There is a growing trend to reusable packaging overall in an effort to encourage reduction. The position of the plastics industry is clear. The industry strongly supports reduction and reuse, and recognizes use of reusables as good environmental practice, but it does not want to see these initiatives inadvertently compromise public health and safety. The industry believes that appropriate research and investigation must be pursued. This testing sample is but a first step.

Laboratory testing of reusable grocery bags by two independent laboratories was undertaken this spring. To ensure independence, a third laboratory was engaged to provide oversight and evaluative commentary of the results -- Toronto-based Sporometrics, the foremost experts in many aspects of fungal and environmental bacterial testing in Canada. The study found that reusable grocery bags pose a public health risk.

Subject-matter expert, Dr. Richard Summerbell, Director of Research at Sporometrics, provided interpretation of the test results as well as critical direction and assistance in the writing of this report. Dr. Summerbell is a noted microbiologist who served as the Chief of Medical Mycology for Ontario Ministry of Health, Laboratory Services Branch from 1991-2000 and was senior researcher at the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, the world's most extensive fungal culture collection and mycological center at the Royal Netherlands Academy, in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He has also authored over 150 scientific papers.

The results compiled in A Microbiological Study of Plastic Reusable Bags and First or single-use’ Plastic Bags show that reusables are a breeding ground for bacteria and pose public health risks – food poisoning, skin infections such as bacterial boils, allergic reactions, triggering of asthma attacks, and ear infections.

Over 30% of the bags had unsafe levels of bacterial contamination, 40% had yeast or mold and some of the bags had intestinal faecal bacteria embedded in their surface when there should have been 0.

The test results have been shared with the federal Sub-Committee on Food Safety which is currently looking into the safety of Canada’s food supply chain, federal and provincial ministers of health, medical associations across the country as well as public health officials for immediate action. Health Canada has issue a safety alert to consumers about contamination from reuseable bags, as attached.

A few Fast Facts on Plastics in Medicine
In the past few decades, plastics have made health care simpler and less painful and made new techniques and prostheses possible. They have reduced contamination, relieved pain and cut medical costs. They have prolonged, improved and saved lives.		Not too long ago, almost no medical packaging had tamper-evident seals. Today, nearly 100 percent of all pharmaceutical packaging does. In addition, child-resistant caps help keep medicines away from little hands.
Plastics are key components of modern prosthetic devices, providing comfort, flexibility, mobility and a life-like appearance.		Artificial hips and knees use plastics to help provide smoothly working, trouble-free joints.
Plastics permeate medicine. From the smallest tubing to the open MRI machine, plastics deliver when lives are on the line.		Surgical gloves made of soft pliable plastic help preserve the sterile environment of hospital operating rooms.
The United States has the lowest rate of cross-staph infection in the world as a result of its use of plastic medical disposables.		As the need for home health care continues to increase, plastics will play a major role in creating simple, portable and effective medical devices.
Plastics have helped reduce the weight of eyeglass frames and lenses, while improving their strength and shatter resistance. Plastics also provide vision-impaired consumers with another option: contact lenses.

Revolutionised Wheelchair

An Israeli company recently revolutionised the wheelchair! The new ReWalk™ is not just a vertical wheelchair – it restores the element of control over mobility, an element wheelchair users miss painfully.

This wearable, motorized suit is made from lightweight plastic, and provides user-initiated mobility. Rewalk’s principles are leveraging advanced motion sensors, sophisticated robotic control algorithms, on-board computers, real-time software, actuation motors, tailored rechargeable batteries and, of course - composite plastic materials.

By maintaining users upright on a daily basis, and exercising even paralyzed limbs in the course of movement, ReWalk™ alleviates many of the health-related problems associated with long-term wheelchair use: urinary, respiratory, cardiovascular and digestive systems problems, osteoporosis, pressure sores and so on. In addition to relieving suffering, this has a real impact on healthcare costs – cutting yearly expenses almost in half, and enabling both insurers and individuals to redirect funds to other projects.

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Email Hoax regarding Cancer

A hoax email which has been circulating since 2004 regarding plastic containers, bottles and wrap,
claiming that heat releases dioxins which cause cancer, was also NOT published by Johns Hopkins.

More information.

When faced with seemingly scientific information, differentiating between fact and fiction can be difficult.

A website has been set up by the American Plastics Council to counter claims made by hoax emails alleging dangers of plastics in relation to food handling, cooking and storage.

