouri to illustrate what will
be terrifically commonplace once Senate Bill 510, (The Food Safety
Modernization Act-third article) is in place.
In Missouri we have families, and a food freedom movement, that are
being persecuted, and I use that term intentionally, with accusation
aforethought. The first family I am going to profile is the Bechard's
of Conway, Missouri. They are facing prosecution by Attorney General
Koster for violating the following State statute and were also taken
to court -and convicted- by Green County Health Department for
"operating a food establishment without a permit". Basically, they are
being taken to court for trying to make a living from their lawful
product. Their crime? Providing people with fresh milk that tested out
to be perfectly fine and had no complaints or reports of illness
associated with it at all.
The Bechard's have a small farm, where they raise sheep, poultry and
cattle and sell their products directly to consumers. They milk six
cows and are not a "graded" facility. They deliver milk to their
customers at a pre-arranged pick up point in the parking lot of Mama
Jeans Natural Foods in Springfield, Missouri. In April of 2009, their
eldest daughters were delivering the milk and were approached by
someone wanting to buy a half-gallon of milk. Since they had it, they
sold it to the man. Two weeks later, the same thing occurred. These
two on the spot sales were to employees of the Green County Health
Department.
The Health Department tested the milk. What they found was that there
was no problem with the milk at all. The first half-gallon was kept
overnight possibly on a kitchen counter and did have a high somatic
cell count. The second batch was taken to the lab within an hour and
had a very low somatic cell count attesting to the Bechard's
cleanliness. These two sales landed the Bechard's in court.
Let's look at the state charge first. Here is the pertinent Missouri
law on milk :
State milk inspection required on all graded fluid milk or milk
products--pasteurization required, exception.
196.935. No person shall sell, offer for sale, expose for sale,
transport, or deliver any graded fluid milk or graded fluid milk
products in this state unless the milk or milk products are graded and
produced, transported, processed, manufactured, distributed, labeled
and sold under state milk inspection and the same has also been
produced or pasteurized as required by a regulation authorized by
section 196.939 and under proper permits issued thereunder. Only
pasteurized graded fluid milk and fluid milk products as defined in
subdivision (3) of section 196.931 shall be sold to the final
consumer, or to restaurants, soda fountains, grocery stores, or
similar establishments; except an individual may purchase and have
delivered to him for his own use raw milk or cream from a farm.
Evidently, Missouri Attorney General Koster doesn't understand either
the term "graded" or the meaning of the word "except", and is opting
for redefining that word by putting a family's livelihood on the line
and moving forward with prosecution of Armand Bechard for selling his
milk to individuals who want the product. Koster's argument for
pursuing a case against the Bechard's is that he has gone back and
read through the floor arguments from 1972 when the law was enacted in
Missouri and believes that the legislators didn't mean what they
actually wrote into law. Koster has also consulted with the
bureaucracy that is "in charge" of milk in Missouri, "The Milk Board".
Incidentally, the new chair of the Milk Board is also on the Green
County Health Department and is driving the charges against the
Bechard's.
For years, the Milk Board has periodically threatened providers of
fresh milk with fines and penalties if they continue to sell their
product. Usually, the threats come after the Milk Board has made
telephone calls to providers of milk listed on a Weston A. Price
website called Real Milk. We are listed on that site, and from three
weeks to two months prior to actions from the Milk Board instructing
people to "cease and desist" or be fined for selling milk, we receive
calls for milk from several hours away asking if we have milk for
sale; and then I know something is about to happen. This is exactly
what happened before the "sting" on the Bechard family occurred.
In the two most recent state legislative sessions there has been a
bill put forth to clarify that it is lawful for people to sell their
milk to individuals for their own use. Both times, the Milk Board
maintained that it wasn't necessary and once they even wrote a letter
for dissemination clarifying that it was indeed legal to sell milk
from a farm directly to an individual.
Attorney General Koster asked the Bechard's to sign a consent decree
that states they will never deliver milk at a common pick up point
again and instead will take all milk directly to the residence of the
people wanting the milk. It also stipulates that the Bechard's are
guilty of violating state law and amounts to a confession of guilt.
