Years after China prohibited any institution or individual from trading human placenta, the trade is flourishing online.

Entering the word "placenta" on taobao.com, the largest online retail site in China, one can find several hundred shops selling placenta. Its price ranges from 200 to 600 yuan ($31-$94) per kilogram.

"We guarantee the quality of the placenta we sell," one shop claimed.

The shop claimed it has access to human organs through connections at hospitals. And these organs can "help treat gastritis or bronchitis" and "help women look better."

A man calling himself "Wang Yu" working as a customer service for a Shanghai-based shop told the Global Times Monday he gets his product from a placenta dealer, and doesn't know the source.

Placentas supply the fetus with oxygen and food. They exit the human body during birth. The consumption of the placenta is not rare in some parts of China, with some eating it with soup and others making it into dumplings.

China banned the placenta trade in 2005. According to a Ministry of Health regulation, the placenta is to be given to the woman who gave birth. And if the woman doesn't want it or the placenta is proven unhealthy, hospitals must dispose of it as medical waste.

"Usually we collected and disposed of them," Lu Dan, a doctor with the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, told the Global Times Monday. "Except for medical experiments, they will not be clinically applied."

Traditional Chinese medicine says placenta, rich in protein, hormone and enzymes, helps improve the immune system. And this belief has driven underground consumption and trade.

According to earlier reports, some hospitals charge pregnant women for their own placenta to pressure them to give it up.

Medical professionals warn buyers of risks of improperly-treated placenta.

Xing Lixiao, a gynecologist from Shaanxi, told the Xi'an Evening Newspaper that placenta usually "gets infected while exiting the human body" and "it is possible the consumers will be infected."

Li Zhi, a senior lawyer from Beijing, also warned consumers of potential risks for buying fake or untreated placenta.

"A website like Taobao only has the obligation to check whether a shop is lawfully registered," Li said. "There is no way for it to check whether everything sold there is genuine, legal or illegal."