Personal Injury Law

Families sue raw milk producer, Organic Pastures, over E. coli outbreak

By Bill Marler, Esq.

The Associated Press reports that the families of two children sickened by the E. coli bacteria are suing a Fresno dairy.  The lawsuits filed Thursday in Fresno County Superior Court accuse Organic Pastures Dairy Co. of shipping raw milk tainted with the bacteria to stores in September 2006. That's when at least five children fell ill after consuming the dairy's products.  Testing at Organic Pastures did not detect the strain of E. coli that sickened some of the children, but a government report last February said the dairy was likely responsible.

Eleven-year-old Lauren Herzog and 9-year-old Chris Martin both consumed raw milk produced by Organic Pastures in early September of 2006. Lauren became ill with symptoms of E. coli infection on September 6. Her illness subsequently developed into HUS, a life-threatening complication of E. coli infection that can cause kidney failure and central nervous system impairment, and she was hospitalized on September 8. Lauren suffered acute renal failure and required approximately two weeks of daily kidney dialysis. She remained hospitalized until October 18, 2006, when she was discharged with over $250,000 in medical bills.

Chris became ill with symptoms of E. coli infection on September 5, 2006 and he was hospitalized on September 7. Like Lauren, Chris suffered HUS. His condition worsened and he was transported by helicopter to a Children’s hospital and was placed in pediatric intensive care. Chris’ kidneys failed and he required weeks of daily dialysis, as well as multiple blood transfusions. He was placed on a ventilator as a result of impending congestive heart failure, and remained on the ventilator for five days, was briefly taken off the ventilator, and later returned for several more days. Chris suffered a number of seizures as a result of his HUS. He also developed high blood pressure and pancreatitis. Chris was discharged from the hospital on November 2, 2006, nearly two months after he was admitted, with over $450,000 in medical bills.

Mark McAfee, the founder of Organic Pastures Dairy Company was quoted in the Rutger’s Daily Targum yesterday in an article entitled – “Dairy farmers get 'raw' deal:”

"It is a tragedy that the idea that germs make you sick took off, and to this day, it's all about killing bacteria and there is little cause to promote good bacteria," McAfee said. "We are symbiotically living with bacteria. We are literally bacterio-sapiens."
He noted that the human environment and the environment in which milk is grown that often causes the presence of sickness causing pathogens. His dairy company has open, grassy fields where dairy cows can roam freely and be bathed in sunlight, all while retaining their health.

"Raw milk has the things we crave," McAfee said, adding that it is enzyme rich and has a diversity of beneficial bacteria, as well as good raw saturated animal fats from grass grazing cows.

"Two hundred and forty seven people a day are being killed by antibiotic resistant superbugs," McAfee said. "That's like a jumbo jet crashing daily. Nobody wants to prevent disease, because disease makes money. You are saturated everyday by television advertisements that tell you if you have a problem, see a doctor because we have a cure. In western medicine, you turn off the symptoms while the underlying disease is killing you."

He reinforced his belief of raw milk and its ability to build the immune system, which can help fight off and prevent disease.

"You have a living immune system in raw milk, yet we can't speak of this because we are undoing what is settled science," he said. "Mother nature got it right, and it's been right for a long time."

Full post as published by Marler Blog on February 08, 2008 (boomark / email).