Cambodia suspends breast milk exports to US

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia has temporarily stopped an American company from exporting locallypumped human breast milk, after reports highlighted how some of the country's poorest women were supplementing their income through the trade.

Utah-based company Ambrosia Labs claims to be the first of its kind to export human breast milk sourced overseas into the United States for mothers who want to supplement their babies' diets or cannot supply enough of their own milk.

The milk is collected in Cambodia, frozen and shipped to the States where it is pasteurised and sold by the company for US$ 20 each 5 oz (147 ml) pack.

But yesterday Cambodia's customs department confirmed it had halted exports.

“We have asked them ( the company) to contact the Ministry of Health because the product comes from a human organ, so it needs permission from the Ministry of Health but they did not get it yet,” Kun Nhem, General Director of Customs and Excise, told AFP.

He said government officials were planning to meet soon to “determine a policy about the product because it is a bit sensitive”.

AFP visited the offices of Ambrosia Labs last week in Stung Meanchey, a poor suburb in the capital Phnom Penh.

The office, which uses the name Khun Meada, was shuttered.

Local women who sold their milk said they had been told business operations had been suspended but they did not know why.

Chea Sam, a 30-year-old mother, said she had been selling her breast milk for the last three months following the birth of her son.

“I am poor, and selling breast milk helped me a lot,” she added.

Cambodia remains one of Asia's poorest nations, with an average annual income per person of US$1,160.

Ambrosia Labs did not respond to requests for comment.

But in an interview with a Cambodia- based reporter published on Vice.com last week, co- founder Bronzson Woods defended the business.

“I'm confident that as the government here understands the good that this is doing that they will be on board,” he said. – AFP