BPA- Write to F&P, ResMed, Respironics!

[DiverCTHunter]

Dihydrogen monoxide, now that is some dangerous stuff.
The MSDS is frightful; and the dang stuff is nearly everywhere!
It's in fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, meat, beer, and we PUT it into our cpap tanks!
Horrors!

What about hydroxyl acid? That stuff's a major component in antifreeze, but they let kids buy it without ID.

[DreamDiver]

Naw see if I was still in school I would just call you a douchy dick weed to your face, because that's what you are diver.

Starksma, listen carefully, please, because you obviously didn't bother reading my and others' prior posts, and you are posting this issue here again. (Or, you are a bot, and should be banned from this blog).

I called Respironics. They recognized the problem and switched to BPA-free plastics in about 2011. So 2011/2012 or newer PR machines should be fine. Or get a brand new replacement humidifier tank, and it will likewise be BPA-free. So PR is covered.

How disappointing. You wish to engender anger, outrage and indignation toward BPA-using manufacturers, yet you spew venom and rudeness to everyone who could help you. I'm reminded of the movie "Hook", where little Maggie says: "You need a mother very badly."

This link restricted to "bisphenol A" and "respironics":
https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab& ... espironics
Led me to this page on CPAP.com, (among other CPAP.com pages and cpaptalk pages).
https://www.cpap.com/cpap-faq/CPAP-Supplies.html
It suggests that all manufacturers at present are still using BPA.

This link restricted to searching for "bisphenol A" on "respironics.com":
https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab& ... ronics.com
provided only a single link to pdf about infant products:
http://www.respironics.com/SpecSheets/S ... ifiers.pdf
Incidentally, the pdf made no mention of BPA or bisphenol A.

This link restricted to searching for "bisphenol A" on "resmed.com":
https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab& ... resmed.com
let me to this pdf:
http://www.resmed.com/us/assets/documen ... 051111.pdf
ResMed declares without question that they are using products that contain BPA.

Further, polycarbonates ostensibly labeled as BPA-free may not necessarily be so. From October 2012:
http://www.laraadler.com/coaches/bpa-free-not-so-fast

Given that ResMed's 2011 statement is a slightly reworded response similar to ResMed's 2008 response on BPA, it's possible that Respironics may have come out with a BPA-free tank in 2011, and ResMed's letter was a response saying they were just toughing it out. But with a concept that marketable, if it were true, wouldn't it be well-highlighted on respironics.com? Google is a fairly thorough search engine. It's 2013. It's also entirely possible that whomever you spoke with at Respironics didn't know what they were talking about. This isn't about you. I believe you tried to find an answer, and that the director of regulatory compliance of Respironics said what she said to you, but I'm not seeing it in writing from Zita Yurko Director, Regulatory Affairs Sleep and Home Respiratory Division Respironics, Inc., on their site or anywhere else, probably because BPA-free polycarbonates can never be truly BPA-free.

You obviously have an interest in this. The rest of us have other fish to fry. Do your own homework. Be rude elsewhere.

[cpap2014]

Hello,
I just got a Resmed S-9 sleep apenea machine and I am concerned about BPA and Phthalates and other harmful chemicals in the unit and hoses. Does anyone know of a CPAP machine on the market that is free of these chemicals that I can get instead of the Resmed S-9? The Resmed S-9 has BPA. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

[chunkyfrog]

Calm down, this thread was mostly a joke (at least to many of us)
The BPA scare several years ago resulted in the withdrawal of the substance from baby bottles and water bottles.
Any remaining traces were subjected to close scrutiny by real, live scientists, and were deemed to be too small to worry about.
If you chose to worry anyhow, that is your business. I don't consider the miniscule risk worth even thinking about.

[DreamDiver]

Hello,
I just got a Resmed S-9 sleep apenea machine and I am concerned about BPA and Phthalates and other harmful chemicals in the unit and hoses. Does anyone know of a CPAP machine on the market that is free of these chemicals that I can get instead of the Resmed S-9? The Resmed S-9 has BPA. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Greetings anonymous [cpap2014]
Given the likelihood that like most of us, you're over 50, the chronic damage done by BPA and Phthalate exposure are far outweighed by the benefits of actually getting the oxygen that could fight against the same damage. I know this can come across as blunt, but we're all likely to die of other problems than plastic conditioner exposure. BPA and Pthalate exposure in infants and toddlers is by far a bigger concern than exposure at our age.

It seems unlikely that ResMed and PR are going to stop using these plastic conditioners in their products any time soon. Yes, it might help to write a petition, but that will likely help your son or daughter's generation when they need CPAP, not ours. Unless you have a congenital condition that causes your blood vessels to hemorrhage at the smallest exposure to these additives, it seems like the more important worry is actually getting sleep and getting oxygen during sleep.

Happy New Year!

[Sheffey]

Hello,
I just got a Resmed S-9 sleep apenea machine and I am concerned about BPA and Phthalates and other harmful chemicals in the unit and hoses. Does anyone know of a CPAP machine on the market that is free of these chemicals that I can get instead of the Resmed S-9? The Resmed S-9 has BPA. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Don't worry about BPA. The di-hydrogen monoxide in your humidifier tank is responsible for thousands of deaths annually.

