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Omaha Steve

(99,069 posts)
Tue Jul 7, 2015, 09:06 PM Jul 2015

Human breast milk sells for as much as $4 per ounce, needed in hospitals and NICUs


http://www.livewellnebraska.com/health/human-breast-milk-sells-for-as-much-as-per-ounce/article_46c3f8f0-24b5-11e5-89c8-1bc10ae9a0c9.html

Posted: Tuesday, July 7, 2015 9:34 am



AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Rachel Palencik plays with her daughter Claire, 2, as her son Trevor, 3 month, sleeps, Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in West Chester, Pa. About 4,000 mothers participate in 15 nonprofit milk banks across the United States, but the entry of for-profit milk banks has led to tensions as state lawmakers begin regulating the industry. Palencik wants to be sure that her breast milk goes to a mom and infant who need it.


TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — It could trade for 400 times more than the price of crude oil and 2,000 times more than iron ore. If sold off the shelf, it could cost more than 150 times the price of a gallon of cow's milk and 15 times more than coffee.

Going for as much as $4 per ounce, human breast milk is a hot commodity that is emerging as a surprisingly cutthroat industry, one that states are seeking to regulate amid a battle for control between nonprofit and for-profit banks that supply hospital neonatal units.

The debate among the for-profit and nonprofit organizations can be sharp-elbowed. It centers on whose processes result in the safest milk for premature babies in neonatal intensive care units, which need the milk if a mother has difficulty producing enough or the child has trouble latching. Each side claims the moral high ground, with nonprofits generally saying milk distribution should be altruistic and for-profit companies arguing mothers deserve to be compensated.

In the United States, there are two for-profit companies and soon to be three, and one nonprofit that oversees 15 milk banks in the U.S. in addition to three in Canada. Ten nonprofit banks are in development. Against this backdrop, lawmakers in New Jersey and Michigan are considering legislation to license banks, while legislators in California, Maryland, New York and Texas already have regulations.

FULL story at link.
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Human breast milk sells for as much as $4 per ounce, needed in hospitals and NICUs (Original Post) Omaha Steve Jul 2015 OP
Too bad this wasn't around some thirty years SheilaT Jul 2015 #1
I did as well. phylny Jul 2015 #2
In an earlier era I could have been a wet nurse. SheilaT Jul 2015 #6
Sounds like a PITA nightmare. longship Jul 2015 #3
Who are the loonies? Ilsa Jul 2015 #8
No. This is about folks who are cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. longship Jul 2015 #11
I have found ads on places like Craigslist for it in the past, xmas74 Jul 2015 #12
The OP is about regulation of human Ilsa Jul 2015 #13
My twins were premature panader0 Jul 2015 #4
It truly is "Liquid Gold" for the babies and Ilsa Jul 2015 #5
Uncle Seamus seveneyes Jul 2015 #7
I'll just stick to formula taught_me_patience Jul 2015 #9
I donated to a milk bank with my 2nd kiddo cyberswede Jul 2015 #10
 

SheilaT

(23,156 posts)
1. Too bad this wasn't around some thirty years
Tue Jul 7, 2015, 09:10 PM
Jul 2015

ago when I was a nursing mom. I always had more than enough.

phylny

(8,353 posts)
2. I did as well.
Tue Jul 7, 2015, 09:30 PM
Jul 2015

I remember nursing our oldest and at the time, there was a lot of publicity about starving children in, IIRC, Ethiopia, and I remember thinking, "I could feed two of those children in addition to my own."

 

SheilaT

(23,156 posts)
6. In an earlier era I could have been a wet nurse.
Tue Jul 7, 2015, 10:05 PM
Jul 2015

Really, even in this country, so many women have trouble nursing or having enough milk. I did think I should have had triplets.

longship

(40,416 posts)
3. Sounds like a PITA nightmare.
Tue Jul 7, 2015, 09:33 PM
Jul 2015

I can't believe it's not udder.

I can't believe it's not mother.

Fuck these crazy, wacko, loonies.

PITA once argued for human milk ice cream. Can hardly wait for the Ben and Jerry flavors. Like, Nipple Ripple.

These folks need only a bowl and a spoon, because they are cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.


Ilsa

(61,675 posts)
8. Who are the loonies?
Tue Jul 7, 2015, 11:08 PM
Jul 2015

This is about for-profit and nonprofit human milk banks for medical diagnoses. Fuck who?

longship

(40,416 posts)
11. No. This is about folks who are cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
Wed Jul 8, 2015, 12:47 AM
Jul 2015

And yes. PITA once tried to trot out this rubbish for making ice cream. (Hence, my ridicule, which this only deserves.)

I'll take two scoops of triple nipple!

Anybody who takes this serious is not taking anything serious. It is laughable.

Marketing human breast milk? How does that work? Come on. Really?

xmas74

(29,658 posts)
12. I have found ads on places like Craigslist for it in the past,
Wed Jul 8, 2015, 05:15 AM
Jul 2015

as well as "Mommy" forums. A doctor I worked with back in the 90's actually hired a local woman as a wet nurse.

Some babies don't tolerate formula and some moms just don't produce. Of course this market started advertising after I dried up but the market is there and it's growing.

Ilsa

(61,675 posts)
13. The OP is about regulation of human
Wed Jul 8, 2015, 06:09 AM
Jul 2015

Milk banks that supply hospitals' NICUs, not how milk sold on craig's list is used by fringe elements that make entertaining stories.

Who are the "loonies?" The milk banks, the mothers donating it, or the preemies with necrotizing enterocolitis? That is basically who the three parties are in this transaction.

There is nothing in the article about commercial, nonmedical sale of human milk for anyone other than babies. A serious subject. You're off on a fringe tangent no one even cares about.


panader0

(25,816 posts)
4. My twins were premature
Tue Jul 7, 2015, 09:38 PM
Jul 2015

They stayed in the hospital when I took their mom home. She bought a double breast milker, a little machine that made a sucking noise as it alternated tits. The milk was then bottled, labeled and frozen, and driven to the hospital (90 miles away).
I'll never forget that machine.

Ilsa

(61,675 posts)
5. It truly is "Liquid Gold" for the babies and
Tue Jul 7, 2015, 09:47 PM
Jul 2015

on rare occasions, adults who need it to stay alive. I suspect the donations will be required to be unpaid, as milk banks don't want donations from drug users** that have recently given birth seeking to get paid so they'll have more drug money. Perhaps some sort of noncash remuneration could be arranged if thee banks need to provide a non-altruistic incentive.


** I suspect most drug users who are pregnant are put into programs, but I know for a fact that some of them slip through the cracks; they don't want rehab.

cyberswede

(26,117 posts)
10. I donated to a milk bank with my 2nd kiddo
Tue Jul 7, 2015, 11:46 PM
Jul 2015

She didn't eat nearly as much as her older brother, so I had plenty to share.

My mother donated in the 1950s when my older siblings were born.

I'm not in favor of a for-profit model, however. I gave to our state-owned Univ hospital's non-profit program.

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