GREENPEACE APPLAUDS PHYSICIANS’ SUPPORT OF PVC PHASEOUT IN MEDICAL CARE

GREENPEACE APPLAUDS PHYSICIANS’ SUPPORT OF PVC PHASEOUT IN MEDICAL CARE

3 November 1999

Amsterdam - Greenpeace today applauded the International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE) for calling for health care facilities and medical suppliers to develop PVC-free alternatives for medical devices.

“The additives are potential carcinogens and are known to be released during routine use,” said Gaudenz Silberschmidt, MD and executive directorof ISDE. “PVC gives rise to dioxins and furans during incineration, a common method of disposal of medical waste. Besides safe alternatives are already available for most products.”

The resolution followed independent testing commissioned by Greenpeace of medical devices, which found toxic additives in products made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic. PVC requires additives to make it flexible and these are easily released into intravenous solutions. This additive, (known as DEHP), was banned in soft PVC toys in the last year by nine countries due to concerns about its release and ingestion.

“Lessons learned on additives in soft vinyl toys need to be applied to medical devices,” said Joe Di Gangi, PhD and author of the Greenpeace report. “It is highly irresponsible to expose a vulnerable population such as patients to toxic chemicals, when alternatives are readily available.”

Several governmental and international authorities like the US Environmental Protection Agency and the European Union have linked DEHP human cancer and testicular damage. The World Health Organization believes there is a need to “reduce exposure arising from the use of plastic tubes containing DEHP in such clinical procedures as transfusion, haemodialysis, and artificial respiration.”

Product manufacturers admit that PVC requires additives to make it flexible and that they are released into intravenous solutions. Furthermore, a leaked memo from the European Confederation of Medical Devices Association (EUCOMED) shows that the industry is aware of the urgency to develop PVC-free medical products as a result of the current debate about additives in soft PVC toys. “It is probably only a short step from toys to medical devices...and the industry may therefore only in practice have achieved a two/three year breathing space to develop alternatives.”

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
- Gaudenz Silberschmidt, ISDE executive director, Switzerland, + 41 24 441 56 50
- Lisa Finaldi, Greenpeace International, the US +1 919 828 5202
- Mika Railo, Greenpeace International, +31 20 5249 548, Mobile: +31 (0)6 212 969 08

ISDE represents over 30,000 physicians in 38 countries. The ISDE resolution (Report available here) was approved at the organization’s annual assembly in Buenos Aires on October 19.

- The Greenpeace report on PVC medical supplies that tested forty-six medical products from Austria, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Netherlands, Philippines, Spain, UK and US is available on this website:

- The EUCOMED report is available from Lisa Finaldi, Greenpeace International.