Abbott’s Freestyle Libre

Abcdefghijkl said:

Can anyone tell me for certain what materials the ‘flexible fibre’ on the sensors is made from? Abbott customer care told me they ‘don’t know’. My endo doesn’t have the info and the diabetes educator I saw can’t find the answer either. It’s not in their website. This is suspicious because the Medtronic continuous glucose monitors are made with Teflon, a carginogen, but at least they’re honest. I believe it’s also what Abbott is using but they don’t want us to know. Please help me find out for sure!!!

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They would (probably) not disclose that information as it's a fundamental part of the Intellectual Property (IP) for this product. You could try searching patents and see what they've stated?

Abcdefghijkl said:

Th

Thank you! I just received an email from them telling me they cannot disclose this as it’s ‘a proprietary issue’. However, Medtronic don’t see it as one, as they fully disclose they use Teflon. Abbott’s response was vague and not good enough. I have the right to know exactly what I’m putting under my skin. Their secrecy makes it obvious they’re scared of people not buying their products due to its hazardous properties. I’d like to spread awareness to other diabetics and maybe get other media, forums and review pages involved. It’s like a pharmaceutical company not disclosing an active ingredient so people can be responsible for their own health outcomes.
This has infuriated me!

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Out of interest I took a look at the patents myself as I work in medical engineering and had a vague interest in finding out.

It's a complex patent application (as most are) but it appears that the filament is an undisclosed polymeric material that is coated in gold (Au).

https://patents.justia.com/patent/10624567

Abcdefghijkl said:

Yes, I just completed reading that whole epic! I also read the links relating to the sensor specifics.
I couldn’t find exact materials listed. More descriptive terms than ingredients as it were. Surely if I were to directly ask the company “does the filament contain Teflon’? Wouldn’t they be legally obliged to disclose.. for example if you’re a cancer survivor (more at risk of exposure to carcinogens), or had an allergy etc?

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Within the EU, a manufacturer of a medical device is not obliged to tell you what materials are used in the device although they are legally obliged to disclose the presence of Hazardous Substances in Accompanying Documents. If there is no mention of carcinogenic materials in the Accompanying Documents then you may reasonably expect that they are not present in the device.

I have been taking a look at the whole issue of PTFE (Teflon) and carcinogenic properties and my interpretation is that it's not particulary relevent to the Freestyle Libre device anyway. The concern seems to be that when teflon is heated above 300°C (as might be the case with cookware) it can emit free radicals. This was mainly due to the presence of a chemical called Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA), which was previously used to produce the Teflon used on nonstick cookware. Globally, this chemical has not been used in the production of Teflon since 2013.

Furthermore the EU directives relating to the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) are very strict and I don't think that Abbot or Dexcom would be allowed to market a device containing carcinogenic materials that were in contact with skin.

interesting i thought it was steel fine , have used over 25 units never thought it was flexible but you learn something every day stay safe vic