Currently, the public doesn't know if they use it or not, truth is that the publicity did disappear. Why is a product called anti-bacteria?
Personally I was involved in a R&D project for anti-bacteria. And it was really simple to obtain, actually it's a chemical additive that is mixed in the proportion to the resin used in the material, so in truth the resin is anti-bacterial. I have put in a picture of a sample testing, basically you see the bacteria is avoiding the contact with the piece.
Anyway, the Italians have avoided using these types of additives, they continuously stated that quartz based material didn't contribute for bacterial action. The Spanish Silestone company used this for marketing, generalizing to all it's products, so everything produced by Silestone was anti-bacterial. I had clients discussing this as if it was a plus to buy Silestone, nevertheless today it's out ..
2 comments:
Another interesting topic. Personally I consider it only as a great marketing operation.
Antimicrobial active additive prevent bacteria to degrade, directly or indirectly, plastic as PVC, polyurethanes and polyethylenes (polyester resin generally is not degraded), and prevent formation of algae, fungi, foul odours, discolouration, black or pink spots etc on all plastics surface.
I understand the use of biocide additive for plastics in hospital (diagnostics equipments etc) or food processing companies ( additional protection and reducing idle time for cleaning) but less for kitchen utensils or work top for residential home. Also a consideration: the antimicrobial additive will prevent bacteria to grow on kitchen top but not on any food left hours on a kitchen top. I suggest buyers to read carefully the documentation released by Microban®:1) make the product of yr home more easy to clean and keep cleaner between each cleaning. 2)Microban® technology IS NOT designed to protect users fm disease causing microorganism.3) Does the use of antimicrobials cause resistant strain of microorganism? ... there are no evidence of resistant strain development.
Last note: the agreement of exclusivity supply between Cosentino and Microban® should expire on the 2015.
Already to many chemical substances enter in contact or are added to our food. Also I would like more manufacturers to suggest their customers to clean work top (or dishes) with more natural substances as white vinegar and bicarbonate ( we do not all live in hospitals ).Rgds.
On March 19, 2010, a special commission appointed by the European Union, has announced that Triclosan (also known as 2,4,4'-trichloro-2'-hydroxydiphenyl ether), the active ingredient in Silestone's anti-bacterial Microban treatment, has been banned from the list of additives which may be used in the manufacture of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs (Annex III to Directive 2002/72/EC).
The commission has decided that Plastic materials and articles manufactured with Triclosan, placed on the market before 1 November 2010, may continue to be marketed until 1 November 2011, subject to national law.
Attached you may find a link to the European Commission's decision.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:075:0025:01:EN:HTML
I would like to see that engineered stone manufacturers would invest time and money to make their product less prone to staining. That would make much more sense and better marketing than giving consumers falso hope that their kitchen is getting safer. Think about the slabs with honed finish, we sold a lot of them over the past 14 years. At StoneTech I heard that Pokarna (Quantra) will launch such a product very soon. Can't wait to see more companies follow it.
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