FDA Avoids IAFP Symposium

By Sally Fallon Morell

WAPF “gate crashers” Michael Schmidt, David Gumpert, Tim Boyd, Geoffrey Morell and Sally Fallon Morell.

On February 17 the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) sponsored a symposium on raw milk entitled, “Raw Milk Consumption: An Emerging Public Health Threat?” John Sheehan, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Division of Plant and Dairy Food Safety, was scheduled to speak at the symposium, but cancelled his appearance at the last minute as did a number of other FDA officials who were scheduled to attend. The likely reason for the cancellation was that Sheehan found out members of the Weston A. Price Foundation would be in attendance at the conference. FDA views the issue of raw milk safety as not debatable and will not discuss raw milk with anyone holding an opposing viewpoint.

The agency would rather work behind the scenes to impose its beliefs on the public, pressuring state officials to restrict the sale of raw milk or ban it altogether, and working with Congress to obtain more regulatory power over the intrastate sale of raw milk. FDA has never wavered from its goal of eliminating all sales of raw milk.

For an amusing description of the talks given at the conference, see David Gumpert’s blog at  www.thecompletepatient.com.

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