Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency hosted a workshop to discuss expanded use of a disinfection resistance hierarchy for claim substantiation for environmental surface disinfectants. The Agency recently described the concept in a draft white paper. EPA emphasized that it currently uses the disinfection resistance hierarchy concept to support basic label claims such as “limited-spectrum disinfectant” and “broad-spectrum disinfectant.”  For such claims, testing is required only on representative microorganisms from a given class. Additionally, EPA uses a disinfection resistance hierarchy to identify products effective against emerging viruses during outbreaks.

 

Stakeholders from industry, academia and government were invited as panelists to discuss the scientific merits of a disinfection resistance hierarchy as the basis for future antimicrobial pesticide registrations. Industry voiced concern over exceptions to the disinfection resistance hierarchy, such as when a particular microorganism is resistant to one active ingredient but susceptible to another. EPA posed questions regarding the selection of appropriate microorganisms for each proposed hierarchy category and asked whether current science supports the use of this model.

 

Antimicrobial Test Laboratories will continue to monitor the status of the disinfection resistance hierarchy registration model and its impact on the antimicrobial industry. Companies are encouraged to contact the lab for more information on the hierarchy workshop.