Breast milk soap hot on Taobao  

母乳香皂走红网络 专家建议：来源不明谨慎使用

(ECNS) -- With people's support for breast milk running high, soaps made of breast milk have become hot sellers on Taobao, China's online store, the Nanning Evening News reported.

Such soaps are generally produced by sellers who are also mothers of newborn babies. Li Zhen is one of them.

It is a waste to dump surplus breast milk every day, which has a short shelf life, she said. She decided to make it into soaps and put some on Taobao for sale.

With her side business, Li has jumped on a popular trend. A Taobao keyword search for "breast milk soap" yields more than 3,000 results, with prices ranging from 10 yuan ($1.60) to 58 yuan ($9.30). One store sold nearly 1,000 items in a month.

Some sellers claim that the soaps, with no chemical additives, adapt to all types of skin and can be used on babies. Praise and satisfaction abounded in the customer comments.

However, Xie Fangming, a dermatologist in Nanjing, said breast milk, like saliva and blood, can transmit disease if the moms are not healthy, and what's more, breast milk can easily be contaminated with bacteria and germs.