Flexible tube is used in a variety of industries and household products. In particular, flexible tube is often used in healthcare products, such as catheters and other medical or biopharm tubing. In addition, flexible tube is used in household products such as hydration products, including portable and potable water containers. Conventional tubes for such applications are made using plasticized polyvinyl chloride.
Polyvinyl chloride based products have been used widely in medical fields for healthcare products such as films, gloves, bags, catheters and tubing. In particular, most of the disposable medical devices are produced from plasticized flexible PVC. To form flexible PVC products, manufacturers typically use plasticizers or processing aids, such as di-2-ethylhexylphthalate (DEHP).
Since conventional tubes use a PVC-based flexible composition and such tube is commonly used to transfer or handle fluids of medicines, foods and beverages, certain formulations including processing aids or plasticizers, such as di-2-ethylhexylphthalate (DEHP), may elute into the transfer stream and possibly end up in the body of consumers and thus increase their risk of exposure to plasticizers.
Accordingly, an improved flexible tube would be desirable.