Jan, I heard Jan Riordan (I think) a few years ago talking about Gentian Violet and her caution was not about the stuff being carsinogenic so much as having the potential to burn the inside of the baby's mouth if used too strongly or more than once or twice.Check out Riordan and Auerbach p. 386 for precautions on such. Kathleen, the biggest problem I had with "creatively constructed" kits came from when Dad would whip out his trusty-dusty pocket knife (from his front pants pocket) and cut off the ends of the tubes so he could connect as many parts as possible. My husband says it is a "male" thing to carry pocket knives and not accept leftover parts!!<grin> This is better now that Medela sells kits just for the Lactinas in addition to the universal ones for Lactinas and Classics. Melissa Vickers, IBCLC [log in to unmask]