Vinyl Medical Products Confirmed as a Hazard

[Joseph R Parrish Jr <JoeParrish@compuserve.com>]

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From:	E-Wire - News, INTERNET:E-WIRE@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM
TO:	(unknown), INTERNET:E-WIRE@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM
DATE:	12/17/99 6:41 PM

RE:	Vinyl Medical Products Confirmed as a Hazard

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TO BUSINESS, MEDICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

        NTP Confirms Health Care Without Harm About Vinyl Medical Products

      MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 17 -/E-Wire/-- Today, the National Toxicology
Program (NTP) confirmed Health Care Without Harm's assertion that
di-ethylhexyl-phthalate (DEHP) is a hazard to human development and
fertility. DEHP is a phthalate plasticizer used to make polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) medical products soft and flexible. Patients are exposed to DEHP when
it leaches out of PVC medical devices such as IV bags, tubing, enteral
(intestinal) feeding tubes and some feeding bags, and blood bags.

     The expert panel also expressed strong concern about the level of DEHP
in the foods we eat every day -- especially dairy, meat, fish and oils.

     NTP, a division of the National Institutes of Environmental Health
Sciences, convened a panel of experts to review toxicity data on phthalates.
Data on health effects of DEHP in animals showed that oral exposure can
cause miscarriage, birth defects, reduced fertility, abnormal sperm counts
and testicular damage.

     "The weight of evidence from animal studies indicates that DEHP
exposure can cause serious reproductive and developmental problems," said
Ted Schettler, MD of Science and Environmental Health Network. "The
developing organism is the most susceptible, and unfortunately, some young
patients -- especially premature infants receiving extracorporeal membrane
oxygenation (ECMO) therapy or exchange blood transfusions -- are receiving
doses at or near the levels causing adverse effects in animals. We simply
don't know if the children are being harmed, and studies to clarify that
would be extremely difficult to do."

     The panel used animal studies to judge human risk, as is common in the
pharmaceutical industry. The agency reaffirmed that laboratory animal
studies were "relevant to judging hazard to human reproduction and
development." There are very limited human data available. Rather than
delaying a decision until additional human health data are collected, Health
Care Without Harm advocates the replacement of PVC medical devices where
alternatives are available now.

     "Here is the federal government saying that the phthalates in PVC
medical products may pose a threat to the ability to bear healthy children.
Now health care professionals and patients need to insist that if we can
make the same products out of materials that do not contain this
reproductive and developmental poison, let's do it," said Charlotte Brody,
RN, co-coordinator of Health Care Without Harm.

     The U.S. health care industry uses more than 500 million IV bags each
year. About 20 percent of those are made of a blend of plastics free of PVC
or plasticizers.

     Phthalates have come under increasing international scrutiny in the
past year and many companies have acted accordingly. Baxter Healthcare, the
nation's largest maker of IV bags, promised shareholders that it will
establish timelines to phase out its use of PVC. Major health care companies
Tenet Healthcare, Universal Health Services, Kaiser Permanente and Catholic
Healthcare West are also shifting away from vinyl.

     Earlier this month, the European Union (EU) enacted a ban on the use of
phthalates in PVC children's toys in 15 countries, due to concerns about the
health risks of phthalate exposure.

     Health Care Without Harm, an international coalition of more than 240
groups in 15 countries, works for the elimination of environmental and
public health threats from health care practices, including the industry's
use of PVC plastic. Member groups include more than 60 hospitals, the
Ambulatory Pediatric Association, the American Nurses Association, the
Intravenous Nursing Society, and many others. To learn more about HCWH,
visit the web site at http://www.noharm.org

SOURCE  Health Care Without Harm

     -0-         12/17/1999

     /CONTACT:  Charlotte Brody, RN of Health Care Without Harm,
703-237-2249 or cell phone 703-628-5626, Ted Schettler, MD of Science &
Environmental Health Network, 617-536-7033, or Jackie Hunt Christensen of
Health Care Without Harm, 612-870-3424 or cell phone 612-387-3424/

     /Web site:  http://www.noharm.org /
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