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News and Promotions
January 01, 2007
They live among us, but they are too small to be seen. They move slowly, but they multiply fast. They work silently, but they could give you a hacking cough, or worse, a fatal disease, in a matter of seconds. They are the harmful microbes that are found everywhere.
In this world we live in, boosting one’s immune system is not enough to fight the potential dangers that these organisms could bring. And to make matters worse, a certain type of fungus has been known to penetrate the walls of the place where we feel the safest, our own home.
Black mold, also known as stachy, has been reported to cause serious health problems ranging from simple headaches and dry cough, to internal bleeding. It was first discovered in 2001 when the toxic mold invaded the southern states of the US. The damage was so bad that a university in North Carolina ended up spending US$25 Million cleaning up the mold and paying for the hospitalization of the infected students and teachers. Across the country, the mold caused people to abandon buildings, close schools, or leave their homes.
On its website, the Paint Research Association (www.pra-world.com), a UK-based association of paint companies, cited that fungal growth on a paint film normally appears as dark spots on the surface and is sometimes confused with dirt.
"As well as disfiguring the surface, the organism can actually penetrate the film and make it more permeable to water. Fungal organisms (like the black mold) reproduce by producing spores and can be s significant health hazard to persons with respiratory allergies," the website stated.
To this day, avoiding the "sick house syndrome" caused by black mold remains a primary concern of real estate developers and mold removal service companies in the US.
Here in the Philippines, the black mold may not have invaded homes yet, but Pacific Paint (BOYSEN®) Philippines, Inc. is not one to take any chances. To help fight these potentially deadly indoor fungi before they even get to Philippine homes, the company entered into a partnership early this year with leading anti-microbial company Microban. The partnership gave birth to BOYSEN® Healthy Home, a low-odor premium paint which uses proprietary Microban technology to form a long-lasting barrier against harmful bacteria that get in contact with and grow in walls. The technology has been proven to be effective in 20,000 tests all over the world as it inhibits bacterial growth by disrupting the ability of bacteria to generate energy.
"What this technology does is really change the concept of what paint is about," said BOYSEN® vice-president Johnson Ongking. "Traditionally, paint has been used to protect the surfaces that make up the structure of the house, whether it be your cement wall, wooden floor, or metal roof. With the incorporation of Microban, we will have paint that will help protect the people living inside the structure as well." The Microban in BOYSEN® Healthy Home acts as the walls’ protective barrier against common disease-causing microbes like e. coli, salmonella, listeria, aspergillus, cladosporium, and trichoderma.
Unlike regular household disinfectants, the Microban tehcnology does not wear or wash off, even for log period of time. The secret behind this innovation is the incorporation of the technology early during the manufacturing stage of the paint products. The Microban Technology kills bactery on contact, and as long as the paint remains on the wall, it will keep on killing potentially harmful bacteria.
The paint’s antibacterial features make it an ideal choice for families with children as well as schools and day care centers. BOYSEN® Healthy Home is also perfect for places where high standards of hygiene are critical such as medical facilities and food manufacturing facilities; and recommended for high traffic public areas such as hotels, restaurants, and office buildings where the sheer number of people increases the risk of bacterial presence.
"When the leading causes of morbidity in our country are those that can be helped addressed by better hygiene, there’s no question we can all benefit from a culture of good household hygiene," Ongking said. "We wash our hands with antibacterial soap to get extra protection form microbes; having antibacterial paint on the wall offers that same concept of extra security," He concluded.
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