On this dairy farm in Harrington, Delaware, Stephanie Knutsen is busy milking her cows. So, the cows are milked twice a day. This milk gets pasteurized and sold at grocery stores across the country. We’re milking her into this bucket milker down here. But come January, Knutsen hopes to sell it raw. We have always drank raw milk and, that we produce on the farm. I’m a big proponent of this being regulated. Celebrities, influencers even some politicians are endorsing raw milk. So we asked CBS News medical contributor Dr. Celine Gounder to weigh in. There is no nutritional benefit from drinking raw milk. People like the idea of it, maybe they think it tastes better, maybe they think it’s “more natural.” But it’s really no more natural than drinking water that has not been treated. These can give you fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, kidney failure, Listeria. Can cause fetal abnormalities,even fetal death. This year, doctors found high concentrations of the bird flu virus in the raw milk of infected dairy cattle. And a salmonella outbreak So why is raw milk’s popularity and access still growing? I think this goes back to people’s lack of trust in public health and wanting to feel like they can make healthy choices for themselves. Unfortunately, in this case, that is not the healthy choice. The CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association all agree. But in a bid to help struggling dairy farmers — It’s been very difficult to operate on the positive side of things, for 20 some years now. More than half of U.S. states created a pathway for raw milk to be sold directly to consumers within state lines. With raw milk, we can set the price, and that national average price for raw milk is $10 to $14 a gallon. From our co-op, you know, we might be getting a buck fifty a gallon. Though without federal oversight, the standards are inconsistent. States have been left to come up with their own rules. They are really literally all over the place. From, pretty much incidental sales being totally unregulated, and all you have to do is put a warning label on it to say it’s unpasteurized. To other states that require, you know, a lot more, high level testing. While doctors still warn against consumption, farmers like the Knutsens see an opportunity to meet this growing milk market. it can absolutely help us to thrive, not just survive.