Only corporations have the capital to supply disposable equipment, steam cleaners, additional antiseptics and the labor necessary to monitor and enforce these edicts.

This deluge of disposable equipment is quite new.

The LAT leads with a story on increasing reuse of disposable medical equipment.

According to court records and company documents, after disposable equipment was cleaned for re-use, residues of bleach and formaldehyde were pumped into patients' bodies.

Dialyzers range in price from about $8.50 to more than $30, while other disposable equipment, like blood tubing, can cost as little as a few dollars.

But critics contend that first-use syndrome is little more than an excuse by National Medical and others to justify the expense-saving re-use of disposable equipment.

Some experts noted that the re-use of other disposable equipment, like blood lines, had not been studied sufficiently.

And experts and patients say that those who refuse to allow the re-use of disposable equipment are told to take their business elsewhere.

American hospitals largely do not want to reuse disposable equipment because most manufacturers' warranties cover only one trip into an operating room.

Today flexible circuits are also commonly found in disk drives, keyboards and disposable medical equipment as well as in durable wireless phones.