The government put an end to the breast milk trade developed by an American company to the poorest women.
Cambodia will no longer sell the breast milk of its people. The country’s authorities have announced the end of a trade launched a few weeks ago by an American company that bought the milk of the poorest inhabitants. “Of course, Cambodia has difficulties but not to the point of having to sell the breast milk of its mothers”, wrote the Prime Minister in a letter quoted by AFP.
The company Ambrosia Labs, which presented this trade as a first, specified that the milk collected in this Southeast Asian country was then frozen before being shipped to the United States to be sold for 20 dollars per 147 ml.
Undernourished children
Cambodia customs last week suspended the export of this human product to the United States pending a public decision. On Tuesday, the authorities demanded that “immediate measures be taken to prevent the purchase and export of breast milk”.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) welcomed this decision, which had condemned this trade and the exploitation of poor women for commercial purposes, arguing that they increase the risk of malnutrition. Unicef recalled that Cambodia has the region’s highest infant mortality rate with 97 deaths per 1,000 births. In addition,: 45% of children show signs of moderate or severe growth retardation linked to malnutrition.
7 to 10 euros per day
The company had opened an office in the poor suburb of Phnom Penh. It closed a few days ago. Women received between 7 and 10 euros per day depending on the amount of milk. In the press, testimonies already reported several cases of women who no longer fed their children in order to exchange their milk for this meager salary.
The country is one of the poorest in Asia, with an average annual income per person of $ 1,160. More than a third of Cambodians live below the poverty line.
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