Why make fake breastmilk?

Abstract

There are efforts underway to make “breastmilk” called Biomilq through cell culture, “to produce cultured human breastmilk using patent-pending technology in order to offer families a more nutritious and more sustainable option for feeding babies.” However, Biomilq advocates have not explained their claims that the product would be better for infants’ health or for the environment. Their claim that the product would be breastmilk and not a breastmilk substitute is not convincing. They argue that until now women who cannot or choose not to breastfeed have no alternative but to feed with infant formula, but they ignore options such as mothers expressing their own milk or using wet-nurses. They do not mention the possibility of feeding with pasteurized human milk from other women, obtained through a human milk bank. The prospects for Biomilq do not look promising.