Milk Moochers

When I found out that there was a National Milk Bank that I could donate my breastmilk to I was ready to help those little NICU babies they said would be getting the milk. "Two Milk Maids", based in CA sent me paperwork stating the milk would be "given" to NICU babies who needed it. I sent in blood samples, DNA samples, mine and Liam's doctor signed off on our health, and they sent me a breast pump to get started. I have been pumping an extra bottle or two a day since, so that I can get 25 bags of frozen milk ready for the bank. All of this milk is in addition to the stores of milk I have for Liam. Then I found out the awful truth!

My sister learned about milk banks that take donated milk and use it for research and/or sell it for 10 times what it costs to process it. I was stunned and thought that The National Milk Bank would not be a part of this. None of the literature they sent me contained any hint that they would be selling milk for profit, or that they would be using the milk for other purposes.

I went online to do some research and was devasted to find that The National Milk Bank and Two Milk Maids were indeed the culprits in this milk scam. Click below to read the article in the San Diego Tribune
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060212/news_lz1n12milk.html They are not only for profit companies, but their affiliate Prolacta Bioscience is also altering the milk to make even more money. Their defense is that these alterations make the milk more uniform and therefore more beneficial to severely underweight babies. It is probably better to have nutritional facts for this milk, but that is not the point.

My problem with this situation is NOT that Prolacta, The National Milk Bank, and Two Milk Maids are selling the milk. My problem is that they give the impression that they are a philanthropic enterprise trying to help babies. They are luring women who want to give sick babies better nutrition into making them money. Here is my stance: If they intend to profit from the milk, then they need to compensate donors who are providing this awesome food. At the very least they need to be honest with donors from the start, so we know what we are involved with. If I had known that they were marking up my milk for their own gain I would NEVER have signed up!

I emailed Two Milk Maids today and asked them a few questions:
-How much do they sell the milk for per ounce?
-Do they or Prolacta make a profit from the milk?
-Is there anything added to the milk?
-Is all the milk sold to hospitals or is it used for research purposes?

I will be posting their response, or lack there of. Keep watching!