I'm treading carefully because I have no initials after my name, but I have spent 20 years in the field of communicating health information and working with the media to correct misinformation around disease transmission. And I've posted on this matter before on Lactnet, so I hate to sound like a broken record. However, I think it's very, very important for professionals to be using proper data when advising moms about borrowing or buying used pumps. For example, we have seen cases where moms have been told a used pump will expose their infant to the risk of HIV infection. There is no evidence to back this up, and plenty of evidence to the contrary - HIV, if indeed it were present in the fresh human milk, is simply not stable and would not survive in dried milk. Precautions taken in the NICU to prevent cross-contamination are there because we are dealing with fragile newborns, and with many women using hospital grade pumps where it is indeed possible for fresh milk contamination to occur. I think it's especially important that we consider relative risk when we offer our opinions and when we seek out research to back up our advice on the matter of women borrowing or purchasing used pumps in the general community. By all means, take efforts to get the best pump solution in the hands of the women who need it, but if there is no alternative to a used pump, please make sure these women understand the relative risks of not breastfeeding vs the hypothetical risks of contamination. -- Jodine Chase *********************************************** 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