But I donʼt know if that is legit. toward validating environmentally preferable claims on sanitizers and disinfectants. Below are portions of that discussion. Bob The Cleaner 4/9/2009 No law against it (at least in the private sec-tor ... yet) and is well within ethical guide-lines if it's not a quid-pro-quo. As long as there's no expectation of per-formance for acceptance, there's no better thank you than a juicy envelope. It can, however, create the illusion of impropriety, and such matters should be handled with utmost discretion. Posted By: Richard DiPaolo 10/8/2008 ISSA just sent out a press release noting that the EPA is moving forward with developing a proposal which would allow companies to market green claims on sanitizers, disinfectants and possibly other EPA registered pesticides. I know several end users have been waiting for this day. Are you happy, sad or indifferent? when they are going to make the really harmful stuff green, say like aerosol hair-spray? I agree with the annoyed verdict. And a lot of the companies that I have bid have said, “I donʼt care what kind of clean-ing products you use, as long as it works. You are buying it.” Shane Deubell 4/9/2009 You mean payoffs; yeah you want to be dis-creet. And we wonder why our politicians are corrupt and incompetent ... because we are. I hate that nonsense. Robert Jess 10/9/2008 Same here, customers could care less. I was reading an article forgot were I seen it, but they tested 1,000 so-called labeled green products to see if they really were what they have claimed to be. Out of 1,000, only 1 passed, so that should tell you something. Responses: Lynn Krafft 10/8/2008 Iʼm just filled with wonderment! A truly “green” disinfectant or pesticide is an impos-sibility. “Green” means it is environmentally safe and harmless to living things. Anything that kills something is not meant to be harm-less, so what will “green” disinfection really mean, annoying the microorganisms? Actually, we already have something that resulted from ineffectual usage of a product that was supposed to kill and did not. We call it MRSA. Why would anyone sit breath-lessly awaiting this silly marketing ploy? Milton Doss 4/13/2009 I'll agree Shane. If you have to do some-thing discreet, something seems unethical about it. That which is done in the dark will soon come to the light. Sound familiar? John Porreca 10/10/2008 Itʼs a myth; the products need to clean. They also need to kill in addition to clean. I believe that most janitors look for both the cleaning and the kill factor when applying disinfectants. Sandy Conrad 4/14/2009 A nice handwritten thank you note is what I'd do. Joel R. Daniel 10/18/2008 The only thing “green” about “green” is the money that changes hands behind the scenes. Itʼs one of the biggest scams to come down the road in years. Add to that government mandates and youʼve got a recipe for more disaster than you can even imagine. CM Shane Deubell 4/14/2009 I like that Sandy. That is what we do after every job, regardless of the size. Ken Galo 10/8/2008 All the companies [are] waiting with the new “green” labels to put on their products to sell to all of us once it becomes mandated to use it. I figure 2010. Put me down as mod-erately annoyed and powerless to stop it. Get involved CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management Online ™ viewers as well as CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® magazine readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor on topics of interest to the professional cleaning and maintenance industry. Send letters to the editor to [email protected]. Editor’s Note: As mentioned in this month’s Cleanthoughts , a few months back we asked our online read-ers what they thought about EPA’s efforts Melissa Jent 10/8/2008 They are going to the extreme to make all the cleaning chemicals green. I wonder www.cmmonline.com 7
CMM – Archives May 2009: 7
