NOTE 1 Purely mechanical degradation causes mostly particulate matter. Although this is excluded from the scope of this part of ISO 10993, such degradation products can evoke a biological response and thus need to undergo biological evaluation as described in other parts of ISO 10993.

NOTE 2 This part of ISO 10993 can be applied to the degradation of materials used in any kind of product that falls within the definition of “medical device” in ISO 10993-1, even if such products are subject to different regulations from those applying to medical devices, e.g. the scaffold in a tissue engineered medical product, or a carrier matrix to deliver drugs or biologics.