Visit the website at:

www.plasticsmythbusters.org

The John Hopkins website is another useful source of factual information which dispels these myths:

www.hopkinsmedicine.org - click on “what’s new”

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Thirst for Truth

A powerpoint slide show - slamming bottled water - which recently did the rounds on email, has evoked a Thirst for the Truth.

The official response from the International Bottled Water Association to the generator of the presentation is below for your info. They wrote a letter to the company that created and distributed it. The slide show was actually created by PM Architecture in New York City, not by the Earth Policy Institute as many had initially believed. The following is their response, written by Tom Lauria, IBWA’s communications vice president::

"Hello:

My name is Tom Lauria. I am Vice President for Communications at the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA). A PowerPoint slide presentation produced by PM Architecture (PMA) is circulating on the internet and includes several incorrect statements about bottled water.

Bottled water companies care a great deal about the environmental quality of our planet and are taking steps to reduce the environmental impact of our products. However, we at IBWA think it is important to sort-out fact from rumor, particularly since communicating environmental information appears to be part of your mission and no one wants their company name and logo to be linked to erroneous information.

First of all, let’s look at your initial content slide where you claim that bottled water costs more than $1.50 per bottle of water. The vast majority of bottled water is purchased in grocery stores or shopping clubs in cases or value-packs that deliver a half-liter of bottled water for under 20 cents per bottle, on average. Of course, some people buy bottled water in a retail venues such a deli for the price you indicate, but they’ll pay that much or more for any packaged beverage they choose in a retail setting. By choosing a calorie-free, sugar-free, caffeine-free and colorings-free beverage, consumers are making a safe, healthy choice. It is not in the public interest to discourage consumers from drinking plenty of water, whether it is from the tap or a bottle.

Overall hydration comes from many sources but many health professionals put water at the top of the list. We presume that your $400 per person figure for bottled water, per year, is based upon the consumer buying every single bottle of water they drink from a retail vendor. It is more likely that they purchase bottled water by the case or multi-pack, like millions of bottled water drinkers, particularly those with families.

In your slide about health, there is confusion over the plastic contents of some water bottles. Polycarbonate plastic with BPA has long been approved for food contact by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA.) Polycarbonate plastic is found in baby bottles, metal can liners, refillable beverage bottles and the large, 5-gallon bottles found in water coolers. This durable, heavy plastic has been an approved food container for over 50 years. Many nations, including Germany, Japan, Canada and even New Zealand, have concurred with the FDA that the plastic additive BPA, which softens brittle plastic, is safe to hold food. (Here, I cannot fail to note most of your slide show focuses on single-serve water bottles which are made of PET plastic, which does not contain BPA.)

Your condemnation of empty water bottles is off-the-mark. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, water bottles make-up only one-third of one percent of the plastic waste stream. Plastic packaging is used in thousands of food and household products. For the sake of managing a livable Earth, all plastic containers must be recycled. Your presentation emphasizes water bottles but even your own photos indicate a wide range detergent containers, bleach bottles, plastic jars and many other things. Bottled water’s recycle rate of 24% is still too low,. But we are proud that beverages have the highest recycle rate of all consumer products. Besides actively supporting recycling programs in many communities, water bottle companies have significantly light-weighed their plastic bottles by 26.7% in the past seven years. These thin water bottles crush with little effort and are easier to recycle. Of course, they also use less oil to produce.

Your PowerPoint presentation cites a figure of $100 billion dollars for annual bottled water sales. (U.S. sales last year were $11.6 Billion.) The figure you cite is a global figure. Bottled water is popular all over the world, very often by necessity. While government around the world and the private sector work to find permanent solutions to provide clean drinking water in underserved communities, bottled water combined with other solutions such as filtration and bulk filling stations, is an efficient and effective means of delivering clean, sanitary drinking water. A growing number of bottled water companies are designating a portion of their income to support global programs, which help create long term solutions for the provision of water for drinking, sanitation and hygiene in underserved and developing communities. Sometimes it is a matter of life and death, so take care not to disparage life-saving efforts.

In the United States, annual bottled water production accounts for less than 2/100 of a percent (0.02%) of the total ground water withdrawn each year. The bottled water industry uses minimal amounts of groundwater to produce an important consumer product—and does so with great efficiency.

Even though it is a minimal groundwater, bottled water companies actively support comprehensive ground water management practices that are science-based, multi-jurisdictional, treat all users equitably, and provide for future needs of this important resource. The same holds true for the bottled water industry’s support for strong and adequately funded municipal water infrastructure. Nearly all U.S. consumers and industries rely on tap water and every taxpayer and every industry must help ensure future supplies of water from municipal sources.

