Bill Gates Pushes Lab Grown "Human Milk"

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Gates' company BIOMILQ is using biotechnology to create artificial breast milk for babies. This is done by using mammary cells placed in a flask. Biomilk claims that the formula “recreates conditions similar to the breast.”

This movement is part of the push that erases women as mothers and seeks to propagate the idea that breastmilk and "Biomilk" are interchangeable. This school of thought disregards a crucial part of infant feeding for mothers: the benefits accrued from actually nursing at the breast. Besides the fact that once again we have a "new and improved" way to feed babies which feeds the bottom line of multinational corporations, we denigrate all that breastfeeding means to women and babies. Again, just like in the 1950's men are telling women they have something better for babies.

As we have seen in infant formula shortages, it makes our very survival as a species dependent on the good will of a large multi national corporation with profit, not help, as its motive. And it opens the door a little more to transhumanism.

Bill Gates Pushes Lab-Grown Human Milk Amid Infant Formula Shortages

You wouldn’t, though, would you? 😂

This kind of tech has some significant benefits. A better breast milk substitute is only going to be better for infants who don't have access to the real thing. Especially premature infants.

It's the underlying idea that replacing real biological organisms with technology is going to be a win that's at worrying. You see the same thing where these same people are pushing for stuff like lab grown meat or labs that "farm" algae in jars as a better way to produce human food. All nicely centralized and capitalized too.

But in terms of child rearing, it's worth pointing out I think, because it is likely to be controversial, that to some extent this is part and parcel of the whole idea that it is better if we can externalize and commercialize even the most basic functions of human family life. So we can all be workers. It plays very much into the idea that if we can externalize these functions of women's bodies, and make that normative, we can avoid really considering in a serious way whether a model of society which sees us all as workers is one that really makes room for the fact that we are a biologically reproducing species with different reproductive roles.

It'll never catch on for the simple fact that it's not just the substance of breast milk that is considered better for the infant, it's the actual process of breastfeeding.

I know this first hand. I pumped for my baby for over six months as she was unable to breastfeed due to medical issues. Went to the check ups and the GP would not tick the 'breast fed benefits' or some such box. I was heartbroken as it felt like a judgment on me when I was unable to feed my baby as thought I was doing the best for her. They said because she wasn't actually taking it from my breast she wasn't getting the antibodies that are the main benefit from breastfeeding.
I gave up soon after. Fed is best, although I doubt that's Bill Gates motivation. It'll just be a way to sidestep rules on formula advertising for him.

I'm sorry to hear that, WhenWill, it sounds like a callous doctor's comment after all your hard work. I guess yes, a baby needs to be at the breast to stimulate the feedback to produce antibodies, but there are many other reasons that breastmilk is the natural food for humans - hence milk donations to prem babies, for example - and I'm sure your baby had a good start thanks to your efforts.

I mean that's just the way the tick box works. It upset me at the time, but to honest pumping actually ended up getting in the way of bonding with my baby, so in a way I'm glad I stopped then because the benefits of breastfeeding would never solve the medical problems but that early bonding is just às important and pumping is so time.consuming it got in the way of that.

But the point being that breast feeding being seen as better is a full combination. It's the physical act that helps attachment and antibodies etc, it's the tailoring of the milk to the baby. All things that only a woman's body can do. So it'll never catch on or takeover from the real thing and Gates is deluded if he thinks it will.

I think sometimes people want to do these things because they are impossible. Or incredibly difficult. God complex, really. Fear of death.

Face it, Bill, all the money in the world won't save you.

Agree with the god complex. I think I'd add to that that historically some men just can't come to terms with the fact that women can create and support life in a way men can't access. This sort of thing is an expression of that.

If Bill Gates is involved, you know it's not good for humanity

He needs watching like a hawk, pure undiluted evil

Aside from the breast milk thing specifically (it sounds to me like a good thing to be developing for those infants it would benefit), I'm kind of confused by the tone of the comments; do we hate Bill Gates around here for some reason?

It's not about stopping breastfeeding at all. There will always be women who can't or don't want to breastfeed. This is just better formula which is closer to human milk than formula currently is.

Without a doubt, this is the absolute worst thing I've ever read about on here.

