American Airlines was given emergency approval earlier this week to use a new disinfectant that promises to kill coronavirus on surfaces for up to a week. But be aware the cleaner may actually do little to prevent the spread of virus and be harmful to passengers and flight attendants.
New Coronavirus Disinfectant On American Airlines May Do More Harm Than Good
The new product is called SurfaceWise2 and is produced by a company called Allied BioScience in Dallas. According to the company, the cleaner “binds to surfaces and kills viruses that land on it, including COVID-19.”
Fast-tracked through the regulatory approval process, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler called it a “game-changing” product. But Jennifer Sass of the Natural Resources Defense Council told the Washington Post:
“It would be great if this was a miracle solution, but it’s not. There’s plenty of risk here and too much we don’t know about how this chemical could actually harm people.”
Sass explained that the product’s Material Safety Data Sheet included a number of warnings, including against prolonged skin and eye contact. Both contacts are not only possible, but probable in an aircraft cabin. This is especially true for flight attendants. Symptoms of exposure include irritation, which may increase the risk of infection to viruses by inflaming airways. Furthermore, the product kills microbes…both the good ones and the bad ones; that is why the product is toxic to aquatic organisms. Lastly, there is no research yet about the product’s long-term effects. The product’s safety sheet does not include a breakdown of active ingredients, instead calling its formula a trade secret.
A spokesperson for SurfaceWise2 dismisses such concerns:
“The product is electrostatically sprayed with an ultrafine mist, allowing it [to] dry within minutes, creating a polymer coating. The polymer coating is nontoxic, nonirritating and non-sensitizing, and has been rigorously tested for safety — both in partnership with AA and EPA.”
The problem, however, is that our understanding of COVID-19 suggests that the virus is not spread over surfaces, but via droplets that travel through the air. Such surface cleansers may do more harm than good.
CONCLUSION
I’m not a scientist. But doesn’t the idea of breathing in disinfectants seem to further compromise the battle against the virus by potentially leading to the sort of irritation or inflammation that might make COVID-19 more likely to spread via the air? American Airlines calls its new disinfectant groundbreaking. I’m not convinced.
What is your thoughts on the new fast-tracked cleaning “miracle” from American Airlines?
I agree, Princess cruise ship proved Covid is airbone. People were locked in their cabins, but the virus continued to spread. To save money cruise ships recirculate the air in the ship mixed in with fresh air. Probably a few years from now the make of SurfaceWise2, and companies like American Airlines will be facing class action lawsuits once studies show it is unsafe.
I’ve not read one article where someone got Covid-19 from a surface. It was a lot easier for the “experts” , aka government employees doing the minimum to receive a paycheck (no innovation), to say wash your hands often instead of letting us know that the disease is airbone, which would require a plan to combat the disease.
A microbiostatic is NOT a disinfectant. There is a true disinfectant and microbiostatic that AA didn’t consider and it is clinically tested to be safe for humans because it IS NOT A CHEMICAL KILL disinfectant, it is a MECHANICAL KILL. That is a huge difference and it is graded “5” by the FDA which means it can be used in food processing and preparation areas too. A mechanical kill destroys the microbes by puncturing the microscopic cells instead of using chemicals to kill them. It also means it is less likely to become less effective if the virus mutates and becomes immune to certain chemicals. You shouldn’t write an article without first investigating the efficacy of the product based on clinical data or don’t you believe in science?
Seems like the most vulnerable and the first to report any issues will be Flight Attendants. I’m surprised the unions have not weighed in. But, I guess they have their mind on other issues right now.
Coronavirus can live up to 7 days depending on different surfaces. So technically if you touch a contaminated surface with your hands and then touch your nose, there would be a risk of infection. The risk may be very small but it’s not zero.
How about this? https://tophotel.news/hospitality-revolution-the-first-ever-self-cleaning-hotel-rooms/
This is all so stupid for a respiratory illness where the vast majority of people have no symptoms, a few more have mild symptoms, very few have severe symptoms, and a tiny percentage die.
Matthew – I know it sounds like corporate dismissal, but the spokesperson is correct. The MSDS has to list all the dangers of the raw chemistry, but once it is sprayed and has polymerized, the danger is gone (or greatly reduced). People applying the chemical should use protection, and it sounds like they will. Others should not be at risk. Besides, this blog and others have touted the amazing HEPA filtration and airflow systems on planes in previous posts. Those filters would also take care of any outgassed volatile chemistries that may be a concern in the first 10-15 minutes of application.
TL;DR – Don’t get scared by an MSDS. If you look up the MSDS of all the components of mayonnaise I’m sure you’ll find something that would cause panic.
Bbbbut the NRDC said it’s bad! They wouldn’t say something without any such evidence whatsoever, would they? Oh wait, yeah, polar bears. Polar bear populations are actually up since the 60s. They are doing just fine. Who knows if this stuff is safe, it seems like the rep totally punked the NRDCs attempt at inducing fear, but I certainly would think you could find a more credible voice on the subject besides an environmental activist.
