Medical/healthcare applications plasticizers

While the plasticizers sector (which is almost totally bound up with PVC) has been dominated in recent years by controversy over the use of phthalates, there has been significant development in systems based on other materials, such as polymeric plasticizers. Lubricants and processing aids also come into this classification, where the trend is towards adaptation to other plastics compounds, both standard and engineering plastics, and new systems that reduce or overcome migration, for use especially in food contact and medical/ healthcare applications. 

There are several standards that medical polymers must adhere to. One of the most common standards observed for polymeric materials is published by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), which necessitates using animal models (in vivo) to test toxicity of elastomers, plastics, and other polymeric materials, prior to clinical use. The standard and forms of testing it outlines is considered in the medical industry as the minimum requirement for a polymeric material before it is considered for use in healthcare applications. According to the standard the biological response of the test animals are measured and determined via three main techniques (1) Systemic toxicity test Evaluates the effects of leachables of intravenously or intraperitoneally injected materials on systems such as the nervous or immune system (2) Intracutaneous test Evaluates local response to materials injected under the skin (3) Implantation test Both local tissue microscopic and macroscopic parameters evaluated at material implant sites. 

Plastics have become an integral part of oiir lives. Plastics are an excellent and very useful material and they are functional, hygienic, light, and economical. Using a key polymer processing system, plastics produce diverse products used in packaging, automotive and industrial applications, and also extensively used in medical delivery systems, artificial implants and other healthcare applications, water desalination, and removal of bacteria, etc. 

---