A trans activist who appeared on ITV News as a ‘struggling mother’ has shared a photo of her breastfeeding her child and said she only stopped doing so after she had a cancer relapse.
Mika Minio Paluello – a former Labour special adviser – was seen during Wednesday night’s News At Ten programme doing the washing up while she spoke of how the soaring water bills were ‘tough if you’re a mum’.
The segment led to criticism from feminists including Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who wrote: ‘Dear @itvnews, I am sure this is a lovely, intelligent and decent human being. This was an important piece. This is not however a struggling ”mother”.’
Ms Minio Paluello also complained about viewers ‘obsessing’ over a breast pump that could be seen in the footage and said it belonged to a housemate.
And after a feminist campaigner responded to the row by mentioning that Ms Minio Paluello had been ‘simulating breastfeeding’, she hit back by saying that ‘trans women can breastfeed’ before sharing a photo of her doing so.
Mika Minio Paluello said in the caption to this photo: ‘Here’s me on the bus to hospital for the 1st chemo round, feeding my child for the last time’
How can biological men lactate?
Trans women can make themselves lactate by taking a combination of medicines called the Newman-Goldfarb protocol. It tricks the body into making milk. It was originally developed for biological women who adopted or had a child via surrogacy and wanted to breastfeed.
The method involves taking hormone boosting medications, including the pill. Other drugs that are used include anti-sickness medicine metoclopramide, heart medication digitalis and anti-psychotic chlorpromazine and sedative medications which are known to increase prolactin, the hormone responsible for milk production.
Domperidone, an anti-nausea drug, is the preferred option for the protocol as it has fewer potentially dangerous side effects.
However, it’s not completely risk free. The drug can pass into breast milk in small amounts and can sometimes give babies an irregular heartbeat as a result.
The drug regime is used in conjunction with a breast pump to mimic the changes a women’s body undergoes during the late stages of pregnancy and shortly after the birth of a child.
Experts have urged caution about transwomen using the Newman-Goldfarb protocol to lactate. They have warned that long term health implications from using the treatment, for both adult and baby, are unknown.
There have been separate rare cases of biological men undergoing lactation in the past without deliberately setting out to do so. These are usually the result of a rare medication side effect influencing hormone production, or from a hormone-disorder.
She wrote: ‘In the end, I only breastfed my child for a few weeks. I then had to stop because I had a cancer relapse and didn’t want to poison my child. Here’s me on the bus to hospital for the 1st chemo round, feeding my child for the last time.’
This prompted further debate, with critics replying to the photo by saying it was not possible for someone with male sexual organs to breastfeed.
In 2018, a 30-year-old transgender woman became the first officially recorded to breastfeed her baby after an experimental programme of treatment including hormones, a nausea drug and breast stimulation.
This enabled her to produce 227 grams of milk a day.
The transgender woman had also been been receiving female hormones including progesterone and oestrogen for several years before beginning the lactation treatment.
This treatment led to her developing breasts that appeared to be fully grown, the New Scientist reported.
It is unclear how many other trans women have been able to breastfeed since the first recorded case in 2018.
There are also very few studies and no scientific consensus about the nutritional quality of the breastmilk produced.
However, one this year, published in the Journal of Human Lactation found it contained similar levels of lactose, proteins and electrolytes.
The ITV news segment featuring Ms Minio Paluello appeared as the second item on News At Ten and was presented by ITV News consumer editor Chris Choi.
But ITV News introduced Ms Minio Paluello – believed to be in her early 40s – as a ‘Thames Water customer’ and failed to mention her Labour credentials.
As the Daily Mail revealed, she is currently the TUC’s Climate and Industry lead, while between October 2017 and November 2019 she was a special adviser to the shadow Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy secretary while Jeremy Corbyn was the leader of the Labour Party.
After a feminist campaigner responded to the row by mentioning that Ms Minio Paluello had been ‘simulating breastfeeding’, she hit back by saying that ‘trans women can breastfeed’
Ms Minio Paluello’s appearance is not the first time ITV News’ impartiality has been called into question.
Last year its political editor Robert Peston was repeatedly criticised for being anti Tory, and in particular biased against former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
ITV News’ coverage of rising water bills also prompted anger from women and feminists across social media for portraying the message that washing up and laundry is what mums do.
During Wednesday night’s News At Ten programme, Mika Minio Paluello spoke about soaring water bills
The clip, broadcast last night, showed her washing up and doing some laundry
Labour MP Rosie Duffield also retweeted a post by a feminist campaigner which criticised the ‘breastfeeding picture’ Ms Minio Paluello shared and accused her of ‘motherfaking’.
Ms Minio Paluello later tweeted: ‘It needs saying: Adoptive mothers are mothers. Lesbian mothers are mothers, whether they birthed the child or not.
‘Step mothers are mothers. Trans women can be mothers. It’s not up to an MP or anyone else to march into a family & enforce what a child calls their parent.’
The Daily Mail revealed Ms Minio-Paluello is currently the TUC’s Climate and Industry lead (pictured at Cop26)
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