The average household contains 62. Toxic. Chemicals.

How on earth is that possible, you may ask? Well did you know that household chemicals are not federally regulated? Did you know that there aren’t any federal safety standards a household cleaning chemical needs to pass in order to be approved for the market? It’s likely that if you went into your closet or under your sink and looked at the bottle of glass or toilet bowl cleaner, you’d see a message like “Harmful to people and animals”, “Keep out of reach of children and pets”, “Poisonous substance”, etc.

Now with that fact in mind, let’s talk about commercial cleaning chemicals.

The health dangers of cleaning chemicals

Cleaning chemicals formulated for commercial and industrial purposes are often stronger and more concentrated than household products. That means the dangers to your health are increased when in the presence of commercial chemicals. Today’s chemicals often include ingredients such as:

• Chlorine Bleach – A powerful whitening agent that can irritate the skin, eyes, and respiratory system.
• Triclosan, Triclocarban – Linked to hormone imbalances and an increased risk of breast cancer.
• Nonylphenol Ethoxylate – Banned in the EU and California, this chemical disrupts the endocrine system and kills aquatic life.
• Ammonia – Common in many cleaners, this substance can burn skin and eyes – and even cause blindness – on contact.
• 2-Butoxyethanol – Used in degreasers, this substance can absorb through the skin and damage red blood cells.

This is just the tip of the toxic iceberg. If the Titanic hit this bad boy, it would probably corrode on contact.

The point is this: We are surrounded by toxins. And the global pandemic has only made matters worse. In a desperate attempt to stop the spread of the virus, businesses, schools, hospitals and long-term care homes have increased their use of strong chemicals to clean and disinfect surfaces of all kinds. We are spraying copious amounts of dangerous chemicals everywhere, and if we don’t curb this, we may inadvertently cause generations of health problems for millions of people.

During January–March 2020, poison centers received 45,550 exposure calls related to cleaners (28,158) and disinfectants (17,392), representing overall increases of 20.4%!

But humans aren’t the only ones being negatively affected by these chemicals.

The environmental impact of cleaning chemicals

Our planet is not in the best shape. It’s not because the earth let itself go. No, humans have done all the damage. Our soil, air, and water have been polluted for over a century with all sorts of waste. And the byproducts of cleaning chemicals are one of the many culprits.

Cleaners contain chemicals identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as VOC’s – volatile organic compounds. Don’t let the “organic” thing fool you, instead focus on “volatile”. Because these byproducts are bad news for the planet.

These VOC’s pollute the air, creating greenhouse gasses and contributing to the depletion of the protective ozone layer. They are rinsed off of surfaces and washed down drains, where they enter the wastewater system. Although some of these contaminants are removed in water treatment facilities, much of it remains and enters our streams, rivers, lakes and oceans. There, they wreak havoc on our plants and wildlife. They also enter the soil, which means they enter our food chain and end up in our bodies.

As mentioned above, this problem is being exacerbated by the current pandemic. Think of the huge amounts of VOC’s being released into the air, absorbed into our soil, and washed into our water supply every single day.

So then, what is our solution? Stop cleaning and sanitizing? Of course not, that’s not an option. But there is a way to clean, sanitize, and disinfect safely, without harming ourselves, or our planet.

Ozone: A powerful natural sanitizer

This leads us into the wonderful world of ozone. What is ozone exactly? At the molecular level, ozone (O3) is oxygen (O2) with an additional oxygen atom (O) attached. So in other words, it’s kind of like super oxygen. Ozone can be found high above our earth in the atmosphere, where it serves as a protective layer for the planet against the sun’s UV rays. Ozone is also generated through high-powered electrical charges, which is why after a lightning storm you can smell it in the air (it has a “fresh and clean” smell).

So, what exactly does ozone have to do with cleaning and sanitizing? Well, while ozone has been around for as long as the earth has, it’s only more recently been better understood. And as scientists began to look into it further, they soon discovered that ozone is a super-powerful disinfectant.

