From men wanting to buy her breast milk, to going undercover in the IVF wild west, investigative journalist and author Alev Scott has immersed herself in the murky, and often unregulated world of fertility. What she found was a trillion dollar industry, where the maternal body is a hot commodity. It also raised some serious ethical questions: How much, if anything, should breastmilk cost? Who should be allowed to buy it? And is it right that you can pay more for ‘VIP’ egg donors?

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Guests: Alev Scott, investigative journalist and author of Cash Cow.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Producer: Dave Creasey.

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Photo: Getty Images & Mark Harrison for the Times magazine.

You can buy Cash Cow: How the maternal body became a global commodity – and the hidden costs for women at the Times Bookshop.

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Milk and eggs: How women’s bodies became a global commodity – The Saturday Story