[Sca-cooks] FWD: Polymer Chemical Kills Germs

[Glenda Robinson]

Personally, I think this could cause problems. If the surface is treated,
it'd only kill the germs that are touching the surface itself, not the
things on the top of the bacteria-laden goop.  Thus, people may think a
counter top is clean, but it could be swarming with bacteria 1 layer higher.
I'm also a little concerned about claiming protection from dirty hands -
surely the germs hand-to-food contact, not the counter-top.

Then there's also the superbacteria problem (we've gone on and on about that
one here), and the 'smaller amounts of bugs give some sort of immunity
against larger amounts of bugs' (again, been there, discussed that)

Iasmin, this is not an attack on you or the product, just on what can happen
with the standard "Lowest common denominator" that the designers have to
design for (and us higher life-forms have to cope with the repercussions
thereof).

Glenda.

I have no idea how many times I've taken phone lately, to be asked, before
they give the msg "Have you got a pen?" - people are so used to giving the
message, to be told "Hang on a minute, I'll just get a pen" that they've
ended up saying this each time, just so they don't have to repeat it. This
has happened SO often (especially with Job agencies when Wayne was between
jobs), it really makes me wonder how low the human LCD really is.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gaylin Walli" <iasmin at home.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>; "Midrealm Cooks List"
<mk-cooks at midrealm.org>; <herbalist at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wednesday, 23 May 2001 7:43
Subject: [Sca-cooks] FWD: Polymer Chemical Kills Germs


> This just popped up on my news service and I thought people here
> might be interested in it for the cooking and medicinal implications.
> We're always talking about keeping kitchens and camps and work
> areas clean, so I thought this might be of interest to at least a few
> people. -- Iasmin
>
> http://news.excite.com/news/ap/010521/17/sterile-surfaces
>
> Polymer Chemical Kills Germs
>
> Updated: Mon, May 21 5:01 PM EDT
>
> By PAUL RECER, AP Science Writer
>
> WASHINGTON (AP) - A new germ-killing polymer can permanently
> sterilize countertops, doorknobs and even surgical equipment and
> could guard against bacteria spread from sneezes and dirty hands,
> the most  common sources of infection, a researcher says.
>
> Joerg C. Tiller of Massachusetts Institute of Technology said the
> polymer coating could be applied to furniture, equipment, tools,
> children's toys, telephones, computer keyboards and other places
> where germs can lurk and spread.
>
> "You could coat any type of surface with this material and it
> would be there permanently," said Tiller.
>
> In a study appearing Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National
> Academy of Sciences, Tiller and his co-authors said laboratory
> tests show that the coating, called hexyl-PVP, was able to kill
> up to 99 percent of Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas and E-coli,
> all common disease-causing organisms.
>
> Tiller said the coating applied to glass slides was tested by
> spraying the slides with a concentrated solution of the bacteria
> groups common in household and hospital infections. The results
> were compared to uncoated glass slides that also were exposed to
> the bacteria solution.
>
> "The test solution was rather like what happens when you sneeze
> or cough," spraying surfaces with germs, said Tiller.
>
> On the glass slides treated with hexyl-PVP, 94 percent to 99 percent
> of the Staphylococcus organisms were killed. For Pseudomonas and
> E-coli, the kill rate was consistently at 99 percent.
>
> Tiller said the polymer kills bacteria by destroying the outer
> membrane of the microbe. This action is a chemical reaction that
> probably would not allow the bacteria to develop a resistance, such
> as happens with antibiotics, he said.
>
> The anti-bacterial coating, said Tiller, could be incorporated into the
> manufacturing process so that many products could be permanently
> sterile.
>
> Tiller said the surfaces would require periodic washing to remove
> dead bacteria that float out of the air and land on the killing surface.
>
> Tiller and his co-authors hold a patent on the chemical coating, but are
> not involved in any effort to bring the germ-killing technology to the
> market, he said.
>
> ---
> On the Net: Proceedings: http://www.eurekalert.org
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