New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) on Friday called for breast milk to be regulated after a YouTube channel drew criticism for its descriptions of breast milk purchased online.
In a video posted on Tuesday last week, YouTuber Hsiao-yu (小玉) was seen tasting breast milk purchased online and describing it as spoiled soy milk.
The video met with angry responses from the public, including mothers who breastfeed their children.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
At a news conference with lactation experts on Friday, Wang said that the video communicated incorrect information and was disrespectful toward mothers.
For several years, local representatives and groups have been drawing attention to the “chaos” that is the sale of breast milk online, she said.
Citing information from the US Food and Drug Administration, Wang said that a baby could risk contracting HIV, hepatitis and other diseases if they drink breast milk that is not from their birth mother and which has not been tested.
However, breast milk is still listed on major e-commerce platforms and regulations do not specify whether it can be sold as a product, she said.
When similar incidents have occurred in the past, local governments have only been able to use the Consumer Protection Act (消費者保護法) to order sellers to take down listings of breast milk of unknown origin, Wang said.
This is a “passive” and “unreasonable” measure, she said, adding that the act regulates products that are being sold legally, but breast milk has never been a legal product.
Moreover, responding to lawmakers’ questions in 2016, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said that breast milk was a “bodily fluid and not a product,” she said.
The Food and Drug Administration identifies breast milk as a bodily fluid and not food, and thus it is not subject to the regulations in the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), Wang said.
The Centers for Disease Control said that although breast milk is a bodily fluid and has certain transmission risks, it is not considered a “specimen of communicable disease” as defined in the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法), she said.
While the Health Promotion Administration said that it does not support any form of breast milk trade, it does not have clear rules restricting it, Wang said.
As the government does not support the public sale of breast milk from unknown origins, the Ministry of Health and Welfare should lay out clear regulations, Wang said.
Taiwan Academy of Breastfeeding representative Fang Li-jung (方麗容), who is responsible for Taipei City Hospital’s Human Milk Bank, said that as some diseases can be transmitted through breast milk, the purpose of the bank is to provide safe breast milk.
The institution uses a meticulous process to ensure the milk is safe, she said.
Consuming breast milk purchased online is very risky, she said, adding that it is “absolutely unfit” for children to consume.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan yesterday was an independent event and part of a stress-adjustment process. The earthquake occurred at 4:47pm, with its epicenter at sea about 45.4km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.9km, the CWA said. The quake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in several townships in Yilan and neighboring Hualien County, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the CWA said. Lin Po-yu (林柏佑), a division chief at the CWA's Seismological Center, told a news conference
RSS