Thus, sterilization is a route to reproductive autonomy for women. An ethical approach to the provision of sterilization must, therefore, promote access for women who wish to use sterilization as a method of contraception, but at the same time safeguard against coercive or otherwise unjust uses.

Sterilization blocks or seals the fallopian tubes. This prevents the egg from reaching the uterus and also keeps the sperm from reaching the egg. Without fertilization of the egg, pregnancy can’t occur.

The central ethical question in the abortion debate is over the moral status of the embryo and fetus. Opinions range from the belief that the fetus is a human being with full moral status and rights from conception to the belief that a fetus has no rights, even if it is human in a biological sense.

Advantages and disadvantages of female sterilisation

• more than 99% effective at preventing pregnancy.
• blocking the fallopian tubes and removal of the tubes should be effective immediately – but use contraception until your next period.
• it will not affect your sex drive or interfere with sex.

Disadvantages. Special handling because of flammability, toxicity. Long sterilization and decontamination time. Potential health hazard; fumes must be monitored.

Three primary methods of medical sterilization occur from high temperature/pressure and chemical processes.

• Plasma Gas Sterilizers.
• Autoclaves.
• Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide Sterilizers.

A sterile surface/object is completely free of living microorganisms and viruses. Sterilization procedures kill all microorganisms. Methods used in sterilization procedures include heat, ethylene oxide gas, hydrogen peroxide gas, plasma, ozone, and radiation.

Classical sterilization techniques using saturated steam under pressure or hot air are the most reliable and should be used whenever possible. Other sterilization methods include filtration, ionizing radiation (gamma and electron-beam radiation), and gas (ethylene oxide, formaldehyde).

A medical autoclave is a device that uses steam to sterilize equipment and other objects. This means that all bacteria, viruses, fungi, and spores are inactivated. Because damp heat is used, heat-labile products (such as some plastics) cannot be sterilized this way or they will melt.

We need to talk about your autoclave sterilization rituals and aluminum foil. Specifically: Do not use aluminum foil when sterilizing empty beakers and flasks! Loosely crimping foil over the mouths of empty flasks prior to autoclaving them is a widespread practice in many research labs.

The two basic types of steam sterilizers (autoclaves) are the gravity displacement autoclave and the high-speed prevacuum sterilizer.

An autoclave is used to sterilize surgical equipment, laboratory instruments, pharmaceutical items, and other materials. It can sterilize solids, liquids, hollows, and instruments of various shapes and sizes. Autoclaves vary in size, shape and functionality.

The heat that an autoclave delivers via pressurized steam kills bacteria and other microorganisms by causing the organisms’ structural proteins and enzymes to lose their shape in an irreversible way, denaturing and coagulating them and making them nonfunctional.

Biological materials Category 1 – in-house laundry Decontaminate clothing with an appropriate disinfectant or by autoclaving. Clothing potentially contaminated with microorganisms in spore form must be autoclaved.

Autoclaves are used in laboratories to sterilize equipment, instruments, and infectious waste. No one who has not received training in autoclave procedure or is not working under the supervision of an experienced autoclave worker should attempt to operate the autoclave.

Proper autoclave treatment will inactivate all resistant bacterial spores in addition to fungi, bacteria, and viruses, but is not expected to eliminate all prions, which vary in their resistance.

Autoclave Safety

• Wearing appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including a lab coat, heat resistant gloves, and eye protection, especially when unloading the autoclave.
• Never sealing containers; under pressure they pose an explosion risk.
• Never opening the door to the autoclave if there is water running out the bottom.

Autoclave tape is an adhesive tape used in autoclaving (heating under high pressure with steam to sterilise) to indicate whether a specific temperature has been reached. Autoclave tape works by changing color after exposure to temperatures commonly used in sterilization processes, typically 121°C in a steam autoclave.

Biological indicators (BIs), as defined by ANSI/AAMI and ISO, are test systems containing viable microorganisms providing a defined resistance to a specific sterilization process. Endospores, or bacterial spores, are the microorganisms primarily used in BIs. They are considered some of the toughest ones to kill.

30 days

Chemical indicators (CIs), as defined by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO), are devices used to monitor the presence or attainment of one or more of the parameters required for a satisfactory sterilization process or used in a …

Biological indicators, or spore tests, are the most accepted means of monitoring sterilization because they assess the sterilization process directly by killing known highly resistant microorganisms (e.g., Geobacillus or Bacillus species).

Chemical indicators are visual aids that show if an item has been subjected to the sterilization process. Most of these indicators change color (some change form, from solid to liquid) when exposed to the high temperatures achieved in a sterilizer, or to a combination of temperature and time.

Chemical indicator, any substance that gives a visible sign, usually by a colour change, of the presence or absence of a threshold concentration of a chemical species, such as an acid or an alkali in a solution. An example is the substance called methyl yellow, which imparts a yellow colour to an alkaline solution.

6 ISO Types of Chemical Indicators for Steam Sterilization

• Type 1: Process Indicators.
• Type 2: Specific-Use Indicators.
• Type 3: Single-Variable Indicators.
• Type 4: Multi-Variable indicators.
• Type 5: Integrating Indicators (Integrators)
• Type 6: Emulating Indicators (Cycle Verification Indicators)

Litmus indicator solution turns red in acidic solutions and blue in alkaline solutions. It turns purple in neutral solutions. Wet litmus paper can also be used to test for water-soluble gases that affect acidity or alkalinity; the gas dissolves in the water and the resulting solution colors the litmus paper.

Litmus indicator solution turns red in acidic solutions and blue in alkaline solutions. It turns purple in neutral solutions. Litmus paper is usually more reliable, and comes as red litmus paper and blue litmus paper. The table shows the colour changes it can make.

The main use of litmus is to test whether a solution is acidic or basic. Light Blue litmus paper turns red under acidic conditions and red litmus paper turns blue under basic or alkaline conditions, with the color change occurring over the pH range 4.5–8.3 at 25 °C (77 °F). Neutral litmus paper is purple.

When universal indicator is added to a solution, the color change can indicate the approximate pH of the solution. Acids cause universal indicator solution to change from green toward red. Bases cause universal indicator to change from green toward purple.