Extender
Pharmacological importance
Extenders in medicaments and other drugs are used to increase the total mass of a medicament without increasing the active ingredient content. Extenders (e.g. glucose , lactose , ascorbic acid , etc.) are used as carrier material in order to extend the sometimes minimal amounts of active ingredient to a manageable and meterable amount. The actual active ingredient content is stated on the packaging of drugs.
Amounted to
A pharmacist from Bottrop is accused (as of 2018) of systematically stretching cancer drugs, but having billed them in full. The damage that is said to have occurred solely to the statutory health insurance companies is said to amount to over 50 million euros.
Use in food
Extenders (mostly water) are used in food in order to reduce production costs and to suggest to the consumer a higher quantity than actually available. For example, the apparent mass of meat can be increased by injecting water beforehand. The seller benefits, the consumer is cheated.
Adjusting agent
Detergents , extenders are added as so-called adjusting agents or trickle salts such as. B. sodium chloride or sodium sulfate . On the one hand, this enables the dosage that consumers are used to, avoiding overdosing and, on the other hand, preventing the washing powder from clumping, thereby improving the dosage and rapid solubility of the washing agent.
Among other things, consumer associations recommend the use of detergent concentrates in order to minimize costs and resources for transport and packaging, in which case the detergent must be dosed correspondingly lower.
The commercial products of dyestuffs are adjusted to a defined color strength with thickening agents in order to compensate for the fluctuations of different manufacturing lots. This allows the dyer to use a constant amount of dye in his dye recipe in order to achieve the same color strength on the dyed textile. Indifferent substances such as sodium sulfate, sodium chloride or dextrin are used as adjusting agents . The storage stability of the dyes can be increased, for example, by adding buffer substances , e.g. B. mono- and disodium phosphate , can be improved.
Drug field
With drugs, not only ineffective substances such as B. lactose , but also dangerous substances such as fentanyl used as an extender. Under certain circumstances, the extenders should also imitate an effect of the actual drug, if its intoxicating effect is no longer sufficiently present due to excessive extension.
In 2007, there was mass poisoning in Leipzig from cannabis expanded with lead compounds. Lead has been found in opium, heroin, methamphetamines and cocaine in the past. In Germany, there is no drug-checking service that is accessible by state institutions, although the regulatory authorities naturally examine drugs that are found. The state government in Bavaria reported in 2018 that it had not found any extenders in cannabis samples. A Swiss study also found no extenders, but reported that almost all samples were contaminated with pesticides, insecticides and heavy metals.
Individual evidence
- ^ Bertram Philipp, Peter Stevens: Grundzüge der Industrielle Chemie , VCH Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 1987, p. 301, ISBN 3-527-25991-0 .
- ^ Hermann Rath: Textbook of Textile Chemistry . including textile chemical technology. 2nd Edition. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 1963, ISBN 978-3-662-00065-6 , pp. 455 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Lead Poisoning Due to Adulterated Marijuana in Leipzig. Retrieved June 16, 2018 .
- ↑ 450 doctors in Bavaria prescribe cannabis. Bayerische Staatszeitung, March 9, 2018 (accessed June 19, 2018).
- ↑ Testing of cannabis for extenders, waste materials, pesticides, microbiological and inorganic contamination. Retrieved June 16, 2018 .