Kinetics of the aeration of ethylene-oxide sterilized plastics.
The aeration of ethylene-oxide (EO) sterilized medical plastic materials is dealth with mathematically, and subsequently the model found is used for calculation of the EO diffusion coefficient in various plastics with the composition and temperature as variables. Absorption and dissolution of EO in various plastic materials are measured at varying concentrations of EO, temperatures and compositions of plastics. The mathematical model is used to evaluate the EO desorption from medical devices under different physico-chemical conditions as well as in vivo. EO analysis methods are evaluated on the basis of the model and are compared with experimental results.
Technical aspects of gaseous formaldehyde as a sterilant.
The design of a sterilizer for sterilization of heat sensitive items using gaseous formaldehyde and steam is described. The sterilizer is able to create a constant formaldehyde-steam concentration over a period of at least one hour. It is further able to operate at formaldehyde concentrations close to saturation with only small residues on sterilized plastic materials. The autoclave is used for measurement of formaldehyde solubility in polyolefines and poly(vinyl chloride) being approx. 15 and 250 ppm, respectively, at 70 degrees C and 30 mg HCHO I-1. The diffusion coefficient of formaldehyde in poly(vinyl chloride) is measured and is in the same order of magnitude as for ethylene oxide in poly(methyl methacrylate) i.e. 10(-10) cm2 s-1. Measurements of airborne formaldehyde in front of different sterilizers show that it is possible to design facilities meeting occupational exposure limits.
The Formation of Persistent Toxic Chlorohydrins in Foodstuffs by Fumigation with Ethylene Oxide and with Propylene Oxide
SUMMARY 
Under conditions for effective fumigation with ethylene oxide or propylene oxide these reagents can combine not only with moisture but also with chlorine from the natural inorganic chloride content of foodstuffs, whereby the corresponding chlorohydrins are formed. Concentrations of ethylene chlorohydrin up to about 1000 ppm were found in whole spices and ground spice mixtures after commercial fumigation with ethylene oxide. These chlorohydrins are very toxic substances by all accounts; they also are sufficiently involatile and unreactive chemically to be persistent under food processing conditions.