Friday
Jul032009
Blood, milk and profits
Friday, July 3, 2009 
Image credit: sweetbeetandgreenbean in flickr
Blood
We all need it.
Most of us make enough of it and don't lose too much of it.
But some people will need donated blood due to medical conditions, accidents or surgery.
Breast Milk
Babies need it.
Most women make enough of it to satisfy their baby's needs.
But some people will need to feed their babies artificial baby milk (also known as infant formula) due to medical conditions, adoption, or unresolved difficulties with breastfeeding.
Why?
Why is it that governments and health care providers make donor blood a priority, but don't make donor milk a priority? Why is it that despite the existence of artificial blood products, we have intricate and complex systems set up to collect and screen donor blood from other human beings to provide to those in need. Why is it that despite the opportunity to set up similar systems to collect and screen donor milk we settle for giving our babies artificial milk products?
I don't know.
Some have said that fake blood could be more convenient, more practical than human blood:
Artificial blood may be the most anxiously awaited liquid of all time. Why? You don't have to refrigerate manufactured blood (like human blood) to keep it fresh. Fake blood can be stored at room temperature and dispensed in ambulances, rescue helicopters, even on battlefields.
Sure, there are risks to fake blood and it will never be the same as real blood. But there are also risks to fake baby milk and that doesn't stop us from using it.
So why? Why do we line up to donate blood? Why does the government and the health care system put such great emphasis on the need to collect donor blood? Why do they call people at home and remind them of how much their blood is needed? Why do they take out full page ads in the newspaper reminding people of how much their blood is needed? I mean fake blood could be almost as good. Why not focus on that? Put some more research into it? It could be good for the economy. The companies that produce fake blood products would create jobs.
But breast milk? In Canada, there is one lone milk bank in Vancouver. Women across the rest of the country have a horrible time finding a way to donate if they want to. In the United States there are more milk banks than in Canada, but most of them are small and are very limited in terms of who they can provide milk to and how much they can provide.
Liquid gold
When I asked people on twitter if they had ever donated their milk, a lot of people said yes. Some of them had donated to milk banks. Some of them in private donations. Some said they hadn't, but wished they could. But when I asked them if they had ever or would ever sell their breast milk, most of them said no. They said they would just be happy to be able to help another family give their baby the best. That is altruistic and wonderful and in a private mom-to-mom donation (that doesn't have the benefits of screening) you can get that warm and fuzzy feeling from having done a good deed.
But if you are donating to a milk bank, you might...um...be being milked for profits, literally. Prolacta, for example, and the related International Breastmilk Project, take donations of breastmilk from women, a small portion of which is sent to orphans in Africa and the majority of which is sold at the hefty price of $35 per ounce (Read Hoyden About Town's post on the IBMP-Prolacta partnership and check out the various links too). I've heard breast milk called liquid gold before and this just confirms it.
Sure, there is a cost to collect and process the milk. But let's be clear here. The women that donate the milk get no compensation for doing so. Prolacta on the other hand makes a profit selling the breast milk at $35 per ounce.
But why shouldn't we profit from our bodily fluids?
When I was in university I spent some time on an exchange program in Germany. While I had money to cover my basic living costs, it didn't always stretch far enough to pay for my weekly rations of German beer and chocolate. So I did what any other smart and frugal student would do. As often as allowed, I brought some of my reading material with me and plunked my rear end down in the waiting room at the University Health Centre to donate blood or plasma. The wait was often long, but so were the articles I had to read, and I walked out of there with a somewhere between $50 and $80 dollars. Not bad.
Back in Canada, Canadian Blood Services expects me to take time out of my busy day to give a pint of blood in return for a few stale cookies and a glass of juice. I do it. I do it because I know that they need the blood. Canadian Blood Services is a not-for-profit organization that provides blood to Canada's public health system, so I feel okay about giving the blood for free. But would I make a bigger effort to get back for my next donation as quickly as possible if I was being paid for it? Perhaps. But more importantly, for people that have a true financial need, the opportunity to be paid $50 for a pint of their blood could really take some pressure off of the pocket book. Perhaps Canadian Blood Services could also save some money in advertising and recruiting people if they paid people for their blood, because they would come willingly.
What about breast milk? There are a lot of families with babies that are strapped for cash. In Canada, it isn't that bad for most people due to our maternity leave system. But in the United States a lot of women have to go back to work a mere six weeks after giving birth because they need the income. A lot of these women are in minimum wage jobs where it is difficult or impossible to pump at work, so they end up giving formula. This takes mothers often unwillingly away from their babies and forces them to pay for and feed their babies a product that is not as good as what their bodies would produce for free.
What if we paid these mothers for their breast milk? Imagine this. A mother that is earning minimum wage in the United States probably brings home about $250 per week (really rough estimate and average based on different rates for minimum wage and taxes). She is probably spending at least $40 per week on formula and then some money on commuting, work clothes, and so on. Perhaps she is lucky enough to have family members take care of the baby, otherwise the rest of her salary probably goes towards child care expenses. So she is making somewhere between $0 per week up to maybe a maximum of $175 per week to go to work and leave her six week old baby.
