I was told by an Egyptian man some years ago that in Egypt breast milk
was regularly used for eye infections and snake bites.  In the case of
eye infections a lactating mother would squirt milk into the person's
eye, apparently it didn't have to be a close relative. And that it was
used to put on snake bites also.
I have thought for some time that breastmilk could probably be used for
many medical purposes if there was serious research in that direction. I
wonder if one of the obstacles is being able to imagine giving woman
that much power and potential money by allowing human milk to be widely
used in a market situation.

Donna Ron, MHA, IBCLC
on a kibbutz in the Jezreel Valley, Israel