China : You can expect anything when it comes to china, Human breast milk is the latest luxury craze among China’s wealthy. The super-rich are willing to pay thousands of dollars a month for the taste of breast milk. Some even go as far as drinking from the direct source – the mother’s breast. This sounds disgusting and strange practice but it’s growing popular among adults buying breast milk and drinking it from a wet nurse or in a container after it was expressed.
Newspaper reports about the selling of breast milk for the consumption of adults have sparked outrage in China and drove thousands to post their sentiments on the issue on China’s version of Twitter, Sina Weibo.
According to reports of Southern Metropolis Daily, local staff agencies are offering the services of wet nurses to newborns, the sick and anyone willing to pay 16,000 yuan or about AUD$2,800 every month. Customers of the bizarre service say they want to have the concentrated nutrition naturally found in breast milk.
Xinxinyu is a company in China that provides such service. Owner Lin Jun says adult customers can choose to drink via breastfeeding like a baby or if they are embarrassed, a breast pump is always available.
Critics of the breast milk service say it turns the mother’s milk into a commercial commodity and distorts the bond between mother and child.
Based on an online survey, nine out of ten people disagreed with the commercial breast milk service. A Sina Weibo user called it “disguised pornography”. Other posts on social media dismiss it as a novel entertainment for the lifestyles of China’s rich and famous.
This is not the first time breast milk is open for commercial sale. In 2010, the first Web site launched breast milk as a product and has grown popular ever since.
If there are blood banks, the UK has NHS-registered breast milk banks for mothers who cannot nurse their newborns. Some women also sell breast milk to adults claiming to need the milk to help treat a variety of ailments.
Breast milk ice cream caused a worldwide stir in 2011 when London’s The Increamists offered Baby Gaga ice cream containing breast milk and served with a rusk.
