Deep Reflection

By Norm Roth
www.rothsalesenhancers.com

The question is often asked: What is green cleaning? Simply put, it is cleaning to protect health without harming the environment. Many people wonder, Why practice green cleaning? The answer is green cleaning is better for human and animal health and has less impact on the environment. Green cleaning reduces waste, increases efficiency and protects the indoor and outdoor environment, plus can also cost less.

We all know cleaning is the removal of unwanted matter including macro soils (those we can see with the naked eye) and micro soils (those we cannot see).

This includes the removal or elimination of harmful chemicals and other matter, and transforming people and processes that pollute into those that don’t.

Cleaning by the very nature and definition should be Green, however the voices crying out for Green Cleaning have awakened our senses to the fact we have not always been cleaning but rather polluting than  removing the harmful dust and germs and adding toxic substances to the air and our environment.

Benefits

Green cleaning benefits not only the environment, but your health and even your pocketbook. Practicing green cleaning reduces waste, increases efficiency and protects the indoor and outdoor environment

Common Misconceptions

Many people think green cleaners do not work as well as traditional cleaners, or that they are more expensive. Learn why in many instances, this is not the case, as well as dispel other myths of green cleaning.

The Microfiber Cloth

Cloths made of microfiber completely remove dust, and when used alone or with a little water do not leave a chemical film or streaks behind. You can clean and polish surfaces in one action, picking up more than 97 percent of the dust and other materials containing microbes, pollen and mold.

Why Customers & Prospects Should Hire Your Green Cleaning Company

First of all, they should consider the health of their customers and themselves as they look into cleaning services. Did you realize that most conventional cleansers depend on chemicals that can actually harm the quality of the air in businesses, and homes unfortunately, this is true. The phosphates, chlorine bleach, and other harsh ingredients can make you’re a home or businesses environment less healthy than it should be. By providing Green Cleaning your company can solve this problem.

Use only the kindest cleaning solutions in your business, communicate that you understand the need for breathable, pure air.

Deep Reflection is committed to providing all of our customers and business associates with what we believe to be the finest quality Green Cleaning Products to be found on the planet. Our reputation for exemplary customer service goes hand in hand with our commitment to giving you the best and latest innovation in green cleaning products and services.

Research on standard-issue hospital pillows found that they could transmit infections like MRSA and C. diff.

Why? After two years of use, dust mites (living and dead) plus their feces, dead skin, and potentially harmful bacteria constitute over a third of a pillow's weight.

Hospital pillows, void of any outward signs of disrepair, can stay in circulation for well over two years -- especially if slapping on a pillow case covers up an worn-down appearance -- meaning a pillow could potentially spread pathogens between patients for much of its use life.

However, notes lead researcher Dr. Art Tucker, "People put a clean pillow case on and it looks and smells nice and fresh, but you are wrapping up something really nasty underneath."

However, the study showed that a special medical pillow -- created from a special bacteria-resistant membrane usually employed in heart stent filters -- tested negative for all microorganisms after two months.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/06/22/uk-study-finds-pillows-breeding...

Over ten thousand Canadians die each year from superbugs (like E. coli and MRSA) they picked up during hospital stays -- making superbugs the fourth-leading cause of death in the nation.

Even worse: according to Sharon Richer, vice president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, "Thirty to 50% of the deaths are preventable just by [proper] cleaning."

The union created a mock hospial room to demonstrate proper sanitation, which includes cleaning ceilings, walls, beds, and equipment -- and throwing out any exposed disposable supplies, like gauze, even if unused.

While hospital cleaning guidelines, overworked and understaffed janitorial departments lack the time and backing to satisfactorially complete their jobs. With up to a quarter million Canadians contracting superbugs each year, Richer's union is emphasizing the importance of increased funding for hospital housekeeping.

Source: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3194080

The US Environmental Protection Agency has awarded nearly $3 million to better understand how the liver responds to environmental toxicants. Four academic institutions will develop methods and tools to enhance what society knows about environmental contaminants and the liver, the body’s waste treatment organ.

Among other things, these methods and tools will improve the agency’s Virtual Liver (v-Liver) chemical toxicity prediction model. The v-Liver model estimates the potential for chemicals to cause chronic diseases such as cancer using innovative computer science and other technologies. The v-Liver uses chemical data from rapid tests and published literature to develop a state-of-the-art computer model that can predict the potential toxicity of chemicals in a much more efficient and effective way than current laboratory-based animal models.

“The liver plays a front line role in removing chemicals after they enter the human body, which means the liver faces harmful effects if the chemical is toxic,” says Dr. Robert Kavlock, director of EPA’s National Center for Computational Toxicology, “Evaluating the risk of liver toxicity due to these chemicals is critical for protecting human health.”

