MPP Bill Murdoch (PC Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound) has fallen short of supporting the distribution of raw milk by one of his constituents, but does support an all-party investigation of whether or not it should be legal in Ontario for anyone to drink the unpasteurized product or whether there should be an outright ban.

Mr. Murdoch, who’s sometimes viewed as something of a maverick member, recently introduced a private member’s resolution calling for a three-party task force to investigate all issues related to the consumption of raw milk.

“I am not an advocate one way or the other (but) a lot of people drink it,” he said in a recent interview. “We can’t bury out heads in the sand. I think we have to (resolve the issues).”

The resolution was defeated when 35 Liberal MPPs were “whipped into” voting against it, he says, despite the traditional free vote on resolutions.

The issue had arisen when armed enforcement officers from the ministry of natural resources raided Michael Schmidt, a dairy farmer in Mr. Murdoch’s nearby constituency.

Mr. Schmidt, by his own admission, had been delivering raw milk to families who were shareholders in his form. Those included Finance Minister Greg Sorbara. According to the statute, it is legal for families of owners of dairy cattle to consume raw milk from the cattle they own.

Mr. Murdoch’s position is that it is either safe or unsafe to consumer raw milk. (In Mr. Schmidt’s case, there is no allegation that milk from his shareholder-owned herd has ever been suspect. But the courts will have to decide whether or not he is in breach of the law.)

Although his resolution had nothing directly to do with legalizing raw milk, Mr. Murdoch pointed out that the pasteurization law was passed nearly 70 years ago when cows were generally being milked by hand.

“You sat there with dirty hands, and the old cow was swishing her tail. Who knows what dropped off the tail into the milk,” he said.

Modern dairy farms use sterilized equipment and clean storage. Modern barns are not what they were in the 1930s. He said the issues need to be investigated in the light of today’s conditions. Although health units generally are opposed to raw milk, “we’ve had a letter in support from university professors,” he said.

If raw milk is unsafe, why are dairy farmers allowed to feed it to their families, he asked.

“Tobacco farmers can’t give smokes to their children just because they own the tobacco farm. Brewers can’t give beer to their children just because they own the brewery,” Mr. Murdoch said.

Oddly, one might think MPP Murdoch’s resolution did not get proper debate. There were only 46 MPPs out of 103 present for the debate: 35 Liberal, 10 PC, and 1 NDP. “Peter Kormos (NDP) told me later he would have supported my resolution if he had known about it.”

Why, one might ask, did the McGuinty Government rally against a resolution that sought only to explore the issues surrounding the sale and/or distribution of raw milk?

Coincidentally, Farm Credit Corp. this week is reporting that “Dairy Farmers of Ontario and other concerned partners are battling what they say are misleading and potentially harmful statements in support of the sale of raw milk.

“It is a pure myth that raw milk offers any health advantages, What it offers is the potential to contract diseases that can be present in raw milk,” FCC quotes DFO Chair Bruce Saunders as saying.

“It is simply unconscionable that this debate - with all of the overwhelming health and medical research about the inherent danger of drinking raw milk - could be going on in this day and age,” it quotes Rosemary Moran, President, Federated Women’s Institutes of Ontario as having said.

According to FCC, DFO says that in the United States, where a number of states allow the sale of raw milk, diseases and deaths from its consumption are regularly reported. Some of those states are now aggressively pursuing legislation to mandate the pasteurization of milk.

However, that is another concern of Mr. Murdoch. “Some states allow the sale of raw milk. Maybe we should look at what they’re doing.

I have no preconceived notion. I don’t drink milk. I don’t like the taste. But we are elected to debate issues as they come up. At least we should have a study of the issues.”