From everything I've read and personally experienced, I think the concern
with pump sharing lies in the potential of milk backing up in the tubing and
entering the pump mechanism itself.  Since the pump cannot be sterilized,
bacteria can grow.

I'd always heard this and thought it was hooey, until I personally had the
experience of a plugged membrane and my milk backed up into the tubing.  It
didn't take very long AT ALL for the tubing to fill up with milk. 
Fortunately, I was able to yank the tubing from the pump mechanism before
the milk entered it, but I was literaly only a second or two away from it
happening, it goes THAT quickly.

So...that's MY greatest concern in pump sharing; but I, admittedly, am not
sure how or if bacteria would have the capability of being transferred to
another user's milk since the pumping is sucking, instead of blowing.  Can
anyone address that aspect of the practice?

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