There is a section of your slide presentation that presents incorrect information about the storage of bottled water. All food containers must be previously cleared by the FDA. With respect to leaving bottled water in a hot car, FDA has stated that in its safety review, they took into account exposures to higher temperatures, such as during storage and transportation of bottled water prior to sale, in its estimates of potential levels of migration of substances from the plastic to the water. The FDA stated:

“The levels of migration expected, including during periods of exposure to elevated temperatures in storage and transport (such as might be experienced in a closed vehicle in the sun) have, as discussed above, been determined by the agency to be well within the margin of safety.

Therefore, the agency does not consider this situation to be a safety concern.”

Click here to download a PDF slideshow on the facts about bottled water. (courtesy: European Plastics Recycling Organisation)

Sunlight deactivates the diarrhoea organisms in polluted drinking water in plastic bottles

Ultra-violet radiation is bad for the human skin. Happily it is also bad for the bugs that cause diarrhoea and can be used to disinfect polluted water. The process known as solar water disinfection (SODIS) is a method of disinfecting water using only sunlight and plastic bottles.

SODIS is a cheap and effective method for decentralized water treatment, usually applied at the household level and is recommended by the World Health Organization as a viable method for household water treatment and safe storage.

At a water temperature of about 30°C (86°F), about 5 hours of solar radiation is required for SODIS to be efficient.

At water temperatures higher than 45°C (113°F), synergetic effects of UV radiation and temperature further enhance the disinfection efficiency.

"Solar water disinfection, also known as SODIS, is a method of disinfecting water using only sunlight and plastic PET bottles. SODIS is a cheap and effective method for decentralized water treatment, usually applied at the household level and is recommended by the World Health Organisation as a viable method for household water treatment and safe storage.SODIS is already applied in numerous developing countries."

Courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection

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Blood made of Plastic?

Crash victims and other people needing blood could have their lives saved with a plastic version of the body fluid. Read more.

Microwaving with Plastics

From supermarket to refrigerator to microwave, plastic packaging and containers help keep food fresh and safe, while saving consumers time and money. Because plastics serve so many purposes in the kitchen, it’s easy to get confused about which plastics are right for a particular use. Many of today’s plastic containers and wraps are specially designed to withstand the high temperatures that can be generated in the microwave oven. All you have to do is check the item or its packaging label and follow the instructions.

There are three things you can look for: Some products use the term “Microwave Safe;” others carry an imprinted microwave symbol – you’ll see this a lot on reusable plastic storage containers; and still other products simply provide instructions for proper microwave use on the packaging label. Any of these is an indication from the manufacturer that a product has been designed for safe use in the microwave in accordance with the directions provided.

Of course, using a plastic item in the microwave that was not labeled for microwave suitability, isn't necessarily "unsafe." All plastics intended for food use – whether designed for the microwave or not – must meet stringent FDA safety standards before they can be marketed to consumers. But unless a product is labeled for microwave suitability, you won’t have the assurance of knowing that an item was tested and evaluated for this purpose. The concern is that, if used inappropriately, an item may warp or melt when exposed to extremely hot foods, and accidental burns could occur.

To play it safe, look for plastics that are labeled for microwave use and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Note that plastics such as butter tubs and deli containers are designed for cold food storage and are not intended for reheating. If your container isn’t labeled for microwave use, it’s best to choose something that is.

	Top Tips for microwave heating
1.	Choose plastic containers and wraps that are specifically labeled for use in the microwave oven. Manufacturers use symbols, written instructions or the term “microwave safe” to indicate that a product has been specially designed and tested for microwave heating.
2.	Always read the label and follow any instructions provided by the manufacturer.
3.	Cover food loosely with plastic wrap when microwaving to help food heat evenly, retain moisture and prevent splatter. Most manufacturers recommend leaving about an inch of space between the wrap and the dish and folding back a corner to allow ventilation.
4.	If food items are different sizes, place thicker pieces toward the perimeter of the dish, so they will cook faster, and smaller pieces toward the center.
5.	Open container lids and wraps carefully and facing away from you when removing foods from the microwave, so that hot steam is released safely.
6.	Dispose of plastic trays provided with microwaveable meals after use. Most packaging trays are intended for one-time use with specific kinds of foods.

Killer Plastic

Deadly!

This plastic kills microbes!

Not all by itself, of course: it is the silver components integrated into its surface that do the cleanup work. This is commonly referred to as a germicidal effect. Introduced at the Fakuma 2008 trade show, Luran® S BX (the latest baby of the BASF family) is currently the only ASA (acrylonitrile styrene acrylate copolymer) possessing this property.

