Medical plastics pose health risk to some A chemical used to soften such plastic medical devices as blood bags and IV tubes can leach from the plastic and pose a risk to some small groups of patients, including sick baby boys, says the Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA is advising hospitals to consider using devices made of different materials to treat patients most at risk. The chemical, called DEHP, can seep from the plastic into certain liquids, especially fat containing ones like blood.
Studies of young animals show the chemical can affect testicle development and production of normal sperm. There's no proof DEHP actually harms humans, but the FDA considers the theoretical risk important enough that it's writing health groups to urge they limit certain patients' exposure to DEHP.
That's mainly newborn boys who need lots of treatments that bring the highest DEHP exposures --- such as multiple blood transfusions and IV tube feeding. FDA toxicologist Ron Brown said Monday. Also an oxygenation procedure called ECMO that basically puts newborns on a heart-lung machine for several days causes high exposure.
Male dialysis patients who are undergoing puberty and pregnant females with a male fetus or nursing a baby boy are also on the precautions list.
|
If you have come to this page from an outside location click here to get back to mindfully.org |