RE:RE:RE:From Echelon's CommentsDarrow- I believe it's concerning for the entire healthcare system, b/c regardless of the pro-tso3 opinion guys on here, there's no replacement for EtO for a vast number of medical goods.
Every sterilant has it's place in our system with their own pro's and con's.
H2O2 is faster and does a decent job killing microorganisms. But, it's has serious compatiblity issues with certain materials. It could not replace EtO as an industrial sterilant. Gamma is already being used as an industrial sterilant and is effiecient. But, again it has it's compatiblity issues with the vast array of different materials, hence why 60% of new manufactured medical products have to use EtO on the industrial level.
EtO is the most compatible sterilant we have available and does the best job of killing microorganisms out of the gaseous sterilants. It's a longer process and it's a carcogenic. But, it's not the only carcogenic- all sterilants jobs are killing microorganisms and have ill health effects with human exposures.
What's concerning is the fact EtO effects on humans have been study extensively throughout the world with all the same results- no increase in cancer or other diseases. There were higher numbers of some rare blood cancers in workers with the highest exposure and longest duration, we're talking 50-200ppm+ daily exposure for 20 years. The higher numbers weren't drastic, but combined with animal studies, which I personally do not trust, keep it listed as a carcogenic.
I bring this up b/c if you had the same study for H2O2, paraceatic acid, or the others, I am willing to bet the farm their cancers numbers for the same set exposure levels would be astronomically higher. But,H2O2/paraceatic acid industry guys don't care pushing the narrative that only EtO is bad, while theirs is better and that's simply not true. In fact, it will dangerously effect the health of many workers in the name of the dollar. Since I worked in the SPD for years, I understand how these things can be portrayed, but my overworked and underpaid coworker's will be guinea pigs, until we start getting sick. It's like you're replacing a very good sterilant that actually has a proven track record of human adaptability, with a new sterilant that doesn't sterilize as efficiently, eats up our instruments, and then we find out in 10-20 years that it's killing us, all in the name of speed.
This is one of the top issues for the FDA, b/c all the scientist and engineers know and can understand the data, see through marketing gimmicks from misconstrued studies, like the Snyder study TSO3 references in it's recent journal publication. When you actually read the studies, you can easily see the false narratives being created by cutting corners and curtailing the results. This is true for many studies throughout the profession and there's a growing movement bringing this to light.
I like TSO3 b/c it has a place in an industry thats vital to our entire healthcare system. I'm concerned Olympus specifically writes a statement to all of it's users calling our system out as not recommended and then our stock suddenly drops 90% a month later. But, the need for efficient sterilization methods is NOT going away, in fact it will grow!! But, after studying up on this company, it's almost like you have a corrupt managment sucking the cash out and running any real potential to the ground. Misconstrued numbers of sales, using misconstrued studies, having active employees come on here spitting BS hoping some penny stock trader with no knowledge buys it. It may work, who knows. It does have the greatest upside potential, but the company's issues provides all the risk. I guess that's where we decide the risk/reward and like I said, I'm still learning investing.