Milk sharing and formula feeding: Infant feeding risks in comparative perspective?

The advent of Internet forums that facilitate peer-to-peerhuman milk sharing has resulted in health authorities statingthat sharing human milk is dangerous. There are risksassociated with all forms of infant feeding, includingbreastfeeding and the use of manufactured infant formulas.However, health authorities do not warn against usingformula or breastfeeding; they provide guidance on how tomanage risk. Cultural distaste for sharing human milk, notevidenced-based research, supports these official warnings.Regulating bodies should conduct research and disseminateinformation about how to mitigate possible risks of sharinghuman milk, rather than proscribe the practice outright.