TO ALL CALIFORNIA NICUs: A letter was sent to Sandra Shewry, Director of the CA DHHS. It was referred to Paul B. Kimsey, PhD, Assistant Deputy Director of the Division of Laboratory Science for response. The response is that the Tissue Bank law is a law, and not a regulation, so cannot be "suspended". He states that the tissue bank program in LFS (Laboratory Field Services) "is committed to assuring that babies in hospitals continue to receive their mother's own milk or any other medically recommended human milk that may be provided by a licensed milk bank." He suggests a "partnership" between the hospitals and the tissue bank licensure program whereby LFS can provide oversight to assure that consistent standards of practice are met. He adds: "Additionally, LFS tissue bank program will take care to assure that nothing in the licensing process will impede the safe delivery of a mother's milk to her own child." If there are any problems he requests we contact him (Dr. Kimsey) at 510-412-5846 or Ron Harkey, Section Chief for the Tissue Bank Program at 510-620-3808. He mentions that Jan Otey of the Tissue Bank staff will be at the Pac-Lac meeting in LA Jan 31, 2006. The CA Hospital Association is taking the lead in drafting legislation to fix the problem. In the meantime, I would recommend that every hospital handling a mother's own milk for their own infants apply for a tissue bank license. Ron Harkey and his staff are very reasonable people and I am sure will make it as easy as possible for you. Please pass this on to all CA breastfeeding advocates. Nancy Nancy E. Wight MD, IBCLC, FABM, FAAP Neonatologist Medical Director, Lactation Services Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women San Diego, CA USA [log in to unmask] *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html