PFAS in MedTech: What You Need to Do Now! co-hosted by Swiss Medtech

PFAS are in your device. They are also in your process water, your cooling fluid, your packaging and your piping. Most medtech companies cannot say where. This is a special episode hosted by Swiss Medtech, with Barbara Mettler asking the questions. Three guests, three angles on the same problem. Prof. Dr. Martin Scheringer from ETH Zurich explains what PFAS actually are, why the carbon-fluorine bond makes them so useful and so persistent, and why the real environmental damage sits around the production plants rather than in the finished device. Arne Jaksch, toxicologist at Jaksch LifeScience Consulting, makes the argument that will change your plan for next year: your supply chain will be interrupted long before any grace period ends. Roughly fourteen to fifteen chemical companies worldwide produce the PFAS polymers medtech relies on, and two large European suppliers have already told customers it is the last round to order. Lucas Pianegonda from Gradical takes the practical side. How to find PFAS in a bill of materials, why supplier questionnaires come back half empty, and which applications turn out to be far easier to replace than the industry assumes. You will also hear why replacing a PFAS in an existing product realistically takes three years, why assessing an alternative is harder than assessing the thing you already use, and what the essential use concept from the 1980s Montreal Protocol has to do with your next design review. CHAPTERS 00:00 Why Swiss Medtech asked for this episode 02:14 One thing to do about PFAS today 05:06 What PFAS are, and why the carbon-fluorine bond matters 07:49 Lake Zug fish: why the discussion started now 08:08 Forever chemicals, and roughly 15,000 substances 09:17 Why medtech is affected more than it thinks 11:41 Patient safety versus environmental protection 12:54 The do-it-all chemicals 15:11 Where PFAS actually sit in a medical device 19:15 Polymeric versus low molecular weight, and the PFOS legacy 21:22 Do not start with supplier questionnaires. Start with a fluorine test 25:36 Will the supply chain dry out 27:28 Price jumps in multiples, not percentages 28:54 Why substitution takes about three years 32:22 Assessing alternatives, and the footprint where fluoropolymers are made 36:29 Why PTFE is hard to beat, and the catheter liner I got wrong 39:52 Essential use and non-essential use 41:25 Electronics, packaging and the waste stream 43:43 A step by step method for finding your PFAS 46:00 Where companies get stuck 47:04 The most common mistake 48:57 Regulation is coming, 2027 or 2028 does not change it 51:05 There are more solutions than you think 53:37 Essential use is fluid, not fixed 58:01 The biggest low hanging fruit 1:03:30 Do not hide behind the fact that you are medtech 1:04:18 Closing summary This episode was hosted by Swiss Medtech. The Expert Group Sustainability and the National Regulatory Conference in October continue the discussion. CONNECT: Swiss Medtech https://www.swiss-medtech.ch Barbara Mettler   / barbara-mettler-a5705722   Martin Scheringer, ETH Zurich   / martin-scheringer-547b5452   Arne Jaksch, Jaksch LifeScience Consulting https://www.jlsc.ch ABOUT THE PODCAST: MedTech Sustainability by Design is the show for people choosing better plastics in medical technology. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda.... Gradical: https://www.gradical.ch #GradicalPodcast #Sustainability #MedTech #MedicalDevices