EPA Targets Ebola, Pathogen Disinfectant Claims

April 8 — The Environmental Protection Agency has issued aguidance document clarifying the claims disinfectant makers can and can't make during outbreaks of emerging pathogens.

The guidance is meant to prevent some of the confusion that occurred during the recent Ebola outbreak, when some cleaning industry companies were unsure if they could legally market their products as being effective at killing the virus.

It also creates a way around the EPA's rule preventing companies from making claims that their product can kill a specific microbe without lab studies on that specific microbe. In the case of many new or emerging pathogens, such as Ebola or avian influenza, efficacy tests in a lab could be infeasible or even dangerous.

According to the guidance document, released April 7, companies can market their disinfectant as being able to kill a specific virus if their product has been proven to kill other viruses that are even more difficult to kill.

For example, a company could tout its product as being able to kill the SARS virus, which is relatively easy to disinfect on hard surfaces, if it has been proven effective at killing the norovirus, which is much more resistant to disinfection.

However, the EPA, which regulates antimicrobial disinfectants through its Office of Pesticide Programs, won't allow these efficacy claims to be made on the label of the product. Rather, the claims can only be made in “off-label communications,” such as in technical literature, company websites or on social media.

see more at:http://www.bna.com/epa-targets-ebola-n57982069674/ 

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