Is your customer’s home really clean & healthy?

by Randy Zielsdorf, Advanced Vapor Technologies

Americans are over-using chemicals in their attempt to maintain a clean and healthy environment. While the attempt is good and proper, unfortunately the end result is many times just the opposite, an unhealthy environment.

Using chemicals to clean is now old technology. It is time we moved into the 21st Century and educated ourselves on the advantages of steam vapor and heat for sanitation and deep cleaning.

Americans want fast immediate results, so they grab the chemical spray bottle. No time is taken to read the label on the chemical before use, therefore proper dwell times are ignored and the needed scrubbing action is not performed. The end result is that not enough of the bacteria and viruses are killed or removed and in minutes the bacteria multiply and feed off of the nutrients left on the surface and a biofilm, or residue harboring bacteria and other microbes, develops.

Americans rely too much on the large print on the label, the advertisement. Not enough time is spent reading the small print, the really important information, the how-to instructions and the even more important cautionary statements.

Due to weak regulations regarding labeling, the so-called inert ingredients are most often the ingredients that are responsible for the greatest health risks. And these health risks are not addressed on the label1 .

Chemicals do not deep clean. Topicals do not reach into cracks or deep into porous materials.

Even the word porous has been misused. Most surfaces are porous, and that is an important fact to remember. The household cleaning chemicals state on the label, “use on non-porous surfaces.” Why do they say that? Because chemicals are not effective in the pores and tiny cracks in surfaces. Is glass porous? Yes, under high magnification, it is seen to be very porous. So are counter tops, stovetops, cupboards, floors and sinks.

Steam on the other hand is effective on porous surfaces.

With antibacterial products, if dwell times are ignored, it’s like taking only half of our prescription medication. The bacteria may simply build resistance to the product. This, according to doctors, could become a very serious problem. In time this could reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics2 .

Scrubbing, when applying chemicals, is an extremely important action. In many cases it is more important than the chemical itself. When dealing with microbial buildup, the scrubbing action breaks up the bacteria or viruses’ ability to communicate within the biofilm3 . That is why we brush our teeth and why we don’t simply apply the toothpaste and then wipe it off. Without the brushing of your teeth, the bacteria or plaque would not die or be removed and would multiply quickly. You could feel this with your tongue soon afterwards. That’s why the dentist will tell you it is important to brush for two minutes. It’s amazing, we have such a small amount of tooth surface and such a large amount of counter top surface. We expose our counter tops to all kinds of bacteria with produce, meat, chicken and fish. We brush the small surface, our teeth, for two minutes to remove or kill bacteria, but only spray the chemical on and wipe it off on the counter top. That is not effective: if we choose to use a chemical, then
we need to use it correctly.

If you want to remove the ill effects of chemicals and chemical residue from your indoor environment, if you want to accomplish your home cleaning faster and with more effectiveness, if you want to help clean up your indoor air quality, then move into the 21st Century with the real solution for home maintenance, the Ladybug Steam Vapor System.

i Cleaning product manufacturers are not required by the U.S. government to identify ingredients on labels.
Source - Toxics Use Reduction Institute, University of Massachusetts Lowell, www.turi.org.

ii “The recent entry of products containing antibacterial agents into healthy households has escalated from a few dozen products in the mid-1990s to more than 700 today. Antibacterial products were developed and have been successfully used to prevent transmission of disease-causing microorganisms among patients, particularly in hospitals. They are now being added to products used in healthy households, even though an added health benefit has not been demonstrated. Scientists are concerned that the antibacterial agents will select bacteria resistant to them and cross-resistant to antibiotics.” - “Antibacterial Household Products: Cause for Concern” - Dr. Stuart B. Levy; Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

iii “Battling Biofilms” – Scientific American, July 2001.

About ADVAP
Seattle-based Advanced Vapor Technologies (AVT) provides state-of-the-art steam vapor sanitation systems that enable deep cleaning and disinfection without harmful or corrosive chemicals. With scientifically-proven TANCS® technology carrying an EPA establishment number, AVT TANCS steam vapor units have been tested and proven to disinfect surfaces in much less time and with greater safety and efficacy than typical EPA-registered chemical disinfectants. For more information, contact Randy Zielsdorf, Advanced Vapor Technologies, at 1-800-997-6584.

Reprinted from Floor Care Professional, July 2007