UKC

Blue Hill, ME – June 12, 2009 – The European Union (EU) has announced that iodine will no longer be sold or supplied for use in disinfecting drinking water after October 25, 2009. This announcement directly impacts all 27 countries in the EU and can potentially set global precedents regarding the safety of using chemical-based water treatment products.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/news.php?id=1941

In reply to UKC Gear:

Hmmm is this a good thing or a bad thing ??? I have used it and given it to many on comercial trips abroad.... Was it bad stuff ?

Aye Dan

In reply to Dan Goodwin: well it is a poison...

In reply to Dan Goodwin:

Me too Dan - been using iodine on foreign expeds for years - I will be going to Ghana with a group later this week and we will be having iodine issued for that - gonna phone the company tomorrow.

In reply to kos_os:

and tastes like shite.

In reply to UKC Gear:

I gather that Chlorine isn't effective against all diseases/parasites and batteries run out in UV systems and are damaged by frost.

Is there a weight of evidence and mountain of cases of people damaged by iodine? I would have thought we'd heard of it?

Anyway what's to stop a person buying tincture for wound treatment and diluting appropriately?

In reply to UKC Gear:
Just reading the list of soon to be de-listed chemicals now; did they actually research this or did they just cut and paste from the pesticide handbook? It contains some of the most widely used industrial biocides as well as a large number of consumer products, although presumably most will continue to be used but just called something else (ie Formic acid used as a de-scaler rather than a biocidal flush in industrial cooling equipment).


http://ec.europa.eu/environment/biocides/pdf/list_dates_product_phasing_out...

In reply to Reach>Talent:

Wow speaking as a chemist that's a mental list. Replacements may not be easy to find...

I'm chuckling that Ethanol is apparently not appropriate for veterinary hygine, but fine for stopping the spread of swine-flu in hand wash gels and foams??

In reply to Reach>Talent:
Ooh extra fun; gardeners watch out as beer traps for slugs are on the list!

In reply to UKC Gear:


Well interesting though that is, my opinion of the quality of news reporting on here has just gone down a notch. You've reproduced, apparently in full, a press notice issued by someone who manufactures equipment that will directly benefit from this change.

Reporting news is one thing; acting as a press agency is a different thing again. Poor show, UKC.

T.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

Really. Everyone else says it has dramatically improved in quality and quantity.

Check your News page: http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/

Product News/OINews can be Press releases. You'll find them in the left hand column of the Gear page

http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/

It is quite clear what they are.

All are tagged up in the forums.

NEWS

PRODUCT NEWS

OINEWS

Cheeers,

Mick

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:
It would be clearer if the top bar said "industry news" or similar rather than OI news.
it would be even better if a press release was introduced as such.

The News section may well be getting better, but still nice to aim for the top.

In reply to Dr.Strangeglove:

It's under GEAR in the top menu bar.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/

Which on that page is subdivided into:

Outdoor Industry News which when an auto forum thread starts in the UKC forums is abbreviated OINEWS.

forum example: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=363478

Then

GEAR/PRODUCT NEWS: Forum example: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=363689

and

and GEAR REVIEWS

forum example: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=363381

We do need a better description of OINEWS however

In reply to Pursued by a bear:
It doesn't matter what the source is - what matters is whether it's true.
Most 'the EU are at it again' stories are either (a) made up by the Daily Mail, or (b) true. Which is this?

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

I agree, though I don't normally bother with any threads that start "OI News" as I expect them to be a company publicising its products (which thay are entitled to do, of course), so I don't know what "OI News" stories normally look like. I only clicked on this one because 1) it looked different (EU to Ban Iodine...) and 2) because of the number of responses.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: I'm confused by all this, are they saying that after 100 years iodine is not a safe chemical to use for sterilising water? Can somebody please sum up.

In reply to Al Evans:
I'm confused by all this, are they saying that after 100 years iodine is not a safe chemical to use for sterilising water? Can somebody please sum up.

iodine is toxic. It can kill you. In limited doses and for short periods of time, the risk of it harming you is outweighed by the benefits of not drinking contaminated water. There are (apparently) now safer alternatives to iodine, which do not have the same risks of accidental poisoning or long term health risks due to proplonged use, or use by vulnerable (eg pregnant or with a thyroid condition) people. Therefore, approval by the EU to supply iodine to use for water treatment has been withdrawn.

I think.

"and those allergic to iodine should not drink iodinated water"

Okayyyyyy. =o)

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

Agreed - very poor show by UKC. Seems like pure marketing PR.

I have just had a look at the Commission Decision and the underlying Directive. The Commission Decision was made in October 2008 but the underlying Directive was laid down in 1998 so it can't exactly be news to anyone involved in this industry.

In reply to MJH:
It is fairly likely to be news to the industry; having previously worked for a pharmaceutical company who were surprised to discover that some of their additives were due to be banned with only a few months notice*. Given that the outdoor industry is not really very regulation aware in comparison to the pharmaceutical industry it shouldn't come as a shock if this sort of stuff happens.

*Getting several months into the development of a nutritional product and discovering that the colourings you had planned to use had been prohibited for use in children's products is a right pain in the backside.

In reply to Reach>Talent: Well in which case someone needs a kick in the backside - any industry that fails to pay attention to legislation being developed (whether from the UK or the EU) is likely to fall foul as rules change, particularly so for heavily regulated industries like the pharmaceutical industries.

In reply to MJH:
My point was more that these things manage to slip by occasionally even in heavily regulated industries (admittedly often due to human error) so the outdoor industry could easily be unaware of legislation which doesn't initially seem to apply until you actually read it properly.
I was discussing this legislation last night with someone who is currently involved in the set up and maintenance of a water purification system for a UK university and this had passed him by, quite a lot of industries are only poorly aware of changes to regulation. Just look at the number of people in the industry who were confused by the Work at Height regs changes.