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Liquid Gold: The Booming Market for Human Breast Milk
While the scientific understanding of human milk is still evolving, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation is straightforward: Mothers should feed their babies nothing but breast milk for the first six months and then continue nursing for at least another six. But the physical demands of breast-feeding and the time required to keep up with it can be daunting for new moms. (Breast-feeding can take as much as four hours a day; a pumping session takes, on average, 15 minutes and yields 6 ounces.) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a report called the Ross Mothers Survey, breast-feeding at birth is up from approximately 25 percent in the early 1970s to 75 percent in 2007. But less than half of all mothers make it to the recommended six-month mark, and just a fifth stick with at least some breast-feeding for an entire year. Still, those moms who don’t breast-feed want what’s best for their babies, and many are willing to do whatever it takes to get it—including buying it from strangers online.
Despite the FDA’s caution, there have been no reported cases of infection from breast milk acquired online. And those who use these sites say it’s not really the government’s place to step in. Also, by skirting the steep cost of screening and processing, which FDA-endorsed banks must bear, women who sell their milk on these sites can charge a relatively low price. As a result, they say, they can have a far greater impact on children’s health than they would if they donated to a milk bank.
Read the Full Article Here: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/05/ff_milk/all/1
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