in our local paper. My bollox meter immediately went to “Warning!!!”.
Unfortunately my knowledge is far too limited to make a valid judgement, but there are many things (using silver they way they claim to be using it, the low concentration it would have in water, the claim that the water remains pathogen free for up to 24 months) that make me suspicious.
The claims are quite dangerous if false: people drinking water thinking it’s safe when its not.
Yeah, all kinds of warning signals. I’m sent them a email, lets see if they respond.
In your FAQ you say that "Aqua Salveo™ Water Disinfectant has been tested as effective against the following bacteria commonly found in water"
Can you please point me to this research?
It does sound very fishy… Contains no chlorine or alcohol, Odorless and tasteless, used in very small quantities, can handle high temperatures, treated water with remain disinfected for up to 24 months, protects against bacteria, viruses, fungi and spores (Except it ‘does not harm the good bacteria in the stomach because of the miniscule amounts used to disinfect the water’) It very much sounds like magic, but that’s me just being skeptical. Let’s see what their response is to Mandarb.
I would also like to know what the mechanism of action is and whether or not they predict that the organisms with develop a resistance?
Can’t work out the relevance of this in connection with their product? It’s like Bridgestone trying to sell tyres and their sales pitch is “also contains latex. It is very flexible, also used in the manufacture of gloves, condoms, skin tight pants…”
I see that they have ISO 9001 Certification. I couldn’t find them on the SABS website, but found out that ‘ISO 9001 – Quality Management Systems Certification’ - so their manufacturing plant that makes this magic stuff has the SABS stamp of approval - probably like many other manufacturers of magic stuff. Someone may know more about SABS approvals etc.
The ISO certification applies to the way in which they run their quality management system, and depending on the specifics of the certification does not necessarily have anything to do with the product doing what they say it does.
I searched for them on the SABS site under their company name, and product name, nothing.
then i phoned the number on the aqua salveo site, it refers you to a cell number. i spoke to the woman, and she said their specification number is 1827.
i searched under that, and the only companies that came up are:
Permit No
6761/10031 Süd-Chemie SA (Pty) Ltd SANS 1827 / SABS 1827 (011) 929-5916
5370/10372 Ecolab (Pty) Ltd SANS 1827 / SABS 1827 (011) 393-5078
6932/10284 Improchem (Pty) Ltd SANS 1827 / SABS 1827 (031) 949-8200
7528/12082 Modderfontein Laboratory Services (Pty) Ltd SANS 1827 / SABS 1827 (011) 606-3408
7992/12740 VWS Envig (Pty) Ltd SANS 1827 / SABS 1827 (011) 974 8161
8049/12829 Radical Waters (Pty) Ltd SANS 1827 / SABS 1827 (011) 466-0610
8694/14396 Techniblend cc SANS 1827 / SABS 1827 (021) 887 7322
now maybe i did this all wrong… but none of these phone numbers corresponds with their number on site.
Still searching for any research that says that zinc, silver and copper ions work. As far as I can tell, the dilution seems valid, you do the same for Iodine, a few drops per liter.
Thus far, the claims about purifying water has a 75% claim of being valid, but the rest about eczema and athletes foot is probably bullshit, probably no more help than normal water.
Those three metals in low concentrations do have an antibacterial antifungal and antialgae functions. BUT 1, they take a long time to sterilise the water so where properly chlorinated water can be drunk or swimmed in within an hour. This water may need faaaaaar longer, possibly days or even weeks. BUT2 Human health is positively affected by these ions compared to their absence in TRACE levels of concentration, far less than needed for water sterilising. I know Silver at too high concentration or continued for too long periods of time can have negative impact google Colloidal Silver. I know Copper was a commonly used in pools as algaecide but not any more I seem to reacall continued exposure results in health problems.
So, silver does have disinfectant value, my problem is the claims about copper and zinc, seems to me that they are more there for the basis of the weird claims.
Zinc is one of those minerals that you need in your diet, but you already get that in a balanced diet, but according to wikipedia also has antimicrobial properties. Copper also has antibacterial properties
So overall actually this seems legit. The language just has all the hallmarks of quacks. I would still like to see some actual scientific evidence on this product.
Yeah, the claims seem exorbitant, with no actual evidence. I’ll give them the benifit of the doubt for now, but I would certainly not recommend it as a solution.
im not convinced about the silver element. its supposed to destroy bacteria, boost your health, and whatnot.
i had three foster kittens with snuffles, and it did absolutely diddly squat for them. i put it in their eyedrops, their water, the humidifier… niks.
it allso does sweet buggerall for my own eyes, just burns them.
does buggerall for tonsilities, cystitis, and stomach bugs.
i put it in my cats drinking water, couldnt see them gleaming with health… allthough, they are pretty heatlhy.
i allso read, that if you consume too much of it, your skin goes permanently blue. fun!
but i’ve google these dudes, and they come up clean. not even one person unhappy. even the cesspit of hellopeter has nothing.
maybe we have a proper thing here. who knew?
Yeah, there are pretty much no bacteria in our stomachs, except for some acid loving menaces in unlucky individuals that are linked to peptic ulcers and cancer.
Out of interest, and because it shows that one shouldn’t be TOO skeptical about this:
Silver-N-Carboxymethyl Chitosan Nanocomposites: Synthesis and its Antibacterial Activities Nguyen Tien An1*, Nguyen Thi Dong1, Pham Thi Bich Hanh1, Tran Thi Y Nhi1, Duong Anh Vu1, Do Thi Nguyet Que2 and Do Truong Thien1
J Bioterr Biodef 1:102. doi:10.4172/2157-2526.1000102
Abstract
In this work, silver-N-carboxymethyl chitosan nanocomposites (Ag-N-CMC) were synthesized in the homogeneous state via the reduction of Ag+ (using [Ag(NH3)2]OH instead of AgNO3) by NaBH4 in the presence of water-soluble N-carboxymethyl chitosan as a stabilizer. The resulting Ag-N-CMG was characterized by FTIR, TEM and UV-vis spectra. The results showed that the average particle size of silver nanoparticles was little affected by the concentration of Ag+ added and was between 2 and 10nm. The characteristic surface plasmon resonance band of silver nanoparticles centered at about 398 - 410nm. In vitro antibacterial activities of Ag-N-CMC nanocomposites were evaluated against both gram-negative bacteria: Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 (Ec) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa VM201 (Pseu) and gram-positive bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 1128 (Sta) and Bacillus cereus ATCC 9946 (Bc). The results shown that the Ag-N-CMC nanocomposites could inhibit the growth and multiplication of the tested bacteria.
Meaning that if the US government thinks it’s reasonable…B-)
Just to show that there is some merit in silver as a disinfectant, Dec 2010’s Scientific American has this from a news snippet on cheaply disinfecting water:
Silver works as an effective bactericide in part because silver ions damage genetic material.
What you got off the SABS website are the Permit numbers of SABS Mark holders. Before a company can claim to have the SABS Quality Mark, or put it on a product, the produsct must meet the criteria of the NAtional product specification, and the manufacturing Plant must be able to demonstrate their adherance to a Quality Management System, often ISO 9001. After successfull testing and inspection, a permit will be granted. Regular inspection and testing then takes place annually to confirm that everything is still acceptable (SANS = SA National Standards as opposed to the older “SA Bureau of Standards” / “SABS”). Aqua Salveo is a Trade name, and the product conforms to the requirements of SANS 1827. This specification is fo all products that can be used to treat water destined for human consumption.
