A Case for a New Syringe – TED Presentation

This is a real eye opener here to see how many of these are laying around all over the world and how syringes are infecting more people today than mosquitoes are with malaria.

Mr. Koska has come up with a new syringe that can only be used once, when you try for a second time, it breaks. The cost is the same as what we pay today for the traditional syringe. This is certainly a winner to me.

When you watch the children that work picking these up so they can be resold, it’s sad and they too get infected from the syringe. In the video you can clearly see a syringe being dropped back into the tray for re-use. We about choke when it happens here and usually in the US it is some type of criminal action when this occurs, as we have seen recently in the news with a couple nurses re-using the syringes, one having a drug problem and passing on hepatitis to patients due to re-use. I think the new syringe would be welcome anywhere. BD

Reuse of syringes, all too common in under-funded clinics, kills 1.3 million each year. Marc Koska clues us in to this devastating global problem with facts, photos and hidden-camera footage. He shares his solution: a low-cost syringe that can't be used twice. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009, Long Beach, CA. Duration: 4:46)