Sanitary wipes (wipes) are emerging personal hygiene products. With the improvement of the quality of life of domestic consumers, wet paper towels, like ordinary paper towels, have gradually become a necessity in people's daily life. In 2018, it was reported that baby wipes seriously exceeded the fungal standard. The total number of fungal colonies exceeded the standard 76,000 times. Nearly 100,000 packets of baby wipes are not up to standard, raising concerns about wet wipes.
1. Use occasion
Wipes are not only used for general cleaning, but also have special products specifically for feminine hygiene, baby, female makeup remover, male and medical disinfectant wipes.
(1) Family: general cleaning or disinfection and wiping (at home or out), cosmetics, women's hygiene, baby buttocks cleaning, etc.
(2) Public places: civil aviation, hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, etc. for cleaning or wiping.
(3) Medical places: If quaternary ammonium salt disinfectant is used, it has a disinfection effect and can effectively kill bacteria;
2. Safety performance index and evaluation of wet wipes
In order to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the safety and quality of sanitary napkins, it is necessary to evaluate the specifications, strength, dust, liquid content, fluorescent whitening agent, stain removal ability and corrosiveness of sanitary napkins. The strength of the wipes reflects the quality of the raw materials of the product. Dust reflects the production environment of sanitary napkins. The liquid content reflects the production level and technology of sanitary napkins; fluorescent whitening agents, preservatives, microorganisms, etc. can reflect the safety of sanitary napkins. In addition, it is also possible to determine whether sanitary wipes are safe by measuring their pH and toxicity.
3. Aware of the health problems of wet wipes
(1) Corrosion prevention
According to the test report of wet tissue samples in the Shanghai market, it was found that 23 of the 50 samples were detected with preservatives, mainly MIT (methylisothiazolinone) and CIT (methylisothiazolinone). MIT is a highly effective preservative, which has a good inhibitory effect on the growth of microorganisms, and can inhibit the production of bacteria, fungi and molds, so it is widely used in the cosmetics industry. CIT is often combined with MIT, and the mixed preservative is called casson.
In the cosmetics industry, both MIT and CIT are restricted ingredients because at high concentrations, skin patch tests have found MIT and CIT to be prone to skin irritation. The number of such cases is increasing. The relevant European association recognized MIT as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2014. Cosmetics (including makeup wipes) can cause contact allergies and allergic dermatitis. For infants and young children, with weaker physique and fragile skin, it is more difficult to resist the stimulation of this chemical.
Some parents like to wipe the mouth, hands and buttocks of the child with a wet tissue. In actual use, it was found that certain ingredients added to the wet wipes may make the baby's bottom red. Rinse with water to reduce this risk. Therefore, experts suggest that wet wipes are not a standard action and should be used as an option.
(2) Disinfection capacity
In recent years, researchers have experimented with the cleaning abilities of soaps, regular hand sanitizers, disposable hand sanitizers and wet wipes. The results show that the cleaning ability of soap is strong, and the cleaning ability of wet wipes is weak.
For medical wipes disinfection, because they contain quaternary ammonium salt disinfectant, the bacterial content of the object after wiping is less than 5%, so this special wipes can be used for disinfection and cleaning in ICU and other wards. Compared with ordinary wet wipes, if it has a disinfection effect, it may contain alcohol, and the actual disinfection ability is not ideal.
(3) The smell
Fragrances and alcohol are considered to be easily irritating ingredients, so the aroma should be selected according to consumer preferences, but the added aroma components increase the risk of skin allergies, so for baby products it should be natural and pure.
4. Relevant health standards
In March 2018, China issued the "Sanitary Requirements for Sanitary Tissue" (WS575-2017) as a mandatory standard for the hygiene industry. The National Health Commission includes the scope of disinfection product management for category III health events. It requires that it be used in sanitary napkins (non-medical). In addition to the microbial indicators of the product, it must also sterilize 90% of the corresponding microorganisms on the surface of the contaminated body, and the function is a qualified product. Companies that produce such products must obtain a hygiene license from the disinfection product manual.