Priorities

What is more important: the quality of our detergents or hospital borne infections?

Seventh Generation is a company specializing in "green" cleaning products and has 100 million dollars in yearly sales. The success of the environmentally friendly cleaners has pushed bigger companies like Clorox to invest in renewable and less toxic technologies.

Detergents are stored for long durations and require preservatives to retain their chemical integrity. Some preservatives, used by Seventh Generation, in their detergent line released small amounts of formaldehyde (C&EN, January 21, 2008). The EPA considers formaldehyde, pictured, a probable carcinogen, but the compound is found in trace amounts in the environment. This molecule, weighing only 30 grams/mole, caused great concern among consumers and has led to a search for alternative preservatives.

One collaboration specifically is of great interest. Seventh Generation is working with Agion Technologies to utilize Agion's antimicrobial silver technology. Silver ions are natural microbial killers, and have been harnessed by Agion with their patented slow release coatings. Other companies have pursued this natural path as well. Bio Signal has developed furanones, pictured to the right and copyrighted to Bio Signal, to disrupt the effect of bacteria released quarom sensing molecules. Disruption of these molecules interferes with biofilm formation and ultimately with bacterial growth. An explanatory video is available on the Bio Signal website.

These developments are promising as our society is fighting with microbial infiltration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1.7 million healthcare associated infections (HAI) occur annually in the United States and lead to 99 thousand deaths. These infections are due to a variety of invisible, to the naked eye, organisms that make their living by taking advantage of the immune system. Two common organisms affecting hospital inpatients are methicillin resistant staff aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE). While the health care team is constantly focused on providing care, any lapse in cleanliness can lead to inadvertent contamination of sterility. Fortunately, there is a growing effort on the part of many healthcare facilities to limit nosocomial infections through intensive staff education.

What if the interior of a hospital was coated by natural antimicrobials that disrupted bacterial growth? The research at Bio Signal might lead in this direction. To our benefit their furanones disrupt localized growth but do not kill individual bacteria, therefore forced selection is avoided and bacteria does not develop resistance. Silver technology is also promising as it is natural and has less side effects for patients.

While Bio Signal is not in the cleaning business, it would be interesting if the problem of nosocomial infections were solved by a detergent company like Agion. I don't think our medical community will be picky.

A joke at every end:

Buddha walks into a bar.
Bartender asks him "what would you like?"
Buddha says "Make me one with everything."