EDMC to partially replace sodium hypochlorite with hydrogen peroxide as disinfectant

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) is going to partially replace the use of sodium hypochlorite as a disinfectant spray with hydrogen peroxide.

Even though sodium hypochlorite, a liquid bleach agent, is being used worldwide for sanitisation of airports, railway stations, bus stands and other public places since the Covid-19 outbreak, some of its unsavoury side effects have come to the fore.

Recommended only for use on “non-living surfaces,” after sodium hypochlorite began to be used in disinfection tunnels to “mist spray” on people passing through them, the World Health Organisation (WHO) brought out an advisory against it.

The WHO statement read: “Spraying such substances can be harmful to clothes and mucous membranes (i.e, eyes, mouth). Spraying alcohol or chlorine all over your body will not kill the virus that has already entered your body.”

The spokesperson of East Delhi Municipal Corporation, Arun Kumar, said, “We were using only 1% sodium hypochlorite in water, but a few complaints were coming in about the bitter smell of the chemical and the stain it left on cars and other surfaces.”

“This chemical would also not fully dissolve in water and choke our spray pipe nozzles. The problem was actually due to the presence of chlorine in it, so we started looking for a chlorine-free disinfectant agent,” he said.

The corporation later learnt that a company in Kalyan, Maharashtra, National Peroxide Limited of the Wadia Group, had provided the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with hydrogen peroxide for use as a disinfectant.

Also, the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) and CDC (Centres for Disease Control) of the United States say that a 3% hydrogen peroxide mixture is an effective disinfectant against Covid-19, municipal officials said.

“That’s when we approached the group and on Tuesday, received the first consignment of 20,000 litres from Kalyan. It is currently stored at our Nand Nagri Central Drugs Store and we will soon put it to use in containment zones,” EDMC commissioner Dilraj Kaur said.

“We will use it in the backpack spray tanks used to disinfect houses of positive and suspected patients and in school complexes where food is being distributed to the needy. We will not replace sodium hypochlorite with hydrogen peroxide completely. For example, we will continue to use the bleach agent to spray roadsides,” she said .

An EDMC public health official said, “Hydrogen peroxide is safer than sodium hypochlorite when used as per the recommendations.”

“This chemical is used to treat wood pulp and turn it into newsprint, which is why it is said that newspapers cannot carry Covid-19 viruses; that shows it’s effective. Also, hydrogen peroxide is a part of antibacterial mouthwashes and antifungal ear drops, making it safer for humans. However, we are not going to mist spray it on people right now,” Dr Somashekhar, municipal health Officer, EDMC, said.