I just started on the Tandem t:Slim 2 and like it a lot. My wife is asking questions about the plastic tubing and any possible toxic chemicals. Has anyone investigate this since the last posting linked below?
Tandem answered my questions by email with a short memo which had this summary: Tandem, has determined that, to the best of its knowledge, the t:slim X2 pump and accessories are free of the following substances in concentrations ≥ 0.1% by weight per article:
I have only so many things I can worry about in my diabetes life. Plastics in my pump tubing and reservoir are very far down the list. In fact they weren’t even on my list until you mentioned it.
Here’s something new to worry about. Someone on Facebook mentioned that her son was worried about alarms on his pump and Dexcom in case there was a shooting at his school and he was trying to hide from the shooter. What a sad reflection on our times that a child has to worry about that….
The unique thing about humans is that up until now we have been totally free of fear of predators that all other animals have. Today’s world has infused fear back into human lives and that will have unprecedented impact upon the future.
I hadn’t actually contemplated this - I’ve thought more about the plastics going into the landfill with all my diabetes tech! I love my tandem and dexcom though, and they have such benefits for my overall health. So I will continue to avoid plastics in other possible ways - not heating or storing things in plastic (mostly) and not drinking water out of plastic either… There is only so much we can do! If you learn of anything more about this, please do share it here. thanks.
If you are concerned about the plastics in the tubing, switch to an OmniPod. No tubing = no plastics; however, I think that most if not all of the pumps are made out of plastic anyway, so you will not get away from it all.
Omnipod uses a soft Teflon cannula, just the same as the soft Tandem and Medtronic infusion sets. I was surprised to learn this recently, because I thought it was steel. There is a metal insertion needle, but it gets retracted.
There is still plastic tubing between the plastic insulin reservoir and the cannula, though, it’s just housed inside the plastic cover where you can’t see it. And the insulin gets loaded with a plastic syringe, etc… There’s absolutely no escaping plastic at the moment.
