The firm also manufactures medical and surgical products, including gloves, surgical apparel and fluid management products.

Nor does the sale include the company's ophthalmic surgical products, plastic and reconstructive surgery products and medical diagnostic business.

The others were surgical products, Earthmen converted to Venusians.

If a surgical product was contaminated and distributed nationally, Mr. Ferguson said, "you'd expect more cases of sudden unexplained deaths after routine surgery."

The company initially sold medical devices on Avenue A: trusses, and then segued into surgical products.

It added consumer products in the 1920s and created a separate division for surgical products in 1941 which became Ethicon.

In June 2009 the company acquired JKT, a Polish manufacturer of surgical disposable products.

The sale does not include Cooper's worldwide contact lens, plastic and reconstructive surgical products, or medical diagnostic businesses.

Finally in 1997, as a result of a series of company acquisitions, the division for the production of surgical products was established.

High absorbency products: diapers and surgical products.