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CAMBODIA officially banned selling and exporting locally-pumped human breast milk after reports exposed how women were turning to the controversial trade to boost meagre incomes in one of Southeast Asia’s poorest countries.

The order comes after Cambodia temporarily halted breast milk exports by Utah-based Ambrosia Labs, which claims to be the first firm to source the product from overseas and distribute it in the United States.

The milk was pumped by poor Cambodian women in the capital Phnom Penh and then shipped to the US, where it was pasteurized and sold for US$20 per 147ml pack.

The company’s customers are American mothers who want to supplement their babies’ diets or cannot produce enough milk of their own.

Cambodia’s cabinet yesterday ordered the health ministry to “take actions to immediately prevent the purchasing and exporting of breast milk from mothers from Cambodia.”

“Although Cambodia is poor and (life is) difficult, it is not at the level that it will sell breast milk from mothers,” it added.

Ambrosia Labs has defended its business in previous interviews, saying the model encouraged Cambodian women to continue breast feeding, earned them much needed extra income and helped fill milk bank shortages in the US.

But UNICEF welcomed the ban, saying the trade was exploitative and that excess breast milk should remain in Cambodia, where many babies lack proper nutrition.

Chea Sam, a 30-year-old mother, said she earned US$7.5-US$10 a day and she knew at least 20 other mothers doing the same.