[wyldfire]

It does explain it, in the second, third paragraphs:

> The FDA said that since April 2021 it has received more than 116,000 medical device reports of foam breaking down ... amid reports they were blowing gas and pieces of foam into the airways of those using the devices.

[gifvenut]

The reporting in this leaves a lot of questions. I can understand pieces of foam, but that the machines were harming people by blowing _gas_? The air that we breathe is a mixture of gases. What other type of harmful gas could a CPAP machine blow?

[lrasinen]

Volatile organic compounds from the foam breaking down. Formaldehyde was mentioned in some of the reporting.

[matheusmoreira]

Polyester polyurethane particles which may or may not be visible to the naked eye. These particles can break down further into volatile organic compounds which are vapors. All of these are toxic and carcinogenic.

[sizzle]

Can this subpar foam be taken out and replaced with a non-microbial metal mesh or something? The use case for the foam was noise reduction it said in the article.