I'm sorry to harp on this, but I have to ask myself what a breast pump company has to gain by their recommendations and warnings. I think we all need to remember that pump companies are also out to make a profit and their profit is reduced quite a bit when mother's share pumps. Not to say that there is no risk, but I still think we need to keep the profit motivation in mind when dealing with corporations and when listening to their recommendations. As to risk... We are concerned that a virus, mold, etc may be lurking on the motor of the pump so that if a different mother uses that pump she can be contaminated, right? I'm not certain how long the HIV virus can last on a dry surface, but I don't believe it is very long. Hepatitis can live 7 days I believe, so there is more risk from that than HIV. What about molds? Fungi? If the machine is designed to produce a vacuum pressure, how would a virus (assuming there is still any live virus) or mold or fungi travel back up the tube? I'm asking this seriously. Does anyone know? Have there actually been any documented cases of cross contamination with single user breast pumps? If not, then we are talking a theoretical risk here, right? And who crys the loudest about this risk? The pump company? Who has a vested interest in selling more pumps? I'm just thinking that the lactation community might want to step back here and look for the actual evidence that there is a problem, before taking an industry's (even if it is a supposedly breastfeeding friendly industry) word that there is a problem. Would it make a difference if a pump has not been used in a year vs a week before being *shared*? I don't hear anyone asking these questions, I just hear the same quotes from the same source, the pump company. I'm also asking that we consider relative risks when making *rules* regarding sharing pumps. Certainly if there is an alternative we should use it, since there *is* a risk, even if theoretical. Yet, if there is no alternative, or if the mother chooses to use a second-hand pump even knowing about the risk, then we need to remember that it is the mother's decision, just as it is the mother's decision on how to feed her baby in the first place. And this applies even if there *is* a documented cross-contamination. There is still relative risk to consider, just as in medications. The risk of formula use has been documented over and over. Yet a hospital will give formula with little thought to risk and will certainly *not* inform the mother of any risk. And at the same time they will quote the pump company's risk statements regarding using second hand pumps. That makes me ill. Regards, Cindi Swisher, RN, IBCLC Colorado Springs, CO *********************************************** 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