How powerful you ask? Ozone sanitizes over 3,000 times faster than bleach. And it’s capable of killing nearly every bacteria, fungus, and virus imaginable, on contact. Even bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics or antibacterial agents are easily thwarted by ozone.

How does ozone sanitizing work?

Ozone operates in a unique and effective way. The secret lies in its oxygen makeup.

Remember that 3rd oxygen atom that turns O2 into O3? You could say he’s the wild one of the bunch. When ozone is created, this third oxygen atom is rather unstable. It doesn’t last forever. In time, this atom will split off from the oxygen, and the ozone will then revert back to regular oxygen.

But therein lies the hidden power of ozone. See, viruses and bacteria absorb ozone just as they do regular air. So, when ozone comes into contact with a pathogen, this 3rd oxygen atom breaks off from the ozone molecule, and is absorbed through the walls of the bacteria cell, subsequently damaging the cell wall from the inside out, destroying the pathogen. This process is incredibly effective, and it’s the reason that ozone can accomplish what many chemicals and cleaning agents simply cannot. Pathogens can and do mutate to form antibiotic-resistant strains, however, they cannot build up a resistance to oxygen.

The simple fact of the matter is this: Ozone is one of the most powerful disinfectants, whether natural or man-made, available to mankind.

Ok, we know it’s powerful. But is it safe?

Ozone is completely safe for people and the environment

Let’s talk more about why ozone is so safe.

For one thing, ozone is just oxygen. Its ingredients are oxygen, oxygen, and – wait for it – oxygen!  There are no insane, impossible to pronounce ingredients like all those cleaning agents have. What you see is what you get. On the other hand, many of the chemicals in cleaning products are known carcinogens.

Ozone leaves no residue or waste of any kind. As discussed above, ozone simply reverts back to oxygen after a period of time, leaving nothing but a clean space in its wake. That means no toxic runoffs going into the water supply or soil, and no pollutants contaminating the air.

Your executive team will love you for helping the company reach its environmental sustainability goals!

How is ozone used to clean and sanitize?

Ozone-powered water has been used for decades as an effective, safe, all-natural sanitizer, but it had some significant limitations. Here’s how it used to work: You would run ozone gas through a container of water. After mere minutes, the water would contain enough ozone in it to act as a disinfectant. Spray it on your counters, your floors, even your fruits and vegetables, it’s EPA and FDA approved as a food-grade disinfectant, but only for about 20 minutes because ozone would lose its bacteria-busting strength too quickly.

If only these disinfecting properties could last longer than 20 minutes right?

Then you could pour it into spray bottles, floor scrubbing machines or pump sprayers and replace the costly and toxic chemicals that are currently in use.

Enter Tersano Inc, a company based out of Windsor, Ontario. They’ve been pioneers in the aqueous ozone field for more than 20 years. After much research and development, their team created a sanitizing machine that dispenses SAO (stabilized aqueous ozone). With their proprietary technology, they were able to increase the stability of ozone to last 24 hours in the water! That means you can use the ozonated water dispensed from their sanitizing machine as a sanitizer for up to 24 hours, and a cleaning agent for up to 6 days.

Imagine a food-safe, animal-safe, plant-safe, environmentally safe cleaning and sanitizing solution that can be used on literally any surface imaginable.

And now imagine cost savings of up to 80% on the chemicals you currently use to clean your facilities!

SAO is currently being used by restaurants and food facilities such as McDonald’s, Dominos Pizza, Campbell’s, and Pepsi Co. Companies and institutions like Stanford University, Ball State University, Microsoft, Google, and more. More schools, hotels, hospitals, public facilities and businesses large and small are joining the clean cleaning revolution every day.

You shouldn’t have to compromise your health to maintain a clean and sanitized space.

Save money, save people and save the planet.

If you’d like to learn more about these incredible sanitizing machines and what they can do for your business, contact us today at [email protected] to find out how you can put the natural sanitizing properties of ozone to work in your facilities today.

Join the green cleaning movement