Shadow Posted October 12, 2009 Posted October 12, 2009 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6265599/Japanese-suit-that-fights-flu.html What's the next thing they'll come up with? By the way, can anyone confirm the "titanium dioxide reacts with light and kills the virus" part?
insane_alien Posted October 12, 2009 Posted October 12, 2009 funny how they say they spent more than a year developing it to combat H1N1 yet H1N1 hasn't been around that long.
CharonY Posted October 12, 2009 Posted October 12, 2009 Well, technically H1N1 serotypes have been around for longer. Just not the current variant It is likely that they may use the current pandemia as an additional sales boost, but to be fair the article is not very specific about what the claims of the manufacturers really are.
John Cuthber Posted October 12, 2009 Posted October 12, 2009 It's a moot point if you you can kill a virus- depending on your definition of "life" viruses are not alive in the first place. On the other hand, even in popular scientific papers the word "kills" is used because it's quicker than "inactivates". TiO2 has some low lying electronic states into which electrons can be promoted by exposure to (near UV) light. These excited states can be used to degrade organic matter so, in the right circumstances, TiO2 in sunlight will kill the virus. What the advertisers seem to have overlooked is. It will also "kill" the fabric of the suit (I love built-in obsolescence) Sunlight kills viruses anyway. Any virus in lodged in the (black) fabric of the suit won't see any UV so it won't get killed. Ordinarilly, TiO2 is white- its biggest use is as a white pigment in paints etc. In order to get it to not look like your suit is covered in chalk dust the TiO2 must be in very small particles. I think the jury is still out on the scientific evidence for the safety of nonoparticulate TiO2 (though it is quite widely used in sunblock products and we haven't had an epidemic of deaths from it). I'd sooner take the risk of saving my money and still probably not getting 'flu. 1
LimbicLoser Posted October 13, 2009 Posted October 13, 2009 Well, I might add--from my perspective of being here on the main island (Honshu)--that it is now October 13th evening, and I have heard neither stitch nor thread of such a suit. (meaning the main men's clothing stores in this area haven't jumped on the band wagon yet?) Also, what about the 'air borne' problem? I mean, wouldn't that, along with hand contact, be a greater concern than some virus getting lodged into clothing, anyway? (Mask sales and promotion have jumped here . . . and the general Japanese public has a weakness for the things anyway.)
Cap'n Refsmmat Posted October 13, 2009 Posted October 13, 2009 Why not just wear a gas mask or scuba tank? 1
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