The Nation - News from Oct. 19, 1986

A staff report by the Senate Special Committee on Aging charged that government health officials have withheld information about health problems associated with reusing kidney dialysis filters. The report said that Department of Health and Human Services officials toned down an article by government epidemiologists on the outbreak of serious bacterial infections among kidney patients at several clinics last spring. The dialysis filters, which are labeled “For Single Use Only” by manufacturers, cleanse the blood of about 78,000 kidney patients. Government officials estimate that as many as 60,000 patients undergo treatment with reused filters, which are cleaned with disinfectants such as formaldehyde.