It will have a busy life... applications such as hand dryers, soap dispensers, public toilet and washroom facilities, but also any number of objects in contact with bacteria, such as hospital beds, medical treatment chairs and even the keyboards of computers for public use are waiting for it ...

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Chemical nose of nanoparticles and polymers sniffs out cancer

Using a “chemical nose” array of nanoparticles and polymers, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a fundamentally new, more effective way to differentiate not only between healthy and cancerous cells but also between metastatic and non-metastatic cancer cells. It is a tool that could revolutionize cancer detection and treatment. Currently, detecting cancer via cell surface biomarkers has taken the “lock and key” approach. Drawbacks of this method include that foreknowledge of the biomarker is required. Also, a cancer cell has the same biomarkers on its surface as a healthy cell, but in different concentrations, an amazingly small and subtle difference that can be very difficult to detect. The new method uses an array of sensors to recognize not only known cancer types, but it signals that abnormal cells are present. That is, the chemical nose can simply tell that something isn't right, like a ‘check engine light,' though it may never have encountered that type before. Further, the chemical nose can be designed to alert doctors of the most invasive cancer types, those for which early treatment is crucial.

In blinded experiments in four human cancer cell lines (cervical, liver, testis and breast), as well as in three metastatic breast cell lines, and in normal cells, the new detection technique correctly indicated not only the presence of cancer cells in a sample but also identified primary cancer vs. metastatic disease. In further experiments to rule out the possibility that the chemical nose had simply detected individual differences in cells from different donors, the researchers repeated the experiments in skin cells from three groups of cloned BALB /c mice: healthy animals, those with primary cancer and those with metastatic disease. The result shows that we can differentiate between the three cell types in a single individual using the chemical nose approach.

The research team, with colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology, designed the new detection system by combining three gold nanoparticles that have special affinity for the surface of chemically abnormal cells, plus a polymer known as PPE (para-phenyleneethynylene). As the ‘check engine light,' PPE fluoresces or glows when displaced from the nanoparticle surface. By adding PPE bound with gold nanoparticles to human cells incubating in wells on a culture plate, the researchers induce a response called “competitive binding.” Cell surfaces bind the nanoparticles, displacing the PPE from the surface. This turns on PPE's fluorescent switch. Cells are then identified from the patterns generated by different particle-PPE systems.

The chemical nose approach is so named because it works like a human nose, which is arrayed with hundreds of very selective chemical receptors. These bind with thousands of different chemicals in the air, some more strongly than others, in endless combinations. The receptors report instantly to the brain, which recognizes patterns or it creates a new smell pattern. Chemical receptors in the nose plus the brain's pattern recognition skills together are incredibly sensitive at detecting subtly different combinations. Like a human nose, the chemical version being developed for use in cancer also remembers patterns experienced, even if only once, and creates a new one when needed.

For the future, further studies will be undertaken in an animal model to see if the chemical nose approach can identify cell status in real tissue. Also, more work is required to learn how to train the chemical nose's sensors to give more precise information to physicians who will be making judgment calls about patients' cancer treatment. But the future is promising, as it is possible to get complete identification now, and this can be improved by adding more and different nanoparticles.

Unbreakable hearts?

When the wizard announced in "The Wizard of Oz" that "hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable," he was being technologically visionary. A few weeks after the first successful implant of the world's smallest and lightest ventricular assist device (VAD) at the Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany, cardiac surgeons announced that hearts may now be, in so many words, one step closer to "unbreakable."

The HeartAssist 5, which is the fifth generation VAD evolved from the original DeBakey, weighs in at 92 grams and is made of plastic and titanium. Manufactured by MicroMed Cardiovascular, it pumps blood from the weakened (or failed) left ventricle into the aorta in what is described as "an especially effective, gentle, and quiet manner." Meanwhile, researchers have just received a $2.8 million grant from the National Institute of Health to continue work on a totally artificial, pulse-less heart using two HeartAssist 5 VADs - one to circulate blood throughout the body, the other to circulate blood to and from the lungs. Unbreakable indeed.

Plastic Innovations in Prosthetic limbs

Aron Ralston first caught the public’s attention in 2003 when a climbing accident forced him to amputate his own right arm. Today, he is internationally known for having climbed all of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks, a remarkable achievement for any climber, but all the more so for an amputee.

Bob Radocy, the designer of a unique plastic prosthesis and founder of TRS, a Boulder-based prosthetics design and consulting company, design unique prosthetics that return amputees to sports and outdoor recreation.