[chunkyfrog]

Note: the chemical symbol for dihydrogen monoxide is H2O.
The term has been used for decades as a prank--yes, water is somewhat dangerous.

[bavinck]

Water is one of the most destructive substances on earth! Ask any plumber, water is our enemy and our friend:)

[Wulfman...]

Hello,
I just got a Resmed S-9 sleep apenea machine and I am concerned about BPA and Phthalates and other harmful chemicals in the unit and hoses. Does anyone know of a CPAP machine on the market that is free of these chemicals that I can get instead of the Resmed S-9? The Resmed S-9 has BPA. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

That's idiotic and sounds like you're looking for an excuse to NOT use your machine..
There's a 100% chance that you're going to die of something......someday. We're not getting out of this alive.
There's a higher chance of you dying from NOT using your machine than by any possible chemical that's in the components.

Wash the mask, hose and humidifier tank before using them. Replace the filters when they need replacing.
Just use it and you'll be fine.


Den

.

[archangle]

It's simple. The anti-BPA people are nutjobs. There are plenty of REAL health threats out there to worry about.

Wasting time on conspiracy theory nutjob stuff like this just cheapens the whole idea of chemical safety and takes attention away from the real problems that are out there.

[Stilatos]

why are we nutjubs archangel? because we believe it is an extemely easy mod the manufacturers can do? if i can buy a water bottle that is bpa free for the same price why the heck cant i ask it from a health machine manufacturer? ofcourse there are a million things that can poison us but we must enforce the manufacturers to start eliminating them. If that was the case we should stil use DDT or Asvestos. Hell we should accept the diabolical invention of high fructose corn syrup which the bastard companies use as a cheaper substitute than normal cane sugar to make more money off you that has contributed and helped make the U.S. and mexico the fattest countries in the world ALso BPA IS A HEALTH THREat it messes up with the Thyroid mucking about the T3 and T4 readings.

[digitalepiphany]

If I were you, I'd be more worried about the amount of sugar in the average American's diet.

[Sheffey]

Hell we should accept the diabolical invention of high fructose corn syrup which the bastard companies use as a cheaper substitute than normal cane sugar to make more money off you

That has exactly nothing to do with BPA. It is a red herring that you threw in to divert attention from the ridiculous statements about BPA.

But I will still address your red herring. The reason we have high fructose corn syrup is because our federal government put import quotas on sugar from cane and also gives subsidies to corn farmers.

As far as a diet consisting of 120 lbs per annum per capita of added sugars, this is what consumers want. Consumer education on what they are doing to themselves by eating all this sugar is greatly lacking.

[Stilatos]

SHeffrey the why this is justified for HFCS is irrelevant the whole point is to avoid having bad things in our diet/environment. Those were some examples. Bpa is not harmless studies have showed it is directly linked to problems of the thyroid it is a hormone distruptor. Again shall i point out what is the problem with asking manufacturers to change over from bpa like the water bottle manufacturers did? Why should you accept that all the food you buy incorporates the invented high fructose corn syrup instead of cane sugar? You should demand things not to be substituted so the bastard industries make more money off you.

[bavinck]

SHeffrey the why this is justified for HFCS is irrelevant the whole point is to avoid having bad things in our diet/environment. Those were some examples. Bpa is not harmless studies have showed it is directly linked to problems of the thyroid it is a hormone distruptor. Again shall i point out what is the problem with asking manufacturers to change over from bpa like the water bottle manufacturers did? Why should you accept that all the food you buy incorporates the invented high fructose corn syrup instead of cane sugar? You should demand things not to be substituted so the bastard industries make more money off you.

The main reason why the masses demanded manufacturers remove BPA from water bottles and such was because the popular media made it a big deal, focusing on harmful studies like you are, that are not really statistically significant given the applications of water bottles or CPAP. The reality of BPA is that for it to be harmful to humans (even over prolonged exposure) it must be present in significantly higher concentration than we would get from drinking from a water bottle or using hoses in CPAP. You are likely not going to get much support here for actively reacting against BPA on this forum, as the average CPAPTalk user is significantly better informed and active in educating themselves about these types of issues than the masses that simply respond to mainstream media (as we must be to help our therapy). Is BPA harmful, especially over prolonged exposure? YES! Is it statistically likely that we CPAP users (or even kids drinking bad water bottles) will get BPA anywhere near the concentrations required to negatively affect us, even long term? Highly unlikely, statistically not something to even really think about.

Now, in a perfect work Resmed and such would remove any harmful chemicals from their manufacturing processes, I would even pay a premium to know the materials even have the possibility of being safer. However, would I even let this issue govern any part of my decision making in regards to CPAP? Not a chance. CPAP's benefits are much, much more likely to prolong my life than BPA's possibility to shorten or worsen it.

Not trying to pick a fight here, I apologize if I offend. However, perspective must be had on this issue - else newbies might stumble across this thread and begin to second guess their decision to commit to CPAP.