Yum! Ice Cream made from human milk anyone?

[Flur]

Would you feel ok going out to an organic, grass fed dairy and latching on to a teet and sucking? No, of course not. But have some farmer (or some machine) do it for you where you can't see it, and then 'clean' it for you by cooking the hell out of it makes it somehow less 'wrong'?

I don't see an issue with milking my own cows. A dairy farmer doesn't have to do it for me. As for the machine, it's just a breast pump. Women do it all the time. And as for cooking the hell out of it, even breast milk, when pumped and refrigerated is often heated to body temperature before going into the bottle. It's really not all that different.

Personally, I drink organic milk from local farms. Farms that I can visit and can see how the cows are treated. PETA can come talk to me anytime. Best of luck to them.

[bikerchic]

This is just bizarre. Yes we know about the 'we drink other animal's milk' but what is more bizarre which they don't say anything about is that we are STILL drinking milk after we are WEANED.

Good point TDG! Not only that but at the age of three we loose the enzyme to digest milk period, not just human milk but ANY milk! Why do I love the stuff so much?

I had this horrible picture in my mind when I first heard this PITA request of women lining up in a milking factory with our teats hooked up to milking machines and babies in the waiting rooms crying their lungs out!
Have we really come down to that? I mean really in order for Ben and Jerry to get enough human milk how else would they? Please!

I really liked the comment B&J gave back to PITA

"We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child," said a spokesperson for Ben and Jerry's.

[kjay]

Great discussion. I'll stick with soy milk, thanks.

[sgtiger]

I think it's publicity stunt by PETA to get people to think about where milk comes from and how the animals that produce the milk are treated. It does seem to be working for them, too, with all the buzz and debating that it's generated. And while I do drink cows' milk, it does occur to me that it's a bit odd that we drink the milk from another species but as a society we are grossed out by the thought of drinking breast milk which was designed specifically for human consumption. Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to run out and pick up a pint of chunky monkey made with breast milk either, but it does make me pause and go hmmmm......

On a somewhat related note, there are organizations that take donations of breast milk for premature babies whose mothers may be unable to lactate or whose milk is not viable for whatever reason. The donors are carefully pre-screened and their breast milk is tested and pasteurized before being given to the babies. Here's a link for more info:
http://www.hmbana.org/

[Flur]

On a somewhat related note, there are organizations that take donations of breast milk for premature babies whose mothers may be unable to lactate or whose milk is not viable for whatever reason. The donors are carefully pre-screened and their breast milk is tested and pasteurized before being given to the babies. Here's a link for more info:
http://www.hmbana.org/

This is such a better use of breast milk than ice cream!

BTW, we are not the only species that still drinks milk after we are weaned. Cats do too. My kitty loves cow juice!

[deeaimond]

just a point to note but since human milk has a much lower fat content than cow's milk.. the frozen stuff would be more like.. ice lollies...

I think the PETA people are, as we say in chinese, 吃包太空闲，too much free time on their hands since their bellies are already filled.