Now let's try a different scenario. Let's say she stays home and exclusively breastfeeds. Let's say she manages to pump an additional 5 ounces per day on top of what she is feeding to her baby. Let's say she provides that milk to a company, which pays her $4 per ounce (compared to the $35 per ounce it charges when it sells the milk). That would amount to a revenue for the mother of about $140 per week to stay at home with her baby. Some mothers might be able to make more and some would make less, but it is better than the absolute nothing they are getting now.
Not bad.
All of a sudden it would be financially feasible for more women, especially low income women, to stay home with their babies. All of a sudden, the availability of breast milk would increase for those that need or want it. All of a sudden, we have a system where mothers are being valued instead of being milked for profits. All of a sudden we have a system where nature's best is being valued and fewer women have to settle for artificial milk for their babies.
This is a financial model based on sustainability and opportunity rather than corporate profits. Let's make human milk banks a priority and let's not forget to compensate the supplier in the process.
What do you think? If you could sell your breast milk would you? Are you willing to donate breast milk for nothing and have it sold for $35 per ounce? What seems fair to you?
Note: I am aware that it is currently illegal to sell breastmilk and other bodily fluids in some jurisdictions. I am not advocating that people break the law. I am advocating systematic changes to the legal and health system that would make this possible.
Reader Comments (58)
I make massive amounts of milk (my newborn is constantly being accidentally drenched by these boob-geysers), and if someone was offering me money for the extra milk I would be overjoyed. I would donate it, but feel like that would be too much for me right now, as I already hardly have enough time/energy to take care of baby + work from home all day.
[...] our governments and health care organizations make human milk banks a priority (like they do with blood), families whose babies need breastmilk (because they cannot tolerate formula) or whose babies [...]
Being is that I have been unemployed for along time, and am a mother of a four month old who will not take abottle I would so sell a few oz of milk here and there. Unemployment is about to run out,I'm not getting any responses applying to places on line but even if I did I couldn't leave my baby more than 3 hours because she will not take a bottle. I wish I could be a stay at home mom but I have to figure out a way to make some income,I've written a childrens book and have more in the making but have know idea how to get published let alone have money to pay someone for publishing. Oh man if only.............
What would you think of an organization that would certify mothers who wish to sell? Soon after the birth of a child, a mother could sign up for classes on proper procedures for pumping and storage, getting plenty of general breastfeeding advice as well. She could be tested for the diseases that could be transmitted through milk before getting the certification. I worry, however, that some women would pump and sell, feeding their own child formula. Perhaps this could be alleviated if the banks (or other orgs) only buy from women whose babies were over 8 months old except in special circumstances? This would provide women an incentive to bf long-term and ensure that the baby has gotten at least the 6 month period of breastfeeding.
By the way, in regards to a comparison with blood - the donation system in this country is largely the result of a study by Tittmus in the 1970s that showed that paying for blood increased the odds that the donor would lie about risky behaviors. Since blood can transmit a variety of diseases, the donor system is a way of screening. However, with human milk, pasteurization kills most every type of communicable disease and is therefore much safer. Thus, a compensation scheme is unlikely to significantly increased the risks associated with human milk.
This would be a great idea as long as proper screening and everything were set into place. I would donate, but not sure how I would feel about accepting. Makes me nervous.
Now I have to put my two cents in about formula. Yes breast is best, I agree, if you can or want to great. But formula is NOT an all evil thing. Really people lets stop saying that. I get very tired of it. I'm a person who fed both my babies formula. The first one after a month of nursing & the second after 3.5 months. The reasons are mine alone & I do not wish to share. Posts like these make me feel angry & somehow inadequate. I'm not, I'm a wonderful mother who did what I felt right at the time for my babies.
It is hard to read these posts and think of the women out there who may be reading them who for whatever reason could NOT breastfeed & here you all are extolling the virtues of breastmilk & telling how evil formula is. They probably won't come back and read this blog. I do because I find some of the postings very interesting, but I find a view of the views very narrow minded & preachy.
You wrote a beautiful post a few weeks ago about not asking about breastfeeding & if someone tells you that they don't that you wouldn't judge. But I really have to say I find some of these posts while informative slightly judgemental, while not being overtly so.
I do wish I had known about relaction though when my babies were little, had I known it probably would have been something I might have looked into. So please keep posting all the information you post, but maybe lay off the "evils" of formula a little so those who do use it, don't feel like they are horrible, terrible mothers for doing so. We all do the best we can do with what we are given in life.
you could always drink your own excess breastmilk or give to your hubby or other kids if for any reason you couldn't donate.....still very beneficial for anyone.Or freeze it in ice cube trays and use it for TONS of ailments-eye/skin infections,wounds,diaper rash and so much more.Just pop one out when you need it,put in a sealed bag and run under cold/tepid/warm or hot water until ready.We drink it when we get sick and it's amazing !!!!
michelle-great idea!!!!!
[...] banks not a priority: As I explained in my post on blood, milk and profits, there is an entire industry and infrastructure set up to collect, screen, and distribute blood to [...]