Cambodia bans human breast milk exports to US

Cambodia officially banned selling and exporting locallypumped human breast milk on Tuesday, after reports exposed how women were turning to the controversial trade to boost meagre incomes in one of Southeast Asia’s poorest countries.

The order comes after Cambodia temporarily halted breast milk exports by the Utah- based Ambrosia Labs, which claims to be the first firm to source the product from overseas and distribute it in the US. The milk was pumped by poor Cambodian women in the capital Phnom Penh and then shipped to the US, where it was pasteurized and sold for $ 20 per fiveounce ( 147- millimeter) pack.

The company’s customers are American mothers who want to supplement their babies’ diets or cannot produce enough milk of their own.

On Tuesday, Cambodia’s cabinet ordered the health ministry to “take actions to immediately prevent the purchasing and exporting of breast milk from mothers from Cambodia,” according to a letter seen by AFP.

“Although Cambodia is poor and [ life is] difficult, it is not at the level that it will sell breast milk from mothers,” it added.

Ambrosia Labs has defended its business in previous interviews, saying the model encouraged Cambodian women to continue breast feeding, earned them much needed extra income and helped fill milk bank shortages in the US.

But UNICEF condemned the trade last week as exploitative and said excess breast milk should remain in Cambodia, where many babies lack proper nutrition.

Ros Sopheap, the director of the local women’s rights group Gender and Development for Cambodia ( GDC), applauded the government’s decision.

“Even if women agree to do it voluntarily, they often have no other choices and face economic pressure,” she told AFP.

Chea Sam, a 30- year- old mother, said that she earned $ 7.5-$ 10 a day for selling her breast milk. “We are regretful that this trade has been banned. It had helped our livelihood a lot,” she told AFP after the exports were initially suspended.