# When did disposable hypodermic needles and syringes displace reusable ones? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 5, 2018, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disposable-hypodermic-needles-and-syringes-displace-reusable-ones/810067 "2018-03-05T18:31:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disposable-hypodermic-needles-and-syringes-displace-reusable-ones/810067/1 "2018-03-05T18:31:17Z")
Through the 1960s and perhaps beyond, hypodermic needles and syringes were typically fancy assemblies of glass and stainless steel, and they were washed and sterilized and re-used. When did the disposable versions first outnumber the reusable ones? When did the reusable ones fade away? I found online when they were invented (in various versions), but it can take quite a while for a new invention to take over its marketplace. I remember getting shots from the reusable ones, and was wondering for how much of my life I was sharing needles. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disposable-hypodermic-needles-and-syringes-displace-reusable-ones/810067/2 "2018-03-05T19:27:14Z")
My memory is a little different than yours. I was getting shots from disposable syringes at least as early as 1967. I started getting weekly allergy shots in 1961 but I don’t remember much about it prior to 1967. After my shot they would bend the needle to ensure it wouldn’t be reused. I have never seen a reusable syringe anytime after that. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disposable-hypodermic-needles-and-syringes-displace-reusable-ones/810067/3 "2018-03-05T19:38:39Z")
According to an article here: [The history of the syringe](http://www.exchangesupplies.org/article_history_of_injecting_and_development_of_the_syringe.php) it was the 1960s when the switch to disposeables started, but it wasn’t really until the 1970s and 1980s that the complete switch happened. Apparently the big driver was fear of lawsuits alleging that a patient contracted an illness from an improperly sterilized syringe, since such a lawsuit can’t succeed if you never reuse your needles. > [@](#): > > Throughout the 20th century , the production of precision-made glass syringes was gradually refined. The first major advance came with the manufacture of syringes and needles with interchangeable parts made to exact specifications, rather than as ‘one-off’ items, as has been said above, the impetus for this standardisation was driven by the need to inject the anti-syphilitic drug Salvarsan intravenously. > > Until the 1960’s the majority of needles and syringes used outside of warfare, were re-useable and were supplied unsterilised. They had to be sterilised before each use. > > The development of plastic disposable syringes > There are several competing claims to the design of the first disposable plastic syringe, but the most plausible is that of the Monoject syringe developed in the USA by Roehr products in 1955. The development of the Monoject syringe spurred Becton Dickinson into the development of similar plastic syringes (they had previously been developing glass disposables) and BD introduced their own Plastipack syringe in 1961. > > Fears about the transmission of hepatitis B (and the resulting lawsuits) by doctors using inadequately sterilised re-useable syringes led to the takeover of the market by plastic disposables. A 1998 article in the San Francisco Chronicle on healthcare needle stick injuries, quotes a BD executive Joseph Welch as saying in 1990 of hepatitis B: > > “It was probably the reason Becton Dickinson is a $2 billion company today,‘’ > > Becton Dickinson produced the first one-piece insulin syringe with integral needle in 1970. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disposable-hypodermic-needles-and-syringes-displace-reusable-ones/810067/4 "2018-03-06T02:32:04Z")
When I started working in medicine in the late 1970’s all the syringes we used were disposable, but we did learn to do arterial punctures with polished glass syringes because the plunger moved with so little friction in the barrel that arterial pressure would push the blood in and move the plunger back. I remember being amazed at how well they were made. By the time I started working in hospitals in 1978 we used small disposable syringes with little capillary tubes inside the barrel for arterial punctures. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disposable-hypodermic-needles-and-syringes-displace-reusable-ones/810067/5 "2018-03-06T02:53:09Z")
