Company withdraws suspect hospital disinfectant.THE disinfecting agent used by most NHS NHS abbr. National Health Service NHS (in Britain) National Health Service hospitals for cleaning medical instruments is being withdrawn among growing safety concerns, it emerged yesterday. Johnson and Johnson, the leading producer of Cidex, said it was taking the product off the UK market from May 1 this year. The Health and Safety Executive raised concerns over the use of the disinfectant disinfectant, agent that destroys disease-causing microorganisms and their spores. Disinfectants, or germicides, are sometimes considered to be substances applied to inanimate bodies, whereas antiseptics, not so potent, are agents that kill microbes on living things. after hospital staff reported suffering skin problems and asthma following exposure. Glutaraldehyde glutaraldehyde /glu·ta·ral·de·hyde/ (gloo?tah-ral´de-hid) a disinfectant used in aqueous solution for sterilization of non-heat–resistant equipment; also used as a tissue fixative for light and electron microscopy. - sold as Cidex - helps kill viruses on surgical instruments A surgical instrument is a specially designed tool or device for performing specific actions of carrying out desired effects during a surgery or operation, such as modifying biological tissue, or to provide access or viewing it. too fragile to be heat-treated. The use of Cidex hit the headlines 14 months ago when thousands of people were called for medical tests after possible exposure to a faulty batch of the chemical. Unison unison, in music, tones identical in pitch produced by two or more parts or voices. In popular usage a vocal composition is said to be sung in unison even though some of the voices are separated from others by the interval of an octave. , the UK's largest health union, welcomed the withdrawal of Cdex from hospitals, hailing the move as very good news for nurses' health and the NHS. Jon Richards, Unison's national health and safety officer for health staff, said: "Too many nurses have been lost to the NHS and many valuable years of experience wasted, because of exposure to glutaraldehyde." |
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