Finally some common sense answers. Why is the media trying their best to scream doom and gloom. If you are frightened of the world, stay home.
Take a look at the political background of the “National Resources Defense Council” and ask yourself whether or not they might not just have a tiny little bias about this. And the media fell for it like a ton of bricks.
@James is right. I’m have sensitive skin. We know the debacle that flight attendants of a particular big airline experienced when their new uniforms caused many to break out in rashes. Fabric is often coated in various things for wrinkle protection and the uniforms selected by that airline used a troublesome coating. I hated landing in Buenos Aires and having the cabin filled with a bug killing agent (at least I was in business on AA where you can hide in your compartment).
Airlines are rushing to introduce new cleaning agents that can be more toxic than the virus. 99% of people have no or mild symptoms from coronavirus. Mostly the very sick elderly people who are on their last legs die. The people who exaggerate about the severity of coronavirus ignore that we have the seasonal flu that kills many people and people get colds.
Airlines should definitely clean the planes more thoroughly. I myself dread touching door knobs because I think about all the filthy people who touch it. I’m worried about cleanliness, however, not some coronavirus that one is extremely highly unlikely to catch from a surface and one is highly unlikely to have symptoms anyway. Airlines should stick to well tried cleaning products like isopropyl alcohol, bleach in bathrooms and ozone.
How awful is it that the “cure” is worse than the “disease.” Wake up, America!
Hey, Trump already told you that ingesting disinfectants would “do a number” on the virus. This is just putting the Great Leader’s plans into a real application. Stop grousing.
Tip: Check to see who the stockholders of Allied BioScience are. You’re are going to find friends and family of The Orange One.
Idiot
I have been concerned about these products they are spraying. I am sure they dont have to prove it is safe. That is the problem there are millions that are already sick from some of the chemicals in cleaning products, soaps, detergents, air fresheners, etc. Years ago hearing were heald on the dangers and there were so many ill from many chemicals in our products. Even the EPA does not know all chemicals that are in our products for trade secrets. Now so much extra cleaning products out there it really makes many of the sick have more limited places to go. Sadly it can happen to anyone. People all over the world struggling some countries better than others. I hope this products is okay and that the residue left is not a problem. Quite frightning to have this illness. Now the person in charge at the EPA has actually reversed some of the protections from what I read.
“I am not a scientist…”
If so, why go spreading fearmongering clickbait as “news”
The answer to this is simple. Follow the money!!!!!! But don’t forget to look into the large back pockets of those that approve it.
Most likely the trade secret is a silver/copper nanoscale coating. I was involved as a distributor of a coating similar to that. They used a lab in Plano, TX, in which they overloaded their samples to get good test results.
This was found out after 2 years & $100K on my part to get it going. Silver & Copper on long term exposure are not good for the body. Why would they not say what is in it, and How in the world did the EPA let it go to market with no one allowed to know the truth of what is in it ? People beware !
Wow its amazing the level of ignorance of people today! Everyone is lacking vision. Everyone is so selfish. The effects of chemicals will not be seen by us, but our children and grandchildren, babies and pregnant woman, but not immediately but late consequences will be seen. I don’t really care about his covid 19, I lost my Dad for this virus but that doesn’t mean we need to stop living but can we at least be smart and start using products that shares the ingredients? What do you really think that they don’t share ingredients? Because it’s a trade secret? STOP BEING STUPID ! There is nothing that already does not exist. Everything is available and we have in this planet for years when it comes to chemicals. There is no trade secret, what they are hiding is the harmful chemicals that the system allows them to do it. If it was the Magic product, no one in the world would be in danger anymore! But in my opinion, what is killing everyone today it’s not covid, its actually humans, humans are Killing each other with selfish attitudes, greed, desire for power and stupidity! People are brain washed by social media, with brain like a noodle , if you put hot water it melts. I never stopped working even when my father died, but don’t cover up when something is wrong. It’s wrong not showing what the products is made. its wrong approving that in a rush. But again, there is people with interests and money so let’s make it happen!
According to the Dallas news Surfacewise2 is a quaternery ammonium compound of somekind described in: Science Direct at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/quaternary-ammonium-compounds where the four groups surrounding each Nitrogen atom are either alkyl (Methyl, ethyl etc) or aryl (benzene ring compounds).
I know the EPA shut this down but I flew AA on 9/13/22 and immediately upon entering the plane the entire plane smelled of ammonia. It’s almost been two weeks and I still get overwhelmed by the smell of ammonia throughout the day even though no one else does. Sometimes I taste it other times I burp it. I always smell it in my purse that was under the seat as a carry on, but no one else can smell it. I don’t know if surfacewise2 was sprayed but something on that plane is neurologically messing with me.