There are thousands of chemicals in use and hundreds more introduced every year. Traditional chemical toxicity tests using animals are expensive and time consuming. Once complete, the v-Liver model will help EPA prioritize which chemicals need more extensive toxicity assessments and simulate the biological response of the liver to chemical exposure.

The institutions receiving EPA funding include the Hamner Institute in North Carolina, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Indiana University at Bloomington, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. They will work closely with EPA scientists to research how chemicals interact with cells as they enter the liver. The results of this research will provide the v-Liver model new data and tools to better understand how chemicals disrupt cells in the liver, and how this leads to disease.EPA is meeting with these institutions June 22 at its Research Triangle Park campus in North Carolina to discuss this project.

EPA’s STAR program funds research grants in numerous environmental science and engineering disciplines through a competitive solicitation process and independent peer review. The STAR program engages the nation’s best scientists and engineers in targeted research that complements EPA’s own outstanding research program.

Contact Information: Carolyn Hubbard, hubbard.carolyn@epa.gov
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/264D13A8668731C1852578B7004FB9FE

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making it easier to find data about chemicals. EPA is releasing two databases — the Toxicity Forecaster database (ToxCastDB) and a database of chemical exposure studies (ExpoCastDB) — that scientists and the public can use to access chemical toxicity and exposure data." Read more at CleanLink.

• ToxCastDB: http://actor.epa.gov/actor/faces/ToxCastDB/Home.jsp
• ExpoCastDB: http://actor.epa.gov/actor/faces/ExpoCastDB/Home.jsp

The Genencor Household Sustainability Index released in May 2011 found that 80% of American and Canadian consumers would prefer environmentally-friendly and bio-based products if they could compete with traditional products in cost and effectiveness. Fifty-three percent of the 2,000 US individuals surveyed reported that they had recently purchased at least one green product.

The consumers identified green products as ones that:
• Are made from sustainable/renewable ingredients
• Require less energy to produce or use
• Contain few if any harmful ingredients

“[Consumer demand] mirrors what is [also] happening in the professional cleaning industry,” says Mike Sawchuk, vice president of Enviro-Solutions. “Distributors and end users are becoming more familiar with bio-based cleaning products; recognize them as green, especially if they are certified green; and if comparable in price and performance, appear quite willing to select them.”

Via CleanLink.

Nearly half of health care professionals around the world fail to comply with the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Save Lives: Clean Your Hands campaign. Only half (51.4%) of the 76,803 handwashing opportunities that the study observed were in compliance with the recommendation. Below are a few of the more interesting break downs on compliance.

By title:

• Nurses, 64% compliance
• Physicians, 48% compliance

By country:

• Europe, 64% compliance
• Americans, 26% compliance

By field:

• Ambulatory, 72% compliance
• Medical, 60% compliance
• Intensive care, 59% compliance
• Obstetrics, 37% compliance

According to a survey, 90% of carpet technicians do not expect tips after completing a service. Out of the same group, only 7% reported that they usually receive tips while 29% said they never do. Technicians rarely earned more than $25 in tips per job.

This data suggests that tipping is not customary in the carpet cleaning industry, so consumers don't need to feel bad about not giving tips to techs. However, a tip is always a great way to show appreciation for superior service -- but when it isn't feasible, referring the company to your acquaintances is the way to go. 

MRSA can be infamouly difficult to get rid of, so prevention via consistent and thorough hand washing is the best method to avoid this nasty bacteria. However, if you think you've been safe thanks to frequent hand sanitizer use, think again. The FDA announced that many hand sanitizers on the market simply don't kill MRSA, despite claims to the contrary. Companies that label with products with unproven MRSA claims will now face federal fines. Via CleanLink.

Some hand sanitizers and antiseptic products come with claims that they can prevent MRSA infections. But, these statements are unproven, says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Healthy & Human Services, MRSA (methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus) is a bacterium that can cause severe—even life-threatening—infections that do not respond to standard treatment with the antibiotic methicillin.

Bedbug populations have been on the rise, spreading across houses, hotels and other facilities all over the United States. Now it looks like the irritating blood-sucking creatures are upgrading from just obnoxious to potentially dangerous, according to a recent CDC study discovered that the insects carrying harmful MRSA bacteria. MRSA is typically associated with hospital settings, but since bedbugs easily travel on human clothing, it could possibly become a household issue if bedbugs aren't kept in check. Via CleanLink.

According to an article scheduled to be released in the June 2011 issue of Energing Infectious Diseases, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health journal, bedbugs were reportedly refound to carry Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Vancomyclin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). Although bedbugs have not been shown to spread disease to date, Canadian researchers have now proven that they at least carry bacteria known to cause these sometimes hard-to-treat infections.
 
Bedbugs are about 7 mm long, wingless and reddish brown in color and feed on the blood of their victims. Because they are so small, they are often hard to detect, and the situation is made worse because they commonly live in the cracks and crevices of mattresses.