Dr. Bergein Overholt and John Shanahan, President & CEO of Ionogen, believe the majority of disinfectants and cleaning solutions used in household cleaners, hospitals, restaurants, schools and other buildings and workplaces are toxic and can lead to serious health problems.

Dr. Overholt, a leading gastrointestinal physician for over 50 years, is also concerned about the use of dangerous, caustic solutions for cleaning medical devices and other areas.

Dr. Overholt noticed rising cases of severe infections transmitted to patients by duodenoscopes. A change in cleaning method and switch to hypochlorous acid might eliminate the issue.

“The hypochlorous product we were using not only cleaned the facility better, but it improved the health of the building dramatically, long term, maintaining cleanliness not achieved before,” he said.

The number one problem Dr. Overholt and Shanahan believe is harming the disinfectant industry is a lack of honesty.

“What the public is exposed to in advertising for sanitization and disinfection is that these products everyone uses are effective and safe, and non-toxic. That’s not correct,” Overholt said.

If people looked up the safety data sheets on these cleaners, they’d discover most contain a variety of toxic chemicals. Because of the dangers of these disinfectant products, Ionogen developed a non-toxic cleaning solution using hypochlorous acid called Ionopure.