FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. How does hydrogen peroxide act as a disinfectant?

Hydrogen peroxide readily decomposes, especially in contact with organic material. This produces highly reactive, short-lived atomic oxygen. This reacts with and attacks the surface of microorganisms.

2. Why is it useful to combine hydrogen peroxide with Silver?

Oligodynamic effects take some time to kick in and are not equally effectively against all micro-organisms. Silver therefore primarily exerts a long-lasting, preservative, bacteriostatic effect.
Higher doses of silver do not necessarily work faster or better. One option, therefore, is to enhance the biocidal effect of silver by using it in combination with other substances.
In combination with oxidising substances such as hydrogen peroxide, the effects are synergistic, producing a highly effective biocidal complex.

3. Is Silver a heavy metal?

HThe term ‘heavy metal’ is generally used to refer to a group of metals with densities greater than 5.0 g/cm³. Under this definition, silver, which has a density of 10.49 g/cm³, is indeed a heavy metal – as are iron (7.9 g/cm³), nickel (8.9 g/cm³), copper (8.9 g/cm³) and gold (19.32 g/cm³). Heavy metals which are particularly resistant to corrosion are known as noble metals. These include gold, silver and platinum group metals. It is their corrosion resistance and lack of reactivity that makes noble metals suitable for use in jewellery and dental implants.

4. Is Silver toxic?

Like almost everything else in this world (salt, alcohol, water, Big Macs, etc.) silver is not completely ‘non-toxic’. “The dose makes the poison,” as the famous pharmaceutical saying goes.
A number of different maximum doses are therefore defined for silver, depending on the form in which it is used. Conversely, this means that as long as these permitted doses are not exceeded silver is harmless and therefore non-toxic.

5. Is Hydrogen Peroxide toxic?

Hydrogen peroxide is made up of oxygen and hydrogen atoms. It decomposes into water and oxygen without leaving any residue, and is a powerful oxidising agent. This means it can be harmful at higher concentrations or in greater quantities. At low doses or appropriately diluted, it is immediately neutralised by the catalase and peroxidase enzymes produced by our bodies, which break it down into water and oxygen. Hydrogen peroxide solutions are used in the healthcare sector for direct disinfection on or in people, e.g. disinfecting the mouth or throat, bladder irrigation, dental cervix treatments, ear irrigation, etc. It is also used as a preservative and disinfectant in a variety of face creams.

6. What are the reasons for the safety of Silver in the SANOSIL disinfectant?

-Silver is a noble metal and, like gold and copper, one of the heavy metals.
-Like everything else, at a high enough dose silver can be poisonous. But to poison yourself with the silver contained in Sanosil, is impossible in case of professional application
-To poison yourself with the amount of silver in Sanosil, you would need to drink 3 liters of water containing 20 ppm Sanosil per day for about 910 years.
-For someone weighing 70 kg, the EPA considers an intake of 0.35 mg of silver per day to be safe. That corresponds to 5 litres of water containing 20 ppm Sanosil or 3.5 liters containing 30 ppm Sanosil.
-A liter of water containing 20 ppm Sanosil contains less silver than a litre of American milk. Consequently, no environment agency has ever banned the discharge of coolant water treated with Sanosil into surface water.
-By a surface disinfection with Sanosil, silver remains as a slight residue, and sticks very hard on it. This residue can only be removed by mechanical cleaning. It is impossible that this silver is detached from the surface by itself as dust or vapor and float in the air. A cumulation of the silver strains by repeated spray-and-wipe applications is also not possible.
-Silver residues on a square meter surface cold fogged with Sanosil weigh less than a grain of salt or 1/10 amount of vitamin C in a lemon.

7. Are SANOSIL products biocide-compliant?

The patented SANOSIL products contain the active ingredients hydrogen peroxide (CAS 7722-84-1) and silver (CAS 7440-22-4). Both products are listed at ECHA or European agency for chemical registration. Thus, the sale and use in the EU (and other states that follow their directives) is legal. Following the final EU assessment of the raw materials, the individual Sanosil products are registered in the respective product groups according to BPR.

8. Are there any SANOSIL replica products on the market?

Yes, there are. Word of the exceptionally successful combination of hydrogen peroxide and silver has of course spread and has spurred the occasional imitator into action. Fortunately, deliberate counterfeits (i.e. products which are fraudulently sold under the Sanosil name) are rare.

9. How does the original SANOSIL product differ from the replica?

There are a few replicas which, as long as they are fresh, have a very similar concentration of active ingredients to the original. However, we have been told by a number of sources that the shelf life and stability of these products over a period of several months presents problems in many cases. In addition, many of our imitators do not have legal access to silver, to enable them to properly declare it in accordance with ECHA (European Chemicals Agency) regulations. As a result, these companies often either avoid mentioning the silver content or deny its biocidal effect, with silver instead being listed as a ‘hydrogen peroxide stabiliser’.

What is Hydrogen Peroxide?
Hydrogen Peroxide is a chemical compound consisting of two hydrogen atoms and two oxygen atoms. It has the chemical formula H2O2. When it decomposes, Hydrogen Peroxide breaks down into water and oxygen.

What is Silver?
Silver is a noble and heavy metal. Metal ions affect cell membrane permeability. This weakens sensitive micro-organisms and makes them more sensitive to oxidizing biocides. Silver is an element with symbol Ag.