[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Bleach is a strong irritant, frequently linked to newly-acquired asthma. A recent decision by Compass Children’s Center in San Francisco to use exclusively “bleach-free” cleaning products resulted in visibly less asthmatic symptoms in both children and childcare workers.
According to the U.S. Department of Health – National Institutes of Health (NIH), asthma affects more than 25 million people in the United States and over 230 million people worldwide. As asthma typically begins in early childhood, the NIH is committed to reducing environmental risk factors in children in order to prevent asthma before it begins.
On the forefront of asthma prevention, the San Francisco Asthma Task Force in a 2011 report on Bleach Exposure in Child Care Settings, discovered a high correlation between bleach exposure and work-related new-onset asthma cases as well as the exacerbation of pre-existing asthma conditions. As a result they set about field-testing various sanitizers and initially recommended a number of bleach-free disinfectant and sanitizer alternatives.
Food Contact Sanitizer Recommended
In late April 2012 the task force issued an interim update to the 2011 report with the discovery of an accelerated hydrogen peroxide sanitizer, SaniDate Ready-to-Use (RTU) Hard Surface Sanitizer. This sanitizer can be used directly on food-contact surfaces and as a fruit & vegetable wash, requiring only 1 minute contact time to eliminate over 99.9% of bacteria and human health pathogens. SaniDate RTU was also recently approved by San Francisco Department of Public Health as a bleach-alternative sanitizer for food-contact surfaces and to date three City agencies have purchased SaniDate RTU in support of the Asthma Task Force’s project. The following video features the story of Compass Children’s Center in San Francisco and the lives of children in poverty that are being affected for the positive by reducing and preventing asthma through their transition to a bleach-free environment.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]