I agree. Yet too many see him as this wonderful philanthropist who will save the world. Anyone who criticizes him for the most logical reasons is at risk of being called a conspiracy theorist 🙄.

I hope the tide is changing.

Factcheck: www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-formula-gates-idUSL2N2X51RH

If this milk is better than the formula milk, then surely that's a good thing? Lots of mothers can't breast feed their child and lots of children don't have someone to breastfeed them so surely improving the formula that is given them has got to better. Not everything has to be a conspiracy to make mothers pointless or work us til we drop of exhaustion. No one's stopping anyone from using the cheaper old stuff if they don't want to be manipulated by Bill Gates. Nor is anyone saying that this is better than breast milk.

Are you being sarcastic? I just never know.

'Our product can shift demand away from dairy by providing a more sustainable option.'

By replacing human milk with soy-based milk?

'the soybean industry is causing widespread deforestation and displacement of small farmers and indigenous peoples around the globe'

www.worldwildlife.org/industries/soy

The vast majority of soy is used to feed animals like cows. To keep a cow alive long enough to sustain a pregnancy to enable her to produce milk is going to be less efficient than using soy and cutting out the middle man, as it were.
The amount of soy used in human consumption is not the reason for deforestation. It's a direct result of animal farming.

So yes, I do see the benefit of an alternative milk. I'd be interested to know how it is ensured to be better than current formula, beneficial and safe.

But as I said, I don't really se it as a threat to breastfeeding because that's not all breastfeeding is about. I imagine anyone that wants to use it as proof women aren't a biological concrete thing will do so, but it's clearly not proof of that at all.

It's the same thing as the ever insulting infertile women exist therefore trans women are women. Sometimes our bodies don't work as they should. Mine couldn't breastfeed. It's a medical thing, not proof I'm a not a women or that men are women. It's proof that women can suffer a range of problems and still be women.

To be honest if it stops us exploiting the mothering bond between cows and calves I'm all for it, but again, I wouldn't Guinea pig my baby without knowing it was safe.

Exactly this!!!

Whenwillmylifebegin - your gp was the tit. Your baby still got antibodies and seeming as you and your baby hand out together and meet many of the same nasties your baby would have got many specifically relevant antibodies.

@MarshaMelrose deadly serious

WhenWillMyLIfeBegin

I wouldn't assume that just because it isn't equal, it won't be marketed that way, or people won't think it is the same.

It's a standard form so whilst I've no doubt the gp was lacking in tact, the fact I didn't meet the requirements is standard across the NHS. I've no doubt pumping provided some benefits.
But when I look at the cost that pumping took I'm not sure breastfeeding should be pushed as the be all and end all it is in the NHS. It absolutely is pushed and the guilt I suffered when I failed made it hard to stop even when stopping earlier absolutely would have been better for my baby.
Ideally a happy medium, breastfeeding supported and encouraged, alternatives provided would be the best outcome for everyone.
I'm currently pregnant with my next child and slightly miffed at how much they are still pushing breastfeed at all costs considering my history. It feels unbalanced and in my opinion, doesn't help the mental health of mums who can't.
I'll obviously breastfeed if I can but this time I will prioritise comforting my baby in my arms over being a milking machine. Whatever that means.

Huhhh, why are you suggesting this is a bad thing?
Most people surely realise nothing will ever compare to real breastfeeding, but for some women who cannot breastfeed for a variety of reasons this sounds like a better alternative to what’s currently on offer which is hugely inadequate for a multitude of reasons.

Also re soy: Taking cows out of the equation wouldn't have as much effect as people often think. The drivers behind industrial agriculture aren't that straightforward. To some extent the fact that there are so many cows is down to the fact that there is so much available to feed them, if that makes sense. Or to put it another way, the people selling the beef, if consumers didn't want it, would need to find another way to add value to their soy crops and make up for what they had lost.

What are you talking about?

It's great that they've found a better alternative to breast milk than what we currently give babies which is basically ultra processed cows milk.

Not every woman can breast feed. Not every woman wants to. Breast milk alternatives are necessary.

I am sure no one is suggesting that we use this milk instead of any mother ever breastfeeding?!? Which is the strange leap you seem to have made.