Comment by krackers
16 days ago
European Respiratory society disagrees on the cancer risk fwiw https://www.ersnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Update-on-... but yeah obviously degraded foam isn't good. The foam isn't actually a required part, it's just for sound reduction.
But I think that proves my point, the supposedly "rigorous" FDA review didn't flag concerns about foam in the airpath of something you breathe through, so what exactly is the approval process buying you? Philips issued a voluntary recall but resmed uses foam in their units too, and while they claim it's a different type of foam it seems there are better ways to engineer sound reduction than putting foam in the air channel and potentially breathing in microplastics.
Never heard the follow-up, so good to hear that it was potentially less hazardous than the initial reporting.
However, I am still mixed on the interpretation. I do not think the FDA is as good as say the NTSB, but I do think they will take lessons learned from a bad outcome. New medical products are likely to undergo additional scrutiny on any kinds of foams/solvents/whatever that are directly in the airway path. It is only because it is such a heavily regulated product that the entire product chain had to be stamped, certified, and traced so that such an investigation was possible. In a theoretical fly-by-night product offering, SKUs might be changing daily as the vendor can shave pennies off of the development price.