Dust Mite Research

Dust Mite

Based on work carried out by Lindy G McDonald & Euan Tovey from the Department of Medicine, University of Sydney, and published in a report titled ‘The Effectiveness of Benzyl Benzoate & Some Essential Plant Oils as Additives for Killing House Dust Mites’, Tantech Pty Ltd undertook trials of its sheepskin detergent using melaleuca oil at the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand (WRONZ) to determine its efficacy against dust mite.

Two sets of samples were supplied to WRONZ, one containing straight technical grade tea tree oil (TT) and the second containing technical tea tree oil + additional extracts from other melaleuca species (MB). The results of these trials are contained in the WRONZ consultancy report CSR 00/005 dated April 2000. Due to some confusion on the dosing rate of the detergent to the water in the washing machine, only 30ml was added to 65lt water instead of the recommended 60ml. The results however resulted in a mortality rate of 91.6% during a 4 minute wash at 33.5°C followed by a 5 minute spray rinse at 38°C, 1 minute spin, 3 minute deep rinse at 38°C and a final 3.5 minute spin.

The trial was repeated at the recommended dose of 60ml in 65lt water plus 4 additional samples containing variations of the MB sample. The results are contained in the WRONZ consultancy report CSR 00/16 dated September 2000. The MB sample repeated the earlier result of 91.7% mortality with all the other samples achieving a lower mortality rate.

Based on these results we have determined that the correct statement of claim on our marketed product be:

Proven* Effective Against Dust Mite and Pet Allergen
Independent tests prove Aller Wash™ effective against dust mite

There are continuing trials, which may enable additional claims based upon:

Residual repellency
The antibacterial & antifungal efficacy combining to cut off the food source through the theory that the dust mite requires a fungus to pre-digest its food source. This is the basis upon which the Ultra-Fresh treatment claims it is effective against dust mite in many bedding products.

Antibacterial

Aller Wash™ meets Australian Standard AS/NZS4146 Laundry Standard for chemical disinfection for low temperature washing of medical sheepskins.