BEIJING — According to Beijing Youth Daily, soap made from breast milk is one of China's latest fads. Just type in "breast milk soap" on Taobao, China's biggest e-commerce site, and 88 pages of breast milk-related products are in display.

Apart from those selling soaps made with the breast milk of new mothers — at prices ranging from $3 to $16 — even more sites are selling kits allowing people to make their own. Obviously there is a market, and a big one.

When the Beijing Youth Daily asked whether it was safe for people to use the products, a woman who breastfeeds and sells her own soap responded, "How can it be unhealthy if my own baby is drinking this milk?"

Because these products are homemade and their sales are through the Internet, they elude China's regulatory measures. But one dermatologist told the newspaper, “Whether it's blood or breast milk, they are all body fluids. They may transfer diseases when in contact."

He also said that certain producers add ingredients such as honey to make the soaps smell better. But without appropriate sterilization procedures, these soaps are likely to breed bacteria. "The result is the more one washes, the dirtier one gets!"