Suit Alleges that Surfacide’s UV light Product Claims Put Hospital Patients and Staff at Risk for Injury or Death

Mequon, WI:  Altapure, LLC, commenced suit in Waukesha County Circuit Court against Surfacide Services, LLC, a manufacturer and seller of UV light products, asserting that its claims of disinfection are untrue, misleading and in violation of Wisconsin Statute 100.18. Altapure states that Surfacide’s claims “of being able to disinfect all areas in a hospital environment, and that no surface is left untouched,” are misleading, are unsupported by any credible scientific evidence, and convey a result that is unattainable when following the manufacturer’s instructions.

Altapure is not seeking any financial damages, but is requesting that the court restrain and enjoin Surfacide from making unsubstantiated performance advertising claims, and that it not be allowed to use the word “disinfection” in its advertising claims, because Surfacide’s products cannot meet the disinfection performance requirements established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“Advertising claims by companies offering chemistry based products must meet strict performance standards established by the EPA,” says Mr. Carl L. Ricciardi, Altapure’s President. “In order to make a claim of ‘disinfection’, the product must be able to obtain at least a 6 log kill of specific organisms in less than ten minutes. Altapure’s high level disinfection products meet this claim. Surfacide has merely borrowed the term ‘disinfection’ without actually meeting established disinfection requirements.” Mr. Ricciardi continued: “Surfaces in the shadows are not touched by UV light in a dosage sufficient to kill a pathogen. This puts patients and staff at risk of serious injury and death”. Reports indicate that 44,500 patients died last year from contracting a highly contagious infection caused by the C. difficile pathogen at a cost of $5.4 billion dollars. Furthermore, the likelihood of a patient once infected with C. difficile having a second recurrence of the disease may be as high as 60%.”

The Altapure suit points out that, despite Surfacide’s advertising claims, the peer reviewed literature shows that UV light cannot obtain a significant kill of C. difficile in a hospital setting even at a distance of 1.3 meters (about 4 feet). In fact, there has never been a published study showing that UV light in general, and Surfacide in particular, can eliminate any Super Bug, including C. difficile, in an entire treated space, as claimed by Surfacide.

A recently published Center for Disease Control (CDC) statement announced that the world has entered the “end of the antibiotic era”. In other words, the Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms have won the battle against antibiotics, a period of time lasting less than 75 years. During the period of the most effective use of antibiotics, many pathogenic organisms carried a 35-50% mortality rate. Without antibiotics, the prospects for those contracting a hospital infection are even more dire.

About Altapure

Altapure is an innovative technology and manufacturing company dedicated to providing ultrasonic based products for high-level disinfection and sterilization.  The company was founded in 2003 to develop and offer the best engineered products and solutions to reduce the risk of biological contamination found in medical institutions, nursing homes, and other areas where pathogenic contamination is present. Altapure’s newest product, the AP-4 ™, was launched in 2017, and is an enhanced automated and touchless high-level disinfection system providing a safe process and rapid “100% Kill” of spores, viruses, and bacteria, such as but not limited to: CRE, VRE, MRSA, Polio virus, HPV, Salmonella, and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile).

 

More information about this story can be found here:

https://altapure.com/the-uv-light-deception/

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Name:  Carl L. Ricciardi
Title:  President, Altapure, LLC
Phone:  (574) 485 – 2145