Cathy wrote:
>How is that bad? Might it not lead to more non-wealthy women nursing their
>own babies, thereby decreasing the demand for formula, etc.? Perhaps - but
>it really concerns me to think of the implications of women *selling*
>breastmilk. Runs a little too close to prostitution for me, or
>baby-selling...Not necessarily a bad idea, in theory, but leading to all
>kinds of other problems (at least where it's illegal - don't know about
>other places). Human rights violations, women's rights violations, etc...
Now, I'm one of those Lactnet lurkers (I'm not a LC--just a mom who's
seen an LC and is using an SNS and wanted to find out more about
low-milk supply issues). But I just had to break silence and respond
to Cathy's fears about poor women selling milk.
As an English lit doctoral student, the first thing that occurred to
me is that there's already a historical precedent for what you're
talking about--the wet-nursing of wealthy babies by poor female
household servants and slaves.
Someone else onlist is bound to bring this up at some point, I'm
sure. But I figured I'd pass along the comparison.
Again, I don't know what the comparison means, per se. My first
instinct is to say that milk might end up like plasma--something the
poor are already compensated for selling. The upside of this is that
for most women (or so I've heard <weary grin>) milk production
increases to meet demand, hence poor moms could presumably express
milk for sale while feeding their own infants. Wet-nurses certainly
were able to accomplish this, historically (and currently, in those
rare instances where a wetnurse is still used).
Another interesting comparison we might make is to cow's milk, which
we already think of and act on as a commodity. It is the salability
of bovine milk (and the dairy industry it supports) that gives dairy
cows (and their milk) a "value" (despite the many health problems
consuming dairy has been shown to cause in humans).
Hence, if breast milk were sold, as cow milk is, its "stock" might
well increase.
Of course, this is an economic argument, not an ethical one.
Ethically, there are problems when anything and anyone (especially
human beings) is commodified. Yet in a capitalist country like the
US, it seems it is only the presence of a potential profit that
brings with it a value to both breast milk and women.
Alas, I have no solutions.
@..@
( __ ) Miriam
( ## ) <[log in to unmask]>
^^^ ^^^ See baby Nigel at:
<http://www.asan.com/users/pongo/nigel/Nigel.html>
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Television is a medium because it is neither rare nor well done.
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