Anaesthetic waste gas scavenging systems.

The Department of Health and Social Security has recently recommended that waste anaesthetic scavenging systems should be installed to reduce pollution in operating theatres. Three passive and two active systems were compared to see how effectively they reduced concentrations of halothane in the atmosphere. All five systems reduced halothane levels significantly, the combination of an active system and semiclosed circuitry being the most effective. All obvious leaks from equipment were controlled in this study, but normally such leaks contribute significantly to atmospheric pollution. Some of the benefits of a scavenging system may be lost if gases can still escape through leaks.