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Green Cleaning Disinfecting with Natural Products

Guest post by: Ken J. Galo

Article Overview: Many people question the ability of green cleaning to effectively kill the day to day germs and viruses we encounter. Many natural products are safe and effective for doing this. Natural products are those that include no man-made materials or chemicals. Natural is the extreme of Green Cleaning, it goes beyond using safe chemicals to using compounds only found in the natural world.

Green Cleaning Disinfecting with Natural Products

One natural cleaning product is Thyme Oil.

The essential oil of thyme contains thymol, a natural crystalline phenol with powerful and proven antibiotic and disinfectant properties that kills common household germs. It has been found that thymol is at least 18 times as effective as phenol (used in commercial germicides), but has much lower toxicity. In vitro studies have shown that thyme oil has valuable broad spectrum activity against Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and a number of other bacterial species. It also exhibits antifungal activity against Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus, Saprolegnia, and Zygorhynchus species of fungi.

Only products with EPA Registration Numbers can make public health claims such as "disinfection" or "kills germs" ("biocide", "microbiocide", "fungicide", "mildewcide", "bacteriostat" & their derivatives are NOT regulated health claims). If a product doesn’t have an EPA number then the government has not reviewed & approved the label claims it should only be relied on for cleaning, not killing germs.

All hospital disinfectants need to be registered by the EPA to make health claims. They all must submit successful kill data against the following organisms within a standard contact time of 10 minutes. The equivalent to over 99.99% reduction is required for disinfectant registration.
These particular organisms were chosen as representatives of their category or structure of bacteria to simplify the testing process & avoid having to test every organism in a category.
ORGANISM (TYPE) REDUCTION CONTACT TIME
Salmonella choleraesuis
(Gram -ve) 99.999+% 10 minutes
Staphylococcus aureus
(Gram +ve) 99.999+% 10 minutes
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
(Gram +ve Human Pathogen) 99.999+% 10 minutes
Trichophyton mentagrophytes
(Fungi- spore forming) 99.999+% 10 minutes
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
(TB) 99.999+% 5 minutes
Human Immunodeficiency virus type 1
(HIV - 1, the AIDS virus) 99.999+% 10 minutes

The statements of antimicrobial activity are based on independent laboratory testing at world renowned ATS Labs in Minneapolis.
Benefect Botanical Disinfectant: Safety Profile

Many Natural cleaning products are ingenious mixtures of plant extracts that surpasses government efficacy requirements for hospital disinfectants but that, unbelievably, are also Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) or as Direct Food Additives by the FDA.


Environmental Impact
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's mandate is to protect human health & the environment. Therefore, all disinfectants must be thoroughly reviewed by the EPA as a normal component of registration which includes reviewing the impact the product may have on the:
Environment
Wildlife and Aquatic Organisms
Plant & Non-Target Insects


When choosing your cleaning products, read the labels. If the manufacture does not disclose all ingredients or hides behind phrases such as " other natural materials" then it is not a proven or recommended natural product.

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