Sporicidin wipes

Jane Brown inquires about the product "Sporicidan," which is
actually Sporicidin, manufactured by

    Sporicidin International
    121 Congressional Lane
    Rockville, MD 20852
    301-231-7700
    Fax: 301-231-8165
    <URL:http://www.sporicidin.com>

        **** Moderator's comments: I should have caught the
        misspelling. In the archives, the spelling has been
        corrected in the Subject line, to facilitate retrieval, but
        not in the body of the original message.

The company manufactures a wide range of antimicrobial solutions.
Some have gained considerable popularity among mold remediation
firms. The products do appear to have a significant residual effect.
They have a relatively low pH. And they can be used in occupied
spaces, including HVAC ducts. While the manufacturer's web site
fails to provide MSDS, the product appears (at least when tested in
1998) to be 1.56% phenol and 0.06% sodium phenate.

It think it is safe to say that there are appropriate uses of this
product for non-collection cleaning. It appears to be particularly
good for dealing with porous building products, such as gypsum board
and OSB. It does have a "dwell" time of 10 minutes, meaning that
multiple applications are important.

I would *not*, however, advise its use on collections. This is
probably a good example of a product's use being extended into
inappropriate areas.

Beyond the fact that we don't know the long-term effects to
collections, I once again remind readers that our goal should be to
clean up mold, not kill it. "Killing" it with chemicals simply
results in mold particles which may still be drawn deep into the
lungs--except that now they are also coated with toxic chemicals.

Far better is safely cleaning mold up, using HEPA vacuums and
appropriate PPE.

Michael Trinkley, Ph.D.
Director
Chicora Foundation, Inc.
PO Box 8664
Columbia, SC 29202
803-787-6910


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:20
                Distributed: Monday, September 16, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-16-20-006
                                  ***