Breast-milk soap a splash despite risks

NANNING - Soaps made with human breast milk are a growing hit with Chinese customers, but some have raised concerns over the safety of such products.

Retailers on Taobao.com, China's leading online shopping platform, claim in their advertisements that natural mothers' milk has been added to bars of soap, making them "completely natural" and the "most tender" of cleaning products.

Thousands of retailers are even promoting DIY packages, selling ingredients such as base oil and soap moulds.

A search on Taobao.com on Friday showed that one retailer had sold more than 1,500 DIY packages, with other vendors having sold hundreds of bars of soap.

However, very few online retailers detailed the sources of the milk, let alone provide information about sterilization.

Xiao Wei specializes in making breast milk soaps in Nanning city in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

He said the bars of soap are always sold-out because the cleansing products, which contain no preservatives, are effective in moisturizing and can be kept for a long time.

Xiao said that some of the milk was given to him by an acquittance, while some was provided by clients with extra breast milk. However, when it comes to the health of the mothers, he said it was "improper to ask them such questions."

Although popularity of the soaps are on the rise, health professionals have raised concerns.

Jiang Huiyun, chief physician with the prevention and health care section of the People's Hospital of Guangxi, said that if the mothers are carriers of hepatitis B, HIV or syphilis for example, there is the possibility of disease transmission.

"If affected milk is drunk or used to wash hands, viruses in the milk can enter the human body through abraded skin in the intestines or in the hands," Jiang said.

A breast milk soap manufacturer and retailer said on condition of anonymity that consumers are just blindly following the crowd in buying the products, and that such soaps are not "magical".

"No clinical tests have shown how much nutrition is left in the soaps after a series of chemical reactions in the making process," she said, believing that the cleansing products are no different to ordinary soaps on the market.

Xia Xueluan, a professor of sociology at Peking University, said that breast milk is a high-nutrition product for babies, but that it might not have the same effect on adults.

"I think that many businessmen have intentionally exaggerated the functions of breast milk," Xia said, adding that the abuse of mothers' milk is disrespectful to women.

Jiang Huiyun said risks behind the soaps should not be taken for granted, and that toxicology, sanitary chemistry, microbiology, as well as other analysis should determine the safety of the products.

She said that consumers cannot be too careful when purchasing seemingly "magical" soaps.