Why Is My Medical Test Cased in Plastic?
A nurse disposes of a malaria test at Waterloo Community Health Centre.
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At HSS 2026, Alice Street, Mary McPoland, Claire Lindsay and Maiwenn Kersaudy-Kerhoas presented ‘Why Is My Medical Test Cased in Plastic? The Material Histories and Futures of the Lateral Flow Assay in Global Health’ as part of Plastic Amnesias II, chaired by Anne Kveim Lie.
Since the first wand-based pregnancy tests reached shops in 1986, lateral flow assays have transformed access to infectious disease testing in global health by allowing it to take place beyond the laboratory. Most of these devices are now enclosed in plastic cassettes, and the quantities manufactured and discarded contribute to a growing medical-waste problem.
Street and colleagues highlighted two disruptions in this seemingly straightforward history. Tests designed for use outside laboratories have not always been cased in plastic, while devices developed for use “in the wild” are now entering clinical laboratories in large volumes, still enclosed in durable plastic shells. Recovering these histories challenges the plastic consensus in diagnostic testing and opens possibilities for more sustainable designs.
