Illegal Human Placenta Trade Continues In Chinese Black Market Despite Potential Dangers

People in a Chinese market

The illegal human placenta trade is said to be flourishing in the Chinese black market despite the potential dangers the temporary organ brings to people who might consume it.

A report by Breitbart on Thursday revealed that trading of illegal human placenta is booming in eastern China where a ban on its nationwide practice has been imposed since 2005. Breitbart cited the Apple Daily newspaper of Hong Kong who reported on it on Tuesday and said that the trade annually sells hundreds of thousands of human placenta.

The report highlighted that 130,000 placentas were obtained from across eastern China's various medical clinics and medical waste facilities in 2020. The data was based on an interview by the Apple Daily on a local trader that paid 80 yuan ($12.30) for each sold placenta to suppliers of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), who in turn resell it for profit.

China's e-commerce platforms have also been seen to sell placenta "in a range of 450 yuan ($69) to 580 yuan ($89). Sellers charge more for placentas that verified with test reports," the report said.

In addition, Breitbart cited a report from the South China Morning Post that said the human placenta are actually regarded as "a legitimate treatment for those with weak immune systems and for help treating various illnesses, such as tuberculosis and hypohemia, and for reproductive health."

The placentas are dried, pulverized, then packaged into gelatin capsules or dry mixes as soups or added to other food while some are sold whole.

Most Western medical doctors, Breitbart added, highlight the dangers of consuming human placenta because it may be a carrier of contagious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, syphilis, and hepatitis B. The human placenta, after all, is an organ temporarily created by the body to house a pregnant woman's unborn baby inside the womb and provide oxygen and nutrients.

Human placentas are referred to by the Chinese as "ziheche" - an umbrella term for a number of natural health remedies in TCM, which include acupuncture, meditation, and herbal teas, Breitbart said.

The Chinese Communist Party has co-opted the use of TCM to promote a profitable pseudoscience-based medical industry that brings in hundreds of billions of dollars for the party, the report added.

This is despite the Chinese Health Ministry banning the trade of human placentas in line with the health risks that come with its practice, Breitbart stressed based on the South China Morning Post report.

"The pharmaceutical placenta trade falls into a grey area," stated the South China Morning Post, "There is no law forbidding the sale of drugs made from Ziheche and no stipulations on the origin of the material."

The Science Times added that the illegal placenta trade actually occur in China's Anhui, Jiangsu, and Henan. It cited an interview with Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital obstetrician Huang Chengsheng that said mothers who take home their placentas after the hospital returns it to them actually eat them.

Chengsheng said, as per The Science Times, it is customary among Chinese to eat human placenta out of their belief of its nutritious content and health benefit. The obstetrician said that when mothers do not wish to bring home from the hospital the placentas, these are then discarded as medical waste.