Hypochlorous Acid Products Approved by the EPA

The EPA has already listed many products with hypochlorous acid, that are approved as a disinfectant (examples are Envirolyte and Aquaox). Aquaox can claim the following:

• Kills 99.9999% of germs and bacteria
• Effective against Methicillin Resistant, Staphylococcus Aureaus (MRSA), Swine Influenza Virus (H1V1), Escherichia coli (NDM), Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE), Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1), Mycobacterium bovis (BCG), Salmonella enterica.

Note how there is nothing that is said about the product's ability to kill COVID-19, specifically.  Since traditional labs are unable to test for COVID-19 at this time, the EPA may be approving many HOCl products based on the fact that it has been proven effective against the majority of pathogens (like bleach and alcohol). 

EPA registration for products that have undergone testing to kill the coronavirus, specifically, requires a different process that involves a lot of time and paperwork. This means that most companies that generate HOCl machines are still awaiting approval.

Fortunately, the EPA has listed 2 Hypochlorous Acid disinfectants that are known to kill CoV-2 (their approved product list is growing very slowly).  

In October 2002, the FDA cleared superoxidized water as a high-level disinfectant (FDA, personal communication, September 18, 2002). You can see this in the CDC's document "Guideline for Disinfection and Sterilization in Healthcare Facilities," 2008, in the last paragraph of page 43.  You can that the FDA has listed Hypochlorous acid in their document, "Inventory of Effective Food Contact Substances (FCS) Notifications" - by clicking on THIS PAGE.

The new strain of Coronavirus also goes by the disease name "coronavirus disease" and COVID-19, and the virus name is classified as SARS-CoV-2. You can read more about the verbage, HERE. I'm pointing this out so you can see that CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19.

Because the COVID-19 strain is not yet available for testing in traditional labs, you won't find many hypochlorous acid products that can advertise their ability to kill it. But if you look at your hand sanitizer, you may notice that it doesn't list an ability to kill the coronavirus, either! 

EPA approval is a slow process that's taking a particularly long time right now, amid the global chaos. But hopefully it won't be long before all laboratories offer COVID-19 testing for companies that make hypochlorous acid products and generators.

If you CLICK HERE, you can see the EPA's list of approved Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2 (aka COVID-19, or The Coronavirus). If you type "hypochlorous acid" into the search box, you can see these 2 disinfectants do pop up. 

One product is called "Cleansmart," and the other is called "Cousteau."


Here is a breakdown of the ingredients in these two products.  As you can see, the ingredients are just water, salt (sodium chloride), and hypochlorous acid. The hypochlorite ion is a natural part of the ionization process.

CLEANSMART PDF

These are the ingredients for Cousteau, which are the same as the ingredients for CleanSmart, but the hypochlorite ion is not listed.

COUSTEAU PDF

Again, please keep in mind that more products are being added, and the EPA has a statement on their website that says:

Note: Inclusion on this list does not constitute an endorsement by EPA. There may be additional disinfectants that meet the criteria for use against SARS-CoV-2. EPA will update this list with additional products as needed.

There are many hypochlorous acid products available on the market, and on Amazon. Products like PathoCide, Puracyn, Briotech, Curativa Bay and HypoChlor are really effective for killing pathogens, with lots of happy customers.  Just keep in mind that these products can cost up to $12 per ounce. I go through about 2 ounces of this stuff every day! 

But when it comes to germs that can severely disrupt your life and health - in my opinion, hypohlorous acid can be worth it's weight in gold.