Michael Schmidt, raw milk producer, is a hero
October 23, 2008 · By Charles Anthony
Michael Schmidt is my kind of hero:
For 14 years Schmidt, who grew up in Germany, has struggled for the right to sell unpasteurized milk, forbidden under the Milk Act.
Michael Schmidt was found guilty Monday of contempt-of-court charges for breaching a court order requiring him to stop his unpasteurized milk operations in and around Newmarket, Ont.
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At present, he says 150 families each own a share in one of his 30 cattle, who graze on pasture in Grey County about 200 kilometres northwest of Toronto.The shares allow each family to a share of a cow’s milk production.
Like other government dependent producers, these people are the villains:
If selling raw milk were legal, it would in short order become a big business. The Ontario government, knowing the statistical risks of raw-milk distribution, would be legally and morally responsible for ensuring that no one got sick as a result.
Stop demanding that the government is responsible for everybody’s welfare!
I do not trust that these cronies actually give a damn about preventing people from getting sick. I think they only care about protecting their own market from competition. They want to eliminate competitive suppliers by making it more expensive to operate. If it becomes a big business — an absurdly debatable assertion — that would mean that a lot of customers would want it and they would prefer it over the other choices.
Check out Where Can I Find Real Milk? if you want to get your own.
Wow! That last link I have been looking for all over the web. I’ve been interested to explore whether my adult onset allergy to milk has anything to do with the way industrial milk is processed and originated. I have been wanting to try raw milk and see what happens. No I know where I can get cow shares! Awesome!
Stop demanding that the government is responsible for everybody’s welfare!
I agree. Disband the military, police and fire brigades. It’s everyman for themselves.
Nice post Cha Cha!
Thanks, C-Mom!
RobMcC,
How do you convince yourself that those markets — “the military, police and fire brigades” — are economically non-viable without being government enforced monopolies?
Nice catch, Robert. Just chuck everything. Because it’s all or nothing when it comes to government isn’t it? Either they control EVERY aspect of our lives or none. Nice dichotomy. Glad it advanced the debate.
It’s not my fault that an absurd statement was presented for mocking. A government’s job is to be responsible for the welfare of the people it represents. It’s why our politicians spend so much time trying to convince us that they’ll do the best job looking out for our welfare. It’s also one of the reasons our world has been shifting from monarchies to democracies. The old monarchies weren’t responsible for the welfare of the people. And everyone, including the naysayers here, want the government to be responsible for their welfare in one form or another.
You are convinced of that, are you? Bizarre.
Seriously, how do you convince yourself of such a bizarre belief system??
According to your peculiar beliefs, abuse of power and government corruption can not possibly exist. Are you really that blind to reality???
This is about freedom of choice. I would like to be free to choose how I drink my milk, pasteurized or not.
I understand the reason why government doesn’t like that, but how can we make the change? There are so many people agreeing that this is not right in a free country. If they care about people welfare then stop smoking for good, take all the drugs and dump them in the garbage. Of course they are taking the taxes for these. OK, I am OK to pay taxes for raw milk.
Best Regards,
Alina
This is such a strange subject. Why the huge demand for unpasteurized milk?
What could a person POSSIBLY benefit from drinking unpasteurized milk?
When you pasteurize milk, Vitamin C and thiamine are partially eliminated. This is easily replaced in other foods. The bacteria that can remain in raw milk though is not a joke.
Some hardy farm hands may have grown up on the stuff but allowing this guy to push this product on large scale is a recipe for disaster.
Walkerton
Mad Cow
Maple Leat Meats
Do we really have any confidence in our ability to keep bacteria in check?
This raw milk issue has created the weirdest marriage of Libertarians and holistic new age medicine types.
“What could a person POSSIBLY benefit from drinking unpasteurized milk?”
http://www.realmilk.com/
paticularly
http://www.realmilk.com/docume.....sponse.pdf
If Schmidt wants to change the law, he should do it legally and not put people at risk. Yes, raw milk is safe 95% of the time, including on Schmidt’s farm. That’s not good enough. It’s NOT a matter of personal choice since pathogens that can be present in ANY raw milk cause transmissible diseases. He is putting children at risk by breaking the law. He is doing this to make money. He feigns altruism but he is selling over $400,000 in milk at $3 per litre to devout followers. Does he declare this cash income and pay taxes? He admits NO HE DOES NOT. Schmidt is NOT Gandhi or Martin Luther King as he suggests, he is just an arrogant man who believes he is right and that society and science are wrong. So stop kidding. Schmidt was once licenced, inspected with quota.. Now he fleeces $45,000 from his flock each year plus more than $400,000 in undeclared income. How much did Gandhi make for his salt?
My husband and I drank raw milk as children on the farm and we never got sick from raw milk. We would never even think of buying store bought milk that has been pasteurized and “whatever” put into the milk. What is wrong with our government?????????