The last one I saw was in the mid 70s, when my Mom was dying. A nurse would come and give her injections, I assume, of morphine. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disposable-hypodermic-needles-and-syringes-displace-reusable-ones/810067/6 "2018-03-06T05:11:56Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > When I started working in medicine in the late 1970’s all the syringes we used were disposable, but we did learn to do arterial punctures with polished glass syringes because the plunger moved with so little friction in the barrel that arterial pressure would push the blood in and move the plunger back. I remember being amazed at how well they were made. By the time I started working in hospitals in 1978 we used small disposable syringes with little capillary tubes inside the barrel for arterial punctures. In the early to mid 80s I was repairing blood gas analysers. I remember they used glass syringes for arterial sticks. I used plastic ones for controls, clots, and reagents. ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disposable-hypodermic-needles-and-syringes-displace-reusable-ones/810067/7 "2018-03-06T05:44:35Z")
In around 1965/66, I recall having my first injection from a disposable at the student health center at college, and being amazed at how pain-free it was compared to every shot I had ever had up to that point. I have a earlier memory, from the 50s, of the nurse at our doctor’s office sharpening the old-style syringes before putting them back in the autoclave. _:: shink :: shink :: shink :: clatter::_ . Still gives me the willies thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disposable-hypodermic-needles-and-syringes-displace-reusable-ones/810067/8 "2018-03-06T06:52:00Z")
Dentists still use steel syringes, at least around here. The needles and drug ampoules are disposable, but the delivery device is reusable. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disposable-hypodermic-needles-and-syringes-displace-reusable-ones/810067/9 "2018-03-06T10:34:41Z")
[Here](http://www.exchangesupplies.org/article_history_of_injecting_and_development_of_the_syringe.php) is a history of injecting, right back to (and to my surprise) Christopher Wren who injected alcohol into a dog at Wadham College, Oxford, in 1656. > [@](#): > > The first truly disposable ‘syringes’ to be produced in large quantities were originally designed by James T Greeley around 1912. These were collapsible tin tubes (a bit like a modern tube of superglue) that had an attached needle and contained a contained a specific amount of morphine for subcutaneous injection on the battlefield. These were used in the 1st World War and were further developed during the 1920’s and 30’s to become the morphine Syrette manufactured by Squibb. > > Syrettes were a standard part of the 1st aid kit carried by U.S. medical orderlies in World War 2. Used Syrettes were pinned to the collar of a casualty in an effort to avoid inadvertent overdosing. > [@](#): > > There are several competing claims to the design of the first disposable plastic syringe, but the most plausible is that of the Monoject syringe developed in the USA by Roehr products in 1955. The development of the Monoject syringe spurred Becton Dickinson into the development of similar plastic syringes (they had previously been developing glass disposables) and BD introduced their own Plastipack syringe in 1961. > > Fears about the transmission of hepatitis B (and the resulting lawsuits) by doctors using inadequately sterilised re-useable syringes led to the takeover of the market by plastic disposables. A 1998 article in the San Francisco Chronicle on healthcare needle stick injuries, quotes a BD executive Joseph Welch as saying in 1990 of hepatitis B: > > “It was probably the reason Becton Dickinson is a $2 billion company today,‘’ > > Becton Dickinson produced the first one-piece insulin syringe with integral needle in 1970. When I started work in the NHS back in the early 90’s, I became friends with the manager of the Supplies Department. He had worked for the NHS since its inception in 1948, and his first job (as a 14yo school leaver) was to sort used needles into sizes and put them into trays for cleaning and sterilizing. Needlestick injuries were a daily occurrence. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disposable-hypodermic-needles-and-syringes-displace-reusable-ones/810067/10 "2018-03-08T03:45:35Z")
Re-usable syringes were also partly responsible for the disappearance of jet injectors – used for mass vaccination programs in the 1960’s. Some of you may not remember glass syringes because your earliest memories are of jet injectors. Jet injectors were really good for mass vaccination programs. The system worked really well, much easier and faster, less labor intensive, less painful. It had cross contamination risks. But so did glass needles with re-usable needles. They still make and sell jet injectors, so somebody must be using them.