If you are at the forefront of a pharmacy, a restaurant, a hairdressing, a workshop or a nursery, for putting examples, in recent weeks a commercial has approached (by mail or telephone) to tell him - and sing - thegoodness of the new fashion gas."It's 300 times more powerful than bleach!""The greatest disinfectant according to WHO" -some without disheveling.The idea is to install a device with which, little more than pressing a button, the premises are easily disinfected generating safer spaces.The prices of the equipment and facilities are usually between 100 and 1000. The problem is that, when something is too beautiful to be true ... it is not usually true.
Ozone has not yet proven its effectiveness against SARS-COV-2
It is true that ozone is a very powerful oxidant that is used as a disinfectant.But the allusions that some commercial ones make to the WHO are extrapolated from a report in which they do not speak specifically of these devices but of the ability of the ozone to disinfect water.As we know, water is not among the main transmission routes of the coronavirus and there is no need to disinfect water beyond its usual treatment.It is important to know that, for now, this active substance has not yet been approved at European level, so the health administration cannot provide any document under the biocide legislation that establishes its effectiveness or the security of its use.
At this time it is being evaluated as an active substance by Germany and the Netherlands but no evaluation report has yet been presented.This means that no commercial or manufacturer can now guarantee the elimination of coronavirus with ozone.If later it is approved, we will all celebrate it.The more weapons we have to fight the virus, the better.But for now it should not be used as an advertising claim.Especially when there are other alternatives.This specifically indicates the EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency).For its part, the Ministry of Health has a list of virucids of 49 pages full of products that have demonstrated their ability to eliminate viruses.Does it make sense to disinfect our business with a substance that has not yet proven its effectiveness and that is not among the recommendations of the health authorities when there are hundreds who have done so?
Differences between "homemade" ozone devices and authorized companies to disinfect with ozone
It is important to differentiate between companies that try to "place" a device in your business (many of them new or converted, which have emerged mushrooms after COVID-19) and companies that previously to this crisis already provided services to third parties of disinfection generatedOzone In-Situ in establishments.
The latter must be registered in the registry of biocidal establishments and services and exercise their activity in a regulated manner (even in hospitals and operating rooms).Professional applicators perform the process with the empty premises and using protection equipment (EPIS).At the end, they make a measurement to verify that the environmental levels of ozone are safe and deal with ventilation to avoid risks in workers or customers.The safe ozone levels in the environment are around 0.12 ppm of ozone but for disinfection levels up to 100 times higher are required.
Very different are disinfection devices that are being sold happily for business.These devices also existed before coronavirus for other uses.They were already used in public bathrooms or cars because at lower ozone concentrations they are able to eliminate bacteria responsible for bad odors.They generate a pleasant atmosphere that gives "clean" feeling.
The problem is that at low concentrations it cannot be guaranteed that the coronavirus is eliminated and at higher concentrations its use can be dangerous, since at the "homemade" level the entrepreneur does not have an epis, or appropriate devices for environmental measurements.Not to mention the "continuous flow" devices that presume to be emitting the gas constantly in the business.Ozone should never be applied in the presence of people and this is literally collected by the Ministry of Health in this April 27 note.Apart chapter deserves other techniques such as tunnels or arches that nebulize ozone with those who are even fumigating even soccer players and that, according to this same note of the Ministry of Health, "in no way" must be applied to people.Once again, if the concentration is safe for people, it would be something like spraying them with holy water.
What are the risks of improper use of ozone?
The European Agency for Chemical Substances and Mixtures has classified this substance as dangerous by respiratory route, skin irritation and ocular damage.It can also react with flammable substances and produce dangerous chemical reactions when reacting with other chemicals.This is the case of compounds present in common cleaning products or atmosphere, such as D-Limonene, with which ozone can be associated by generating formaldehyde, a potentially carcinogen compound if accumulated in the environment.
Why do these devices triumph if no official body recommends its use against COVID-19?
First because cleaning everything with bleach is exhausting and unpleasant for its strong smell.It is reasonable to try to find more comfortable solutions.Second because it sounds more exotic in the face of competition to say that your establishment has Ozone to say that it has rabbit bleach (which by the way is in the official virucid list).The fear, also reasonable, is that if an establishment believes that the ozone is eliminating the virus, thanks to that false sense of security, relaxes the disapphetion and prevention measures that are effective.
You can't do bad ... what if I continue with bleach but buy an ozone machine "just in case"?
Leaving aside the risks of non -professional ozone manipulation, "just in case" here is not very useful. The virus, like procession, goes inside. And even if it is demonstrated that the ozone is effective against Sars-Cov-2 (I insist, hopefully) in the microsecond in which a positive person enters our establishment and leaves its exhalation droplets in the bar or at the counter, The magic of disinfection has been broken and you have to start over. And if customers, among them, or with workers, do not keep the security distance, the ozone you have applied will not neutralize these dropicles when they are exhaled. Good hygiene practices, safety distance and the use of the mask are the most effective measures in business prevention. Hopefully the competent authorities and organizations have a hand in this melon because the economy of the companies (especially of the self -employed) is quite diminished so that fear and misinformation lead them to leave the money that many do not have in devices they do not need.
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The Trust Project
