Band-Aid Beware

Penn State researchers may have created the truly "ouchless" bandage.  Food scientists have developed a process that spins starch into fine strands that can be combined and formed into inexpensive and environmentally-friendly paper-like mats similar to napkins, tissues and other types of paper products.  Starch bandages or medical dressings, however, have an important additional advantage.  Whereas current products on the market must at some point be removed (often with some associated pain or discomfort), starch bandages would simply degrade into glucose, a substance the body safely absorbs, eliminating the removal step.  They could also be cheaper and have less environmental impact than the cellulose and petroleum-based materials we are familiar with.