Placentas publicly offered for sale in Ho Chi Minh City

Placentas, a type of hazardous medical waste, are currently offered for sale at traditional oriental medicine shops in Ho Chi Minh City, where their benefits to human health are exaggerated.

According to a regulation from the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, placentas are infectious waste and it is illegal to sell them.

The placenta is an organ that connects a developing fetus to the uterine wall to allow for the transfer of nutrients, waste elimination and gas exchange via the mother’s blood supply, and fights against internal infection and produces hormones to support pregnancy.

A Government decree on penalties on administrative violations in the field of the environment stipulates that the transfer or sale of hazardous waste can incur a fine of VND10 million to VND70 million (US$3,290), depending on the level of violation.

However, the placenta trade has been taking place publicly at a number of traditional drugstores in the city.

Tuan, a motorbike taxi driver working in front of the Tu Du Obstetrics Hospital, told a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper correspondent that he could deliver placenta to the reporters shortly after being paid in advance for the item.

“Dried placentas are abandoned. I will get them for you from drugstores on Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street in District 5. The price is VND500,000 ($23.5), including the travel cost,” Tuan said.

“This is a banned commodity. If you agree to buy one, I will get it for you,” he added.

Tuan said fresh placenta are very difficult to obtain, as traders have to collude with doctors or nurses at obstetrics hospitals after a child is born.

At many drugstores along Hai Thuong Lan  Ong street, which is called “oriental medicine street,” placenta are offered for sale.

On October 24 at one such drugstore, a man offered to sell a placenta to Tuoi Tre for VND200,000 ($9.4).

When asked about the origin of the item, the man said it was produced under cooperation between Vietnamese and Chinese drug preparers.

He added that Vietnamese drug preparers are not capable of making a dried placenta. 

As placentas are banned, traders do not usually store them in their shops, but they can quickly deliver them to customers, the man said.

At another shop, K.D., on Luong Nhu Hoc Street in District 5, the shop’s owner offered to sell Tuoi Tre a dried placenta which she said was made in Taiwan for VND300,000 ($14.1).

Meanwhile, another shop on the same street offered to sell a placenta weighing 50 grams for VND450,000 ($21.1).

Notably, at one shop on Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street the price of a placenta was as high as VND5 million ($235.1), more than ten times higher.

Kieu, the shop’s assistant, explained that the price is so high because placenta are banned.

Majority from China

On October 16, an assistant at Kim Long Pharmaceutical  Material Shop said most dried placenta in Ho Chi Minh City were made in China.

“A dried placenta now sells for over VND300,000, VND100,000 higher than before, but the supply is limited,” she said.

She also warned that fake Chinese dried placentas are flooding the market.

At P.D., another pharmaceutical material shop on Trieu Quang Phuc street, in Ward 10, District 5, a man offered to sell a dried placenta packed in a bag with Chinese characters on it for VND250,000.

He told Tuoi Tre that it originated from China.

Similarly, another shop on Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street offered to sell dried Chinese placenta, but at a higher price: VND450,000.

Harmful waste      

According to traditional medicine, placenta can be used to treat a body’s breakdown, emaciation, anemia in women, lack of breast milk after birth and several other health problems, said Dr. Nguyen Huu Duc.

However, except for cases in which placenta have benefitted people whose body is breaking down, there is no scientific proof of the other supposed medicinal effects of placenta, Dr. Duc said.

People also say placenta can fortify the kidneys, provide virility to men and strengthen sexual activities, but oriental physicians reject these rumors.

A placenta belongs to a live body, which can be infected with bacteria, viruses, parasites, germs or other pathogens, Dr. Duc said.

Therefore, people who use placenta can contract harmful viruses such as Hepatitis B and C or even HIV, the doctor said.

Under Ministry of Health regulations, placenta is considered a form of medical waste that needs to be destroyed properly.

The ministry also warns that the use of placenta as a drug is unsafe and that they have no proven medicinal effects, Dr. Duc said.

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