Making dough from old mould

Over at sciscoop we just received a press release announcing a new enzyme-based mould-reducing cleaning product. The PR company that sent it announces that the eco-friendly solution removes mould stains and odours, and go on to say that “Unlike bleach and other commercial cleaners, it is 100% environmentally safe, biodegradable, and hypoallergenic – thus, not harmful to human, animal, plant and marine life.”

Quite a few claims to be making about a solution containing enzymes. 100% environmentally safe. That’s a load of bull, nothing can be 100% safe in any terms. It kills moulds for a start, who’s to say that destroying mould species won’t upset an ecosystem somewhere or other? Biodegradable, fair enough, but doesn’t biodegradation release carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases? The claim for hypoallergenicity has to be taken with a pinch of salt too. Enzymes are proteins and it is well known to anyone who has had a rash from using biological washing powder, that enzymes can cause allergic reactions and eczema. Why would these mould-destroying enzymes be any more benign. There will be users who “react” to this product.

My own reaction – everyone wants mould-free domestic environments, but making such spurious claims about a product won’t get me checking the supermarket shelf for this one any time soon. I’m not even going to name it – that’s how annoying their press release was!