Background
The Problem
In pursuit of an healthy environment the over-use of toxic chemicals has compromised our health and our planet. Billions of pounds of toxic chemicals are released into our environment before ending up in our ground water.
Rise of AMR – Anti-Microbial Resistance
Human pathogens are becoming resistant to antibiotics developed over the past century, and common infections once routinely managed by conventional antibiotics can now become fatal even with best-practice therapy. Current methods for disinfection can contribute to the development of resistance, prove toxic to tissues, and damage the environment.
Chemical resistance:
the rise of superbugs is of utmost concern – a wide range of microorganisms have become resistant to antibiotics, and as a result, have become more deadly and harder to kill. Schools, health care facilities, fitness centres, restaurants etc., all need to carry out germ control to prevent outbreaks.
As the problem increases the choice is between the use of ever stronger chemicals with longer contact times for greater effect, thereby exacerbating the problem, or the use of an highly effective alternative that kills all known microbes without engendering resistance or harming the environment.
Prevention is key – Take Control
One method for addressing the developing risk of AMR is to attack pathogens before they become life-threatening infections using decontamination and disinfection techniques.
History
Hypochlorous Acid was discovered by chemists over 150 years ago and has been in constant use since that time. Its anti-infective properties were recognised even before the widespread use of aqueous chlorine as an antiseptic for traumatic wounds in World War I. It was not until decades later that it was discovered HOCl is naturally formed within activated human neutrophils (type of white blood cell). Antimicrobial effects on bacteria within phagosomes are rapid and powerful.
Over the last two decades more than one hundred reports have appeared in the literature documenting HOCl performance in horticulture, dairy facilities, animal production housing, extended care institutions and hospitals, making a strong case for HOCl as an attractive option for reliable, safe, high-level disinfection within institutional settings.
What makes Nemesis different?
The scientists behind Nemesis are the first to produce an effective and stable ECA product. The products are revolutionary because they’re made of the same molecule that is produced by the mammalian immune system to fight bugs, so they’re completely safe for people and animals.
The science behind hypochlorous acid and its benefits as a disinfectant are well known and there are other companies making HOCl generators and (very recently) packaged hypochlorous acid.
However, the technology behind Nemesis has developed over the course of the last 12 years and is ground-breaking for three reasons:
Stability
Nemesis’s chemistry is genuinely stable, containing no artificial stabilisers and is not the managed decay products that one or two competitors have recently launched. This is due to the unique design of its electro-chemical cell.
Efficiency
Its cell design also means generator units do not need daily maintenance downtime, nor do the cells have a short finite life, thus providing a reliable, cost efficient method of product delivery.
Effectiveness
The Nemesis process can generate an high purity hypochlorous acid solution over a wide pH range. This is because its technology disrupts the conventional chlorine chemistry equilibrium where the chlorine species present is dependent on the pH of the solution leading to a mixture of chlorine, hypochlorous acid and sodium hypochlorite.
The Nemesis scientists are the co-owners of the only approved active substance dossiers covering HOCI and Electro-Chemically Activated Water European Union Biocides Products Directive (EU98/8) and European Union Biocides Products Regulations (EU 528/2012).