Comment - 21989 - Kelly Wright

As an ob/gyn and reproductive health surgeon who studies sustainability in healthcare, I would like to comment against any use of ethylene oxide. Ethylene oxide is used to sterilize medical equipment that cannot be steam autoclaved or sterilized at high temperatures - i.e. medical plastics. Nearly all medical plastics are single use, creating a huge carbon footprint. Most major hospital systems are the biggest waste producers in their communities due to the proliferation of single use plastics in healthcare, pushed by suppliers and group purchasing organizations. These single use supplies have no evidence for increasing patient safety or reducing infection risk. In fact, the use of single use plastics in healthcare leads to three major concerns, which we experienced during the Sars-CoV2 pandemic. 1) Increased costs during shortages; 2) Increasing waste with a significant environmental impact; 3) the inability to protect healthcare workers due to PPE shortages. Nearly all healthcare textiles in the US have transitioned from reusable cloth, which is safer for the wearer and has less bacterial penetrance, to woven spun-bound plastic, which represents an occupational hazard and supply chain vulnerability. All of these textiles and their packaging must be sterilized by ethylene oxide. The fire at the Medline plant is a timely reminder - health care provision can stop at any moment if the supply chain stops for any reason. The more that this endocrine disrupting chemical is restricted, the more we will be forced to transition to reusable equipment, rather than our unsafe reliance on single use. Please help stop the cycle.