324 R.M. Shaw and M. Morgan
in many countries has caused concern for health professionals and
groups such as the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) and
La Leche League International, who have voiced caution about the risks
of unregulated breastmilk exchange due to the transmission of viruses
and pathogens (Tigchelaar et al. 2014 ). The US FDA ( 2010 ), for exam-
ple, recommends ‘against feeding your baby breast milk [sic] acquired
directly from individuals or through the internet.’ In the media, on
blog posts, and in research accounts, mothers who fail to comply with
these official public health recommendations are portrayed as morally
irresponsible, naïve, or ignorant (see Carroll 2014 :473; Carter et al.
2015 :2; Tuteur 2012 ).
A recent source of consternation over online milk sharing occurred in
response to the publication of a study by Keim et al. ( 2013 , 2014 ). In
this study, it was reported that human milk purchased over the Internet
showed high levels of bacterial growth and contamination, reflecting
poor milk collection, storage, and unsafe milk transportation. The study
brought considerable media attention to the practice in the USA and
elsewhere, further discrediting peer-milk sharing as risky and unsafe.
Critics were quick to point out that news coverage of the risks associ-
ated with peer-milk sharing failed to convey that Keim et al.’s research
was based on breastmilk purchased from a commercial source over the
Internet and not from altruistic milk sharing. Accordingly, while breast-
milk is alienated from the bodies of donors in the course of altruistic
online peer-milk sharing, advocates maintain that the chain of distribu-
tion and the social management of the milk in the online setting, as a
bodily fluid and a gift, is treated differently to the purchase and sale of
breastmilk (Gribble 2013 , 2014a; Palmquist and Doehler 2014 ).
Gribble’s ( 2013 , 2014a) empirical research, for example, shows that
those who gift milk put store in their relation to the recipient as a vul-
nerable other in need and that where possible they prefer to transfer the
milk in person. According to Gribble, donors and recipients on web-
sites and blog posts state that they engage in informal screening pro-
cesses and give verbal consent to the donative exchange. As such, the
women and families who use online sites subscribe to what health pro-
fessionals identify as the pillars of safe milk sharing; informed choice,
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