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Are The Specimen Bags You’re Using Hazardous To Your Health?

Specimen bags play a vital role in health care: they facilitate the safe containment and transport of biological materials for testing, protecting the specimen from environmental contamination and anyone who handles the specimen bag from exposure to potentially hazardous materials. Secure specimen bags are the first line of defense in infectious disease control within the medical field.

Not All Specimen Bags Are Created Equal

When you look at a specimen bag produced in China and the Specibags produced right here in the USA by Rainbow Polybag, there may be no visible differences between the two. However, in this instance, what you don’t see can really hurt you.

Plastic Quality

The first concern is the quality of the plastics used in the specimen bag. While Rainbow Polybag creates specimen bags  that meet and exceed OSHA standards, the same can’t be said for Chinese bags. There, it’s anyone’s guess as to the quality and durability of the plastics used – especially given the drive to keep costs artificially low! Considering the potentially catastrophic consequences of a specimen bag failure, do you really want to take chances?

Hazardous Lead

Let’s talk about lead poisoning. Sustained exposure to even small amounts of lead can cause adults to experience high blood pressure, severe headaches, abdominal and muscle pain, diminished mental capacity and memory loss – which can be permanent! Lead poisoning can cause a pregnant woman to lose her baby or force a premature birth; in men, the impact of lead exposure can manifest as a diminished sperm count, causing a man to lose his opportunity to ever father a child.

What does lead poisoning have to do with specimen bags? Lead can and does show up in the inks used to print specimen bags produced in China. All of Rainbow Polybag’s Specibags are guaranteed to be lead free!

Who’s Making Your Specimen Bags?

Part of the reason Chinese specimen bags are so cheap – in addition to the lower quality plastics and the toxic lead inks – is that they’re produced by laborers (including children!) who work in incredibly inhumane and unsafe conditions for very, very minimal wages. These laborers work extremely long hours, often become sick as a result of their working conditions and exposure to toxins, and have a pretty wretched life overall.

As ethical people, we don’t want our purchasing and procurement systems to include exploitive operations. Rainbow Polybag specimen bags are produced in the United States, in OSHA regulated, safe manufacturing facilities, by workers who are treated well and compensated appropriately.

Closures You Can Count On

Rainbow Polybag’s Specibags  feature our Pull and Seal closure, which uses a permanent adhesive. Our specimen bags are secure, tamper proof, and absolutely contain specimens throughout the transport process.

Compare this to Chinese bags, which use a closure method very similar to those used to pack the sandwiches you put in your kid’s lunchbox – not exactly reliable! In a world full of super bugs, highly infectious viruses, flesh eating bacteria and other biological hazards, do you really want to take chances on closure failure?

You don’t have to. Choosing Rainbow Polybag Specibags means you never have to worry about the safety, durability and integrity of your specimen bags. Find out more today!