Eldon James Corporation – a leading U.S. based manufacturer of plastic tubing and fittings – announced today the launch of their full line of TPE tubing and fittings as an excellent alternative to PVC. With the launch, Eldon James becomes one of the only manufacturers in the United States to manufacture, assemble and package TPE tubing and fittings in a single clean room environment.

Denver, CO – October 31, 2012 – Eldon James Corporation – a leading U.S. based manufacturer of plastic tubing and fittings – announced today the launch of their full line of TPE tubing and fittings as an excellent alternative to PVC.  With the launch, Eldon James becomes one of the only manufacturers in the United States to manufacture, assemble and package TPE tubing and fittings in a single clean room environment.

The launch is in response to the medical industry’s growing concerns over the health issues associated with PVC and their demand for alternatives in tubing applications where flexibility is required.  While PVC is extremely flexible, it is considered one of the worst plastics from an environmental health perspective, posing major hazards in its manufacture, product life and disposal.  In January, 2012 a major U.S. West Coast healthcare provider, Kaiser Permanente, announced that it will no longer buy intravenous (IV) medical equipment made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and DEHP (di-2-ethyl hexyl phthalate) type plasticizers.

Eldon James has developed TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) tubing that has proven to be an excellent alternative to PVC.  The properties of TPE include high flexibility, extremely low permeability and 100% organic emissions when incinerated, which make it ideal for IV gas sample lines and other medical applications.

“Because PVC is used in so many applications where health is a concern, we felt it was critical to help find an alternative for the medical equipment industry,” said William Coulson, Vice President of Eldon James.  “We found that our line of TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) tubing was an excellent alternative to PVC as it does not contain any of the harmful dioxins that PVC does, yet it is still extremely flexible.  Understanding the concerns of the harmful effects of PVC, we made a conscious effort to assure that our equipment has never been tainted by the processing of PVC.”

There is a concern that equipment previously used for the manufacture of PVC products still may have residual contamination.  Because of this concern, Eldon James has invested millions of dollars in new equipment that has never processed PVC.  More information can be found at www.eldonjames.com.