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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Poor mother hired as wet nurse |
| 2006-06-28 |
| THE case of a poor mother from the Chinese countryside hired to breastfeed an affluent city-dweller's baby has stoked controversy over the ethics of the ancient practice of wet nursing. Professional wet nurses have appeared in major cities across China, the Beijing News reported today, fuelled by rising incomes and a demand for healthy milk. China has been dogged by a number of health scares regarding bogus baby milk formula. In 2004, at least 13 babies died from malnutrition in the impoverished eastern province of Anhui after being fed fake baby milk. But the right of a woman to sell her breast milk, an occupation in China, that like the West, disappeared decades ago, has sparked heated debate, the Beijing News said. Yue Jiangmei, a 22-year-old mother from China's northern Hebei province, left her baby with a relative to work in Wenzhou, a city in the booming eastern province of Zhejiang, the Beijing News said. "My daughter was seven months old and able to be nourished with baby food and milk powder," the paper quoted Yue as saying. She responded to an advertisement offering five times her salary, or about 4000 yuan ($680) a month, to work as a wet nurse for a Wenzhou family. "The company trained her for a week, which included knowledge of breast care, baby massage exercises, post-pregnancy exercises ..." the paper quoted Hu Wei, a manager at the company, as saying. "She was also taught Tang dynasty poems and lullabies," Hu said. Yue's case has fired debate, the paper said, on whether wet-nursing can be regarded as "ethical work". "Some people say ... children of rich families have breast milk while cash buys the rights of the mother's own child to enjoy her mother's milk." Hu thought the market potential for wet nurses huge. "The affluent level of society has the purchasing power, while the high wages will attract many women," Hu said, adding that professionals were appearing in major cities across China. "Given the market has this demand, this shows that there is value and reason in it." |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 This is definitely Dog bites man and gets sued material. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-06-28 18:02 |
| #1 Yeah, much better that poor people should have no money. 4000 RMB is a pretty dang good salary in China. My foreign English teacher friends make 6000, and the girls in the office work a whole month of 6-day weeks for 2000. |
| Posted by: gromky 2006-06-28 16:45 |