[Histonet] "placenta encapsulation"

[Bob Richmond]

Just when you thought life couldn't get weirder, it does.

I've been hearing scattered tales of women eating their own (actually
their babies') placentas for years, but I didn't know about "placenta
encapsulation" until my daughter's college classmate Nancy Redd (she's
at nancyredd.com) bylined a New York Times story
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/i-regret-eating-my-placenta/?scp=1&sq=placenta&st=cse

and then got on ABC news this morning.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/eating-placenta-trend-safe-16019081

It seems the pill-'n'-potion culture has come to the rescue, with
services (they seem to be local operations, no mail-order, probably
how they slip under the regulatory radar) that for $200 or so will dry
and grind up your baby's placenta and put it into large gelatin
capsules. It has to be your own baby's placenta, by the way. Here's a
graphic demonstration of how it's done
http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/1577334/Placenta_Encapsulation_Instructions_w_Pictures

And here's a FAQ that answers some, but not all questions a pathology
service might have.
http://birth-wise.org/faq

They want the placenta refrigerated, or possibly frozen. Formaldehyde
is prohibited.

Seems to me that this could turn into a major headache for a pathology
service, and that some conferring with the necessary people in advance
would be a good idea.

An obvious concern would be bacterial overgrowth.

Eeeeewwww!

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN