BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Aug. 02, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TOMI Environmental Solutions, Inc. (“TOMI™”) (OTCQX:TOMZ), a global decontamination company that specializes in disinfection/decontamination sales and services, including SteraMist™, a hydrogen peroxide-based mist/fog registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) for use as a hospital-healthcare disinfectant, announced today that is has expanded its EPA label. Effective immediately, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has registered Salmonella, a gram-negative bacteria and Norovirus to be added to TOMI’s label. With Norovirus added to TOMI’s label, TOMI is now eligible for inclusion in the EPA’s L List, a select group of disinfectants that are approved to be used against the Ebola virus. TOMI’s BIT solution and SteraMist™ technology is already included in the EPA’s K List for Clostridium difficile.
Dr. Shane, CEO of TOMI Environmental Solutions, Inc. states, “TOMI™ recognizes the immediate global need for its technology and is committed to expanding its label and secure future domestic and international registrations in order to best combat increasing threats against public health.”
Norovirus is recognized as highly contagious with long lasting symptoms and is the cause of approximately 20 million cases of acute gastroenteritis annually which equates to up to 70,000 annual U.S. hospitalizations. Certain conditions increase the chances of spreading Norovirus, especially in crowded enclosed spaces like nursing homes, schools, cruise ships, and hospitals. The virus can spread through the air and easily contaminate large surface areas. Fecal transmission can also occur when an individual does not thoroughly wash his or her hands and then touches objects or food. SteraMist™ aerosolized fog/mist or spray makes it an excellent choice to treat the air and all surfaces in those settings.
TOMI™ has recently created a food safety sector and is aggressively pursuing other registrations including the FDA and USDA within the United States and their counterparts worldwide that will complement its recent EPA registration for Salmonella to TOMI’s label. By adding Salmonella efficacy to its EPA label, TOMI™ has received the needed credentials to move forward.
According to CDC estimates, Salmonella causes one million foodborne illnesses annually, resulting in thousands of hospitalizations and hundreds of fatalities.
In March of 2017 a research paper was published about TOMI’s technology in the International Journal of Food Microbiology, “Cold plasma-activated hydrogen peroxide aerosol inactivates Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Listeria innocua and maintains quality of grape tomato, spinach and cantaloupe.” The research was co-written by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety (Tianjin University of Science and Technology), Ministry of Education, Tianjin, China and the Center for Nanotechnology and Nano-toxicology, and Harvard School of Public Health. The paper demonstrates superiority of TOMI’s technology in the disinfection of fruits and vegetables over chlorine based products.
There is a national concern for hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare settings due to the antibiotic resistance of certain gram negative bacteria like Salmonella, E. coli and Pseudomonas. These multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) result in high morbidity and mortality rates. Due to an increase in travel to the United States for treatment in our hospitals, many emerging opportunistic pathogens like Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and enzymes that help make bacteria resistant to a broad range of antibiotics like NDM-1 are entering our hospital systems. This makes it more critical than ever before for public spaces, especially hospitals to practice better sanitation/disinfection protocols. Hospitals especially need to implement more advanced and comprehensive cleaning protocols to destroy and remove the invading bacteria from furniture and medical equipment surfaces, before the contaminated space and objects aid to the spread of infection.
The CDC estimates suggest that there are close to 2 million HAI’s from all types of bacteria which ultimately results in approximately 100,000 annual deaths. Many different bacteria now exhibit MDRO characteristics including Salmonella, E. coli and Pseudomonas.
TOMI™ remains a worldwide industry leader in the fight against life threatening bacteria including multi-drug resistant organisms and holds successful Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) studies for all three of these gram-negative bacteria.
About TOMI™ Environmental Solutions, Inc.
TOMI Environmental Solutions, Inc. (OTCQX:TOMZ) is a global decontamination and infection prevention company, providing environmental solutions for indoor surface disinfection through manufacturing, sales and licensing of its premier Binary Ionization Technology® (BIT™) platform, which was invented under a defense grant in association with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense. BIT™ uses a low percentage Hydrogen Peroxide as its only active ingredient to produce a hydroxyl radical (OH ion), represented by the TOMI™ SteraMist™ brand of products, which produces a germ-killing aerosol that works like a visual non-caustic gas.
TOMI’s products are designed to service a broad spectrum of commercial structures including but not limited to hospitals and medical facilities, cruise ships, office buildings, hotel and motel rooms, schools, restaurants, meat and produce processing facilities (when not in operation), military barracks, police and fire departments, and athletic facilities. TOMI’s products and services have also been used in single-family homes and multi-unit residences.
TOMI™ also develops training programs and application protocols for its clients and is a member in good standing of The American Biological Safety Association, The American Association of Tissue Banks, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and The Restoration Industry Association.
For additional information, please visit http://www.tomimist.com/ or contact us at info@tomimist.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
Certain written and oral statements made by us may constitute “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Reform Act”). Forward-looking statements are identified by such words and phrases as “we expect,” “expected to,” “estimates,” “estimated,” “current outlook,” “we look forward to,” “would equate to,” “projects,” “projections,” “projected to be,” “anticipates,” “anticipated,” “we believe,” “could be,” and other similar phrases. All statements addressing operating performance, events, or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future, including statements relating to revenue growth, earnings, earnings-per-share growth, or similar projections, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Reform Act. They are forward-looking, and they should be evaluated in light of important risk factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our anticipated results. The information provided in this document is based upon the facts and circumstances known at this time. We undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements after the date of this release