Stacie, As far as I know all milk banks in the US, Canada and Great Britain pasteurize their donated milk. I read that milk banks in Germany do not all pasteurize their milk. I do not know if this is still the case. Are lactnetters in Germany aware of milk bank policies there? The NICUs most likely to use banked milk are those in communities with milk banks. Unfortunately, that is only a handful of cities in the US and Canada. Check out the website of the Human Milk Bank Association of North America (HMBANA.org) for more info. Milk is like blood in that it is a bodily fluid being passed from one person to the other. Some diseases can be transmitted through blood, some through milk, they are not necessarily the same diseases. Blood is not pasteurized, milk is. I assume that both blood and milk donation sites have informed consent forms for donors and recipients. I imagine the forms are similar but not the same. Hope this is helpful. Naomi Bar-Yam -------------------------------- Naomi Bar-Yam Ph.D. [log in to unmask] Researcher, Writer, Educator in Maternal and Child Health -------------------------------- *********************************************** 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