Medicine made of placenta

Is one allowed to dry a placenta for the purpose of making medicine from it? Am I obligated to persuade my daughter not to do it?

Dear …!

When we’re are talking about a regular birth, halachically speaking, the placenta does not need to be buried and there is no prohibition against making medicines or cosmetics out of it, which is what they do today. However, even though there is no prohibition, there is a custom, which is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud, to bury the placenta anyway, since this brings a blessing of longevity to the baby. Obviously, it’s worth it to merit this blessing.

Medical centers that are advised by rabbis, such as Maayanei Ha-Yeshua in Bene Braq, Shaarei Zedek and Bikur Cholim in Jerusalem, Laniado in Netanya, do bury placentas. In other places, you have to be a little assertive to get them to do it, or you can just do it yourself. Since this is not a real burial of a dead limb, but only a custom and a segulah, it’s not a problem to do it by yourself. All you have to do is find some place in nature where it’s possible to dig a hole in the ground, and just place the placenta inside and cover it with dirt.

In other medical centers, unless you request otherwise, the placentas are sold to the industry. There is no halachic problem with that, and if you can’t persuade your daughter to bury the placenta, that’s not the end of the world. It’s worth it for her to do this segulah for baby’s longevity, but there’s no reason to pressure her; you should just explain to her that it’s not a halachic problem, only a segula. And because this segulah is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud and in books of Jewish law, it’s an extremely reliable one.

All that was said so far applies only when, with Hashem’s help, there is a regular birth, and the placenta comes out after the birth. If, on the other hand, there was a miscarriage, G-d forbid, the embryo is dissolved inside the placenta, and this placenta must be buried by halachic law. In this case you have to make a real effort to bury it.

Blessing you with many happy years and nachas from all your grandchildren.   

Shulchan Oruch, section Yore Dea, ch. 315, §7; Mishnah Berurah, ch. 330, subsection 25