Govt bans export of human breast milk

A crackdown on unlicensed slaughterhouses in India’s most populous state has spread to others ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, as Hindu hardliners press a political agenda that risks alienating the country’s Muslim minority.

For years right-wing Hindu groups have demanded an end to the slaughter of cows, which are considered holy in Hinduism.

But most of the beef produced in India comes from buffalo rather than cattle, prompting some critics to suggest the latest move is motivated by politics and religion. Seventeen people have been arrested after a protest at Stansted Airport in Essex temporarily halted take-offs and landings on Tuesday.

Police were called at 21:30 BST as a group entered a noncommercial runway and locked themselves in an aircraft.

Those involved were trying to stop a charter flight which they claim was due to deport people to Nigeria and Ghana.

A spokesman for the airport said the runway was closed as a “precaution” but reopened at 23.17 BST.

In total, 23 incoming flights were diverted to other airports, including scheduled arrivals from Naples, Cologne, Glasgow, Riga, Belfast and Bilbao. Some Cambodian mothers have been selling their breast milk to women in the US, in a controversial practice that has now been banned.

But the case has raised questions about whether these women have been exploited, or empowered, by this enterprise.

For the past two years, dozens of women have been supplying their excess breast milk to a company called Ambrosia Labs.

The company has been processing and selling the milk in the US. It was marketed at US mothers who have problems producing milk for their babies.

Cambodia imposed an immediate ban on breast milk exports, effectively ending the business.