Innovative way of preserving remains
For decades, embalming fluid containing formaldehyde has been a fixture in funeral homes, hospitals and laboratories across the country.
One could readily identify the solution because of its pungent and suffocating odor. And here’s another reason to stay away from this chemical: In 2011 the United States government scientists listed formaldehyde as a carcinogen, explaining that studies of workers like embalmers exposed to high levels of the chemical have found increased incidences of myeloid leukemia (a cancer of blood-forming cells in the bone marrow) and rare cancers of the nasal passages and upper mouth among those workers.
The announcement only concurred a 2004 World Health Organization panel that upgraded its assessment of the danger of formaldehyde, declaring for the first time that the chemical is “carcinogenic to humans.”
“While there exists an emotional relationship between formaldehyde and the guys who use the chemical, an alternative has to be employed soon for health reason,” urged Joey Flores of Zafire Distributors Inc., a company that distributes HistoChoice, a tissue fixative regarded as replacement for formalin- and alcohol-based, as well as Zenker’s, B5, and Bouin solution.
“It is odorless, non-irritating and noncorrosive. It has no toxin that could harm the environment and best of all, it is not carcinogenic, thus safe for people who use it or exposed to it,” Flores said.
He said that when Dr. Cleocita Portula, head pathologist of Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center, Tacloban City as well as Ereneo Galila, a registered medical technologist and head of histopathology section of St. Paul’s Hospital in Iloilo, used HistoChoice, their tissue specimens exhibited better intracellular detail when read under the microscope.
“Both experts also appreciated the fact that the solution, unlike formalin—a water-based solution containing 37 to 54 percent formaldehyde—did not induce tears or gave out noxious odor,” Flores said.
When applied as a tissue preservative, Flores said that HistoChoice was comparable to formalin as attested by Dr. Sheldon Aquino, a pathologist from Region 1 Medical Center, Dagupan City.
Dr. Raymundo Lo, pathologist and deputy director for professional services of Philippine Children’s Medical Center in Quezon City, recently finished a local study on the importance of a safe and nontoxic chemical used in tissue preservation and treatment.
During last week’s Zafire medical conference at the Crowne Plaza, Manila Galleria, Ortigas, Lo said that medical technicians, pathologists and professionals who routinely use formaldehyde on their work has now a safer and equally effective alternative.
According to Lo, HistoChoice has found many supporters ever since a number of countries around the world banned or limited its use.
