A retired doctor surnamed Kong, who previously worked at the gynecology and obstetrics ward in a hospital in Heilongjiang Province, said she knows people in her hometown who buy placentas from friends at the hospital and give it to people as gifts.

Illegal placenta trade.[Photo: www.toptenz.net]

According to a 2005 notice issued by the Ministry of Health, the placenta indeed belongs to the mother.

The notice says hospitals can only dispose of the placenta in accordance with the Regulations on the Administration of Medical Wastes if the mother declines to take it.

The regulations stated that no trading of placentas by institutions or individuals is allowed, the Chinese News of Traditional Chinese Medicine Introduction reported earlier.

Shady trade

Many pregnant women are unaware that they reserve the right to keep their placentas. An earlier report by chinajilin. com.cn quoted an unnamed patient as saying that hospitals charge mothers who request to keep the placentas.

Some medical workers said many postpartum mothers just let the hospital keep it.

"Less than 1 percent of all postpartum mothers will take their placentas away. Some of them will bury the placentas in their backyard as they believe it is a way for family reunion," the president of a Beijing hospital who refused to be named told the Global Times. "We freeze the remaining placentas and pharmaceutical companies can buy them at about eight yuan each."

Traditional Chinese medicine describes the placenta as being rich in protein, hor-mones and enzymes. It is said to be useful in improving blood circulation, China News Service reported earlier.

However, some Western medicine experts said the igimmunoglobulin protein in the placenta cannot be digested or absorbed by humans, the Chinese News of Traditional Chinese Medicine Introduction said.

Zhao Wenqiu, a doctor in Beijing, told the Global Times that eating placentas might lead to health consequences.

"The medical condition of a pregnant woman determines whether the placenta is good or not," Zhao said. "If a mother carries the hepatitis B, for instance, the placenta is very likely to carry the same virus."

Some compare eating a placenta to "eating a human being."

A resident in Anhui Province surnamed Shi said she felt sick after eating a placenta 10 years ago.

"My parents got it from some friends working at a hospital, and coaxed me into eating it, saying it was meatball," Shi said. "However, placenta is not fetus, and should not be counted as human being."

Shi added that it is hard to get placentas from large hospitals, and only small hospitals will sell them.