Mothers are selling their excess breast milk to make some quick money on a classifieds website. |
Women in the UK and US are selling their breast milk online, despite serious concerns that it could be harmful for babies. Mothers are using community forums, including Facebook, to make some quick cash out of their extra milk. Buying breast milk is tempting to new parents struggling to express their own, as it provides babies with better protection against illnesses and allergies compared to formula. Websites such as onlythebreast.com appear to answer this need, saying: 'Our discrete breastfeeding breast milk classified system makes it possible to sell or buy breast milk in a clean, private way.' Donor mothers list their milk under the age of their baby and if they can provide fresh milk on demand. A search around the site reveals women from Essex to Newcastle are offering it either fresh or frozen for around £1 per fluid ounce, while $2 per ounce is the standard rate in the US. The site has 14,000 members. The website's founder Glenn Snow said he set it up after his wife Chelly said she wanted to sell her extra milk to give her some spending money as a stay-at-home mother. Mothers can donate and receive breast milk for free via milk banks. These centres store breast milk for babies whose mothers can't breastfeed. However, they give priority to babies who are sick. The banks collect expressed milk from pre-screened mothers who have a plentiful supply and a baby under six-months old. It is then pasteurised before it is offered to nearby hospitals. But today doctors in Germany warned new parents against privately obtaining their baby's food through social networks such as Facebook. 'Donors can be taking medicines or drugs, have infectious illnesses like AIDS or Hepatitis,' Wolfram Hartmann, president of the Professional Association of Pediatricians, said. 'Nobody can check whether the unknown mother's milk is harmless for the particular child' he warned, adding that the milk's quality could also be affected during its transportation. (Read by Brian Salter. Brian Salter is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
一些來自英國和美國的女性在網(wǎng)上出售母乳引發(fā)爭議,有專家提醒稱這很可能對寶寶造成傷害。 這些媽媽們使用社交論壇,包括Facebook等社交媒體來出售母乳掙錢。 對母乳不足的新媽媽們,在網(wǎng)上購買母乳非常有吸引力,因為與配方奶相比,母乳能增強寶寶的抵抗力,也使寶寶更不易過敏。 onlythebreast.com等網(wǎng)站滿足了這一需求,網(wǎng)站上寫道:我們離散的母乳分類體系讓大家能夠出售和購買母乳,購買渠道衛(wèi)生且非常私密。 母乳提供者列出自己孩子的年齡,以及是否能根據(jù)需求量提供新鮮母乳。搜索該網(wǎng)站的信息可以看出,提供新鮮母乳或冷凍母乳的女性來自從艾塞克斯到紐卡斯爾等英國各地,售價大約在每液盎司1英鎊,而美國的標準售價是每盎司2美元。該網(wǎng)站有1.4萬名會員。 網(wǎng)站創(chuàng)建者格倫-斯諾稱,之前她的妻子切麗說想要出售多余的母乳,給自己這個全職媽媽掙點零花錢,于是他想到了創(chuàng)建這個網(wǎng)站。 通過“母乳銀行”,媽媽們可以免費提供或接受母乳。這些機構(gòu)為無法吃到母乳的寶寶們儲存母乳,但優(yōu)先提供給生病的寶寶。 這類機構(gòu)在收集母乳前,會先對提供母乳的媽媽們進行篩選,她們的母乳量十分充足,而且寶寶出生不到半年。之后還會對母乳進行巴氏消毒,隨后提供給附近的醫(yī)院。 但德國的一些醫(yī)生警告新晉爸媽們,通過Facebook等社交網(wǎng)站私下獲取母乳有很大風險。 兒科醫(yī)生協(xié)會主席沃爾夫拉姆-哈夫曼說:“提供者可能在服藥,可能在吸毒,也可能感染了艾滋病或者肝炎?!?/p> “沒人能檢查出這些母乳對某個接受母乳的寶寶來說是否有害?!彼€補充說,在運輸過程中母乳也有可能變質(zhì)。 相關(guān)閱讀 英國《衛(wèi)報》將縮減印刷版 進軍數(shù)字領(lǐng)域 (中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 Julie 編輯:陳丹妮) |
Vocabulary: fluid ounce: 液盎司,液體容量單位 stay-at-home: 不愛出門的,經(jīng)常呆在家里的 pasteurise: 用巴氏滅菌法消毒(滅菌) |