Although the all-metal devices were durable, Ralston recalls feeling frustrated by their limitations. “I felt more handicapped by the technology,” he said. In 1977, with degrees in engineering and biology, Radocy began drafting his own device criteria. He refined his designs while he was in graduate school and then founded TRS. As the company grew, Radocy experimented with new materials aiming to develop an “active prosthesis” that could mimic the strength, resilience and flexibility of the human hand. He eventually chose a combination of rigid core plastics and more supple, coated polyurethane for many of the designs. TRS’s Free Flex® and Super Sport ®, multipurpose prosthetic hands for contact athletics, both make use of injection molding technologies and consist of single solid pieces of polyurethane. The plastic exterior allows for increased friction and flexibility of grasp and the resulting biofeedback enables amputees to determine how much pressure they exert - something all-metal devices do not offer.

Polyurethane was chosen for the active-use prostheses because the polymer can mimic the characteristics of the human hand such as energy return, flex and strength in addition to grip and friction, Radocy explains. The Super Sport hand, for example, replicates the palm and is designed to flex and extend like a hand and wrist. “We began to look at polyurethane permaset polymers and temper plastics to create gripping surfaces in the prehensors (hand replacements). Using injection molding, they are easily replaceable, low cost and they give you necessary friction,” says Radocy.

“With the right materials that don’t fatigue—synthetic polyurethane in particular - you can create devices that store and return energy when you exert external force to augment and improve the capabilities of the prosthesis.”

Proven life savers

Designed to save lives

Medical devices are crucial to the high standards of modern healthcare that we now take for granted. The many thousand different types of devices which exist today are advanced modern products that have to respond to highly specific performance requirements. PVC softened with phthalates is the only material that can guarantee all of these.

Basic, indispensable requirements for the vast majority of medical devices are flexibility and strength. Soft PVC provides both of these. PVC catheters, for example, need to be soft to enter below the skin but also tough to work inside and outside of the body. Oxygen masks have to be firm but not harm facial skin.

Life-saving operations, such as open-heart surgery or treatment of babies, rely on soft PVC catheters and tubes because they do not 'kink' and so ensure the uninterrupted flow of fluids. Their especially smooth inner surface prevents blood clots or other disruptions.

Soft PVC can easily be sterilised, cutting down infections which could complicate or undermine treatment. Its transparency reduces potentially life-threatening mistakes with medicines and allows healthcare workers to see immediately if a fluid is running low. Labels can be printed directly onto PVC and cannot be worn off, thus resulting in increased safety.

Blood bags

Blood and other bags for intravenous solutions are crucial to modern healthcare. Soft PVC is the clear material of choice for these and is used in hospitals for millions of these devices every day. Crucially for this application, no other material except PVC retains its qualities across such a diverse range of conditions without loss of flexibility or strength. These extremes range from high temperatures, which are essential for sterilisation, to weeks of low temperatures that are critical for cold storage.

Blood itself is a key but scarce resource in most hospitals. Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) - the main phthalate used in medical devices - has a further and unique role in blood bags because it actually helps to prolong the life of the blood itself. Without these products, blood supplies would be substantially reduced.

Rapid and effective emergency treatment of accident victims depends on blood bags. They are light but almost impossible to tear, easy to handle and occupy less space than traditional alternatives.

As it is chemically inert and does not react in any way, manufacturers use soft PVC for containers designed to be worn on the body, such as urine and colostomy bags. These provide the further benefits to people of comfort, being noiseless and preventing odours from escaping.

From a practical point of view, PVC bags are more convenient than glass. Not only are they easier to handle and store, but they are also safer. They cannot break and cause injuries, of particular importance in emergencies outside the hospital, for example in road accidents.

An important advantage is that soft PVC intravenous bags can be pressed together by hand for a forced infusion.

PVC bags can also be put in a centrifuge to separate blood components from each other.

Cost effective

If it were not for soft PVC, health care would be much more expensive, possibly prohibitively so for some groups in society. To ensure vital hygiene and to prevent cross infections almost all medical devices are designed for one-way use only. This makes price crucial at a time when medical budgets are under increasing pressure. PVC plasticised with phthalates is the only material that is able to guarantee all the in-service qualities demanded by healthcare professionals while remaining affordable.

After use, the disposal of medical devices by appropriate means presents minimal environmental impact.

DEHP specified by regulators

European healthcare regulators clearly recognise the role of phthalates. The three European Union Directives relating to medical devices stipulate rigorous and exhaustive testing of materials and govern the materials that can be employed. Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) - the member of the phthalate family used in almost all PVC healthcare applications - is actually specified by the European Pharmacopoeia as the plasticiser for blood bags.

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