Hospitals should be able to purchase safer medical devices after new EU regulations forcing medical device manufacturers to label chemical ingredients in products was recently passed. Until now, purchasing decisions for medical devices have typically been made on the basis of cost & performance because manufacturers could keep the chemical contents secret. Karolina Ruzickova, safer materials co-ordinator for pressure group Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe, said: "By forcing manufacturers to label medical devices made from chemicals suspected of causing reproductive disorders to the patients, the EU is making it much easier for purchasing managers to assess the safety of various alternatives & choose the one most suitable for the intended purpose."
