After having spent the last 15-years in the business of designing and building ozone-based water and air treatment systems and devices, some claim that I'm out in the ozone, but that's another topic. I am very familiar with the disinfection powers of what those of us in the ozone business like to call Nature's Purifier.
Ozone, by laboratory analysis is over 3,000 times faster than chlorine in killing a bacterium in the news a lot lately, Escherichia coli, better known as E-coli, that has caused the recall of many thousands of tons of meat products and even spinach.
Anther bacterium has been given the mantle of Super Bug (I wonder if it wears a cape?) and endowed with an ominous-sounding title, MRSA for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. In addition to being all over the news, it's seemingly all over everything else. With officialdom nervously wringing hands and issuing hand-washing calls and hazardous material-suited attendants nervously spraying chemical disinfectant on everything in hospitals and schools, they are missing something; ozone is the single best tool available to fight the problem where it lurks.
Research and real world application studies conducted by members of the International Ozone Association (IOA), their customers and testing agencies worldwide have shown ambient temperature washing of laundry and surfaces with ozonated water to be effective at reducing pathogenic organisms including Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria and MRSA by up to 99.999999 percent.
A 2006 paper presented at the International Ozone Association Conference in Arlington of all places reported on ozone in the laundry industry. Practical Experiences in the UK reported on comparative testing conducted by Microsearch Laboratories, (UK) confirming that low temperature ozone wash is extremely effective in inactivating organisms typically found on garments, towels and linens from healthcare facilities.
Ozone currently protects public health in drinking water and wastewater treatment and is proving to be a safe and affective antimicrobial sanitizer and disinfectant in numerous commercial and industrial applications. Ozone could be the subject of an Amazing Discoveries reality TV show and still the facts, power and abilities of ozone are relatively unknown to the public.
