Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/12/15/johnson-and-johnson-bayer.html
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Are these cases very unusual? I have a good many clients with artificial hips and knees, and they all seem happy with the results. They’re not medical experts, and neither am I, but this sounds like a horrific problem and yet nobody even mentions it.
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For the record I cannot say where I work but I do work for a company who only deals in medical implants and Aerospace work. I work in the capacity of a machinist there. I cannot be more specific then that because I don’t know that my company is a bad one it’s quite safety-conscious place.
I know that some of the materials we machine for medical implants are made of a material called cobalt chrome. It is an extremely hard alloy that is extremely finely polished. Very difficult to machine.
Most of our products though are made of other material that is commonly associated with Aerospace.
I myself used to work in carbide Machining where I was regularly exposed to large amounts powdered cobalt. I was commonly told we had MSDS sheets for all of this in that shop but there were no hazards.
I worry on a regular basis what sort of exotic cancers or neurological diseases I will I am certain develop when I am older and I wonder how much longer I will remember what I have left.
Here is the reality to the rest of you who don’t work in blue collar from a man who used to work in white collar and transitioned to this: you don’t want to know what kind of chemicals and materials that actually go into making the world work. And you don’t want to know how many people your neighbors all of us are actually exposed.
I wore a respirator when I worked in carbide machining, imagine a factory with the floors and walls and all the equipment just covered in black dust at some level even then when it was clean if water ran in from the rain it would beat on the floor like mercury because of all the powdered metal everywhere. Unless you went in in a moon suit you would never seal all of it out.
I still have submicron green carbide embedded in my skin forever from cuts and nicks. It stays a bluish gray in the shape of the cut and only surgery can remove it.
I have seen and heard what have happened to some of the older products we made here. I have only heard of one implant that did not work out and that there was a recall but I don’t know anything further and I cannot identify which implant that was. I know the quality of the machining was not the issue.
Please, don’t ask me questions. I would like to answer, but I want to keep my job. That is possibly all I can say.
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To learn more about the medical device industry, read this book:
https://jeannelenzer.com/the-danger-within/
I was sure there was a BB post about the implants scandal a few weeks back. Cannot find it. Maybe I imagined it. I did read the Guardian’s story at the time. Here is a link to all The Guardian’s reporting on this.
The FDA was a mess prior to Trump. It is now worse than useless.
Scary thing is this guy is probably one of Il Douche’s better appointments. Pharma is one of the bigger cash cows in D.C. Unlikely to change in this administration. Not sure it would change under a dem admin either.
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It’s specific to metal-on-metal joint implants. Most joint implants use a layer of biocompatible polymer between the metal structure as both lubrication and to avoid the very problem of erosion of metal “dust” within the joint.
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