UNICEF blasts sale of breast milk to US
Print Edition
UNICEF yesterday condemned a firm selling breast milk from “vulnerable and poor” Cambodian mothers to Americans, hitting out at the commercialization of nutrients needed by babies inside the kingdom.
The issue emerged this week after Cambodia said it had halted exports from Utah-based company Ambrosia Labs, which claims to be the first of its kind to bank human breast milk sourced overseas and export it to the United States.
The firm’s customers are American mothers who want to supplement their babies’ diets or cannot supply enough of their own milk.
The milk is pumped in Cambodia, frozen and shipped to the US where it is pasteurized and sold by the company for US$20 each 147 ml pack — roughly the volume of half a can of Coke.
Those donating their breast milk hailed from poor communities in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, where the scheme helped families top up meager incomes.
On Monday Cambodia’s customs department said it had stopped exports temporarily “because the product comes from a human organ” adding the government planned to hold talks on whether to let the trade continue.
UNICEF — the arm of the UN protecting children — said excess breast milk should remain in Cambodia, one of Southeast Asia’s poorest countries, where many babies lack good nutrients.
“Breast milk banks should never be operated by exploiting vulnerable and poor women for profit and commercial purposes,” Iman Morooka, the agency spokeswoman in Cambodia, said.
“Breast milk could be considered as human tissue, the same as blood, and as such its commercialization should be banned,” she said.
Malnutrition “remains a threat to children’s wellbeing in Cambodia,” she added.
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