Breast milk and occupational exposure under the bloodborne pathogens rule

December 14, 1992

Ms. Marjorie P. Alloy
Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Ms. Alloy:

This is in response to your letter of November 23, addressed to the Acting Assistant Secretary, Dorothy L. Strunk. You wrote on behalf of the International Lactation Consultants Association and inquired into the applicability of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation 29 CFR 1910.1030, "Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens," to breast milk.

Breast milk is not included in the standard's definition of "other potentially infectious materials". Therefore contact with breast milk does not constitute occupational exposure, as defined by the standard. This determination was based on the Centers for Disease Control's findings that human breast milk has not been implicated in the transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or the hepatitis B virus (HBV) to workers although it has been implicated in perinatal transmission of HIV and the hepatitis surface antigen has been found in the milk of mothers infected with HBV. For this reason, gloves should be worn by health-care workers in situations where exposures to breast milk might be frequent, for example, in milk banking.

We hope this information is responsive to your concerns and thank you for your interest in worker safety and health.

Sincerely,
Roger A. Clark,
Director
Directorate of Compliance Programs