Not too surprisingly, this wasn't an appealing way to resolve the
issue for the Bechard's. We are talking about a product that is not
stable in all temperatures and that needs to stay cool so it doesn't
go bad and breed bacteria. If they were to drop off product at
residences, there is no telling how long the product could be without
refrigeration. People do still work, and most families have both the
husband and wife working, so the chances of meeting people at their
homes when delivery is possible for all parties is small. The
Bechard's, like anyone in business, are interested in keeping their
customers happy, so increasing the chances of sour milk on the
doorstep isn't an idea they want to entertain.
This case will begin in earnest this fall, and the availability of
fresh milk in Missouri is dependent on the outcome of this State case
against the Bechard's.
Armand Bechard says, "In 2003 we called and asked the Health
Department if we needed to do anything special to sell our milk and
they told us that in our situation, according to the law, we were a
farm and therefore exempt; we needed no permits at all. That's what
the code in Green County actually states, and we have been selling
milk since then in this manner." Asked if there had been any changes
to the municipal code and Armand asserts that there are no changes
regarding farm products. The only thing offered in explanation of the
suit against them was that the Health Department had adopted the 1999
FDA Food Code. So, evidently, if someone from the Health Department
says you need a permit, then you need a permit; even if state and
county law don't require it. Never mind what the law actually says,
we're now being run by the whimsy of agents running off initiatives of
Federal bureaucracies. It's not too comforting for those of us who
tend to think unregulated thoughts.
Common sense would dictate that the Bechard case should be a
non-issue. No reports of illnesses and no complaints whatsoever about
the product, no clear violation of the law, should be no problem,
right? But we can't apply logic to the legal system. The judge found
Armand Bechard guilty of violating the Green County Health
Department's adoption of the 1999 FDA Food Code by "operating a food
establishment without a permit". The family pick up truck used to
deliver milk is the "establishment". The County was asking for $1,000
fine and 6 months in jail for selling an unregulated product that
caused no harm to any one. The sentence rendered was a $250 fine.
Bechard is appealing and has been awarded a new trial.
So the question becomes, what is the Food Code? It is currently a
nearly 700 page document for cities, counties, states and local
governments to write regulations for their citizens. The initiatives
in the Food Code are not necessarily Federal law, they are generally
desires of the FDA and are more in line with the international Food
Code of Codex Alimentarius than actual regulations or statutes from
the Federal government. Wholesale adoption of the Food Code is a
dangerous thing for freedom, yet nearly all states have adopted some
version as part of their Health Department program. Cooperative
Agreements between state and local governments to implement the Food
Code are usually accompanied by a big sweaty pile of your money. One
of these initiatives included in the Food Code is Healthy People 2020.
This is a program through HHS that is supposed to make us all quite
healthy. One objective of Healthy People 2020 is to increase the
number of states that prohibit the sale or distribution of
unpasteurized dairy products.
Missouri is a state with a very obstinate strain of people, especially
in the Ozarks region of the state where the Bechard's and Morningland
Dairy (the other issue I am profiling for you in this series) are
located. The Missouri Mule is famous because it adequately displays
the characteristics of the citizens of the state. As a general rule,
we won't be pushed or coerced into doing something we don't want to
do. I personally find it a little more than interesting that the MIAC
Report, targeting close to 70% of the citizens of the state and these
recent attacks on raw dairy are happening here, where resistance is
great.
If Missouri falls to full implementation of the Food Code and Healthy
People 2020 the rest of the states will likely be little competition
for the overreaching federal government controls brought to full
enforcement by the Food Safety Modernization Act (S510). Meanwhile, we
continue to fight for the right to eat what we choose, and the Bechard
family faces increasing court costs. The bottom line of all of this is
that if you are at all interested in agriculture, meaning you have an
interest in continuing to eat food, you must become an 'agtivist'. No
Farmers-No Food.
© 2010 Doreen Hannes - All Rights Reserved
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full
capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I
agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe
it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or
do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our
philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian
fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader
was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the
weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic,
anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or
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just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common
sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to
understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it
is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very
clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed
and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin
their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change
to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for
medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be
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or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love
and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher
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your right to say it".
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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