Scots inventor aims to improve cancer screening with FlushAway device

He's a former coal miner turned inventor on a mission to improve ­cancer detection rates while ­helping the environment at the same time.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th May 2018, 08:41 BST
Updated 11th May 2018, 08:45 BST
Brian McCormack has developed a device which has the potential to raise dwindling bowel cancer screening test returns. Picture: JPBrian McCormack has developed a device which has the potential to raise dwindling bowel cancer screening test returns. Picture: JP
Brian McCormack has developed a device which has the potential to raise dwindling bowel cancer screening test returns. Picture: JP

Brian McCormack has pioneered a disposable device which presents a quick, clean, and dignified way to take samples for bowel cancer ­testing.

Now his business is branching out by testing other potential products such as completely soluble cotton buds, wound dressings and baby wipes, in a bid to reduce the millions of household products routinely disposed of in toilets.

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The latest developments could not be more timely, with the ­Scottish Government currently seeking views on its plan to ban plastic-stemmed cotton buds.

Environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham has said outlawing the manufacture and sale of the items in Scotland would help cut plastic pollution.

Brian already has a track record in thinking outside of the box. His stool sample kit made headlines last year for its clean and simple solution to a very serious issue.

His unlikely path to inventor started at the Castlebridge colliery at Longannet, one of Scotland’s last deep mines, where he worked until 2001. He was working as a taxi ­driver when he came up with the idea for his first device.

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