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A happy Helene Cahen after the Groton Board of Health session that ended with an invitation to her to seek state regulation of her raw milk dairy. I have to admit, I went into the Groton Board of Health hearing last evening—its fifth session on a farmer’s request to eliminate a 60-year ordinance essentially banning raw milk—with less than overflowing optimism. 

 

My concern stemmed from a posting by the board’s chairman, Jason Weber, on a town list serve Sunday, where he stated: “There’s no question it (raw milk) is riskier to drink than unpasteurized milk, as the CDC and FDA sites will attest.  Whether there are any potentially compensating benefits is less clear. “

 

My concerns deepened once the hearing began last evening, and the second of the three board members, Susan Horowitz, declared, “I personally believe raw milk is a terrible idea.” 

 

With those less than hearty endorsements behind them, though, the Groton Board of Health’s members took the pragmatic approach, and agreed in principle to accede to goat farmer Helene Cahen’s request to begin selling raw milk, under state auspices. In the end, the Board of Health decided to wipe its hands clean of the raw milk question by allowing its farmers to apply for state permits. (In Massachusetts, about half the towns have laws on the books dating from the 1950s that prohibit raw milk sales; state permits can only be issued to farms in towns that don’t prohibit raw milk.) 

 

“I think we should do the state certification process” whereby the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) issues permits and performs monthly inspections on the state’s raw milk producers, Horowitz concluded. “I just don’t want to see people be sick.” 

 

To which the chairman, Jason Weber, added, “While I have some personal misgivings, I agree with Dr. Horowitz that it makes the most sense to have the state regulate raw milk.” 

 

The third board member, Robert Fleischer, seemed not to have the same misgivings as the other two: “I am fine by the state program.”  

 

To which Weber stated, “The consensus view of the board appears to be to allow this to go forward with minimal regulation.” That was a huge statement, given that the Board of Health has been agonizing for more than four months about the request to overturn its long-held raw milk restrictions  (which included having a town-appointed board of physicians oversee any raw milk production and sales).

 

The Board of Health seemed to be reacting to a steady rise in overall support for farmers in the prosperous rural town about an hour west of Boston to sell raw milk. Statements were read at the meeting from two local agricultural organizations in favor of raw milk. 

 

“An increasing number of people want raw milk,” said a letter from the Groton Agriculture Commission, a town-appointed organization charged with encouraging agricultural interests. “Removing our outdated ordinance is the best approach.” 

 

The Board of Health members indicated a willingness to begin the process of rescinding the old prohibitive ordinance, which could involve further hearings and a Town Meeting vote. In the meantime, they invited Helene Cahen and a second goat farmer, Cyndi Labbe, to each file for a “variance”—essentially, an exemption from the existing town ordinance, so they can seek state raw milk permits. 

 

Why did it take the Groton Board of Health and its elected board so long to make a decision on loosening the town’s raw milk restrictions? There definitely was an educational process that needed to occur. The town’s members were initially uninformed about the controversy that swirls about in the U.S. on raw milk. Early on, the members appeared to have been informed mostly by what they read on the web sites of the U.S Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, that raw milk is inherently unsafe. 

 

It was only when proponents were able to clearly explain the other side of the issue at the fourth meeting two weeks ago, and communicate that many town residents agree with the notion that people should be able to make their own food choices, that the elected members of the board began to come around to the idea that raw milk isn’t inherently dangerous. 

 

As a result of all the fear mongering from opponents, though, the members felt weighed down by the potential enormity of their decision. As chairman Weber said at the end of the hearing: “The raw milk (being sold in Groton) may be perfectly safe, though there are a variety of interpretations….But what happens if you sell milk to someone and they get sick, have their kidneys malfunction?”   

 

As Weber made his statement, the boom of Groton’s July 4 storm-delayed fireworks display could be heard a couple blocks away. They seemed an appropriate answer to his question about risk.