More than 600 lawsuits were filed last week against Sterigenics, claiming that emissions from the company’s now-shuttered Willowbrook, Ill., ethylene oxide (EtO) plant caused health problems in people who lived or worked nearby. The filings bring the total of personal-injury lawsuits against the Oak Park, Ill.-based company to more than 700, according to one of more […]
Sterilization / Calibration
Sterigenics sues Ga. county officials over EtO-related property tax devaluations
Sterigenics has filed a lawsuit against the members of a Georgia county tax board, claiming that the board’s decision to lower valuations on properties near the company’s medical device sterilization plant has harmed its reputation. The federal lawsuit, filed in Atlanta, also claims that the members of the Cobb County Board of Tax Assessors unfairly and […]
Steris ticks up on Street-beating Q1
Steris (NYSE:STE) shares ticked up as the market closed today after reporting first-quarter results that beat the consensus forecast. The Dublin, Ireland-based sterilization and surgical products company posted profits of $88.1 million, or $1.03 per share, on sales of $668.9 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020, for a 3.9% bottom-line gain despite a […]
Dems seek to force EPA action on ethylene oxide monitoring
Democrats in both houses of Congress have introduced legislation that would force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to better monitor emissions of ethylene oxide (EtO) from plants that manufacture the toxic gas or use it to sterilize medical devices. The Public Health Air Quality Act of 2020, sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester […]
Boston researchers have created a potential N95 mask alternative
Brigham & Women’s Hospital says it is developing a new, sustainable alternative to N95 respirator masks that are in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. A team of bioengineers and clinical experts at the Boston-based hospital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working on the “injection molded autoclavable, scalable, conformable” iMASC system for providing […]
FDA restricts re-use of certain respirators for COVID-19
Certain respirators made in China and respirators with exhalation valves should not be decontaminated for re-use by healthcare workers, the FDA announced today. The agency revised these respirators’ emergency use authorizations (EUAs) to reflect the changes. The particular respirators from China “may vary in their design and performance,” the FDA said, basing its decision on […]
FDA warns of cyanide gas danger with improper use of Hologic COVID-19 tests
The FDA warned laboratories today that using certain transport media for COVID-19 samples with Hologic (NSDQ:HOLX) Panther and Panther Fusion diagnostic systems can produce deadly cyanide gas. Transport media is the liquid that maintains a specimen sample while it is transported to a laboratory. The Hologic Panther systems and others that have been sterilized using bleach […]
Battelle under fire for decontamination system performance
Major media outlets are questioning the ability of the Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System (CCDS) to safely reprocess used N95 respirators up to 20 times, as the company has claimed. The FDA granted the nonprofit tech development company an emergency use authorization in March for its vaporized hydrogen peroxide system to decontaminate N95 respirators used […]
Steris wins second EUA to decontaminate up to 30m respirators per day
Steris (NYSE:STE) has won an FDA emergency use authorization (EUA) for a new steam sterilization method to decontaminate used N95 respirators. The EUA covers the new Steris Steam Decon cycle to decontaminate 3M 1860, 3M 1860S, and 3M 1804 NIOSH-approved N95 respirators that are or might be contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogenic microorganisms. The FDA […]
Ga. warehouse workers sue Sterigenics, ConMed over EtO exposure
Fifty-three people who worked in an Atlanta-area warehouse that stored medical devices sterilized by ethylene oxide (EtO) filed suit this week against Sterigenics and its parent company over exposure to the gas. The plaintiffs or their families claim that long-term EtO exposure to the sterilized devices, which they unloaded, handled, warehoused and distributed, caused multiple deaths, cancer, […]
Cleanbox launches UV-C mask decontamination device
Cleanbox Technology announced that it is launching its CleanDefense ultraviolet point-of-use mask decontamination product in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Carlsbad, Calif.-based company’s technology uses UV-C light in an LED to decontaminate products worn on the face or the head with a focus on high-risk contagion transfer points. According to a news release, Cleanbox […]