The EU banned Iodine? What the heck??!!

[British Red]

For those who dislike the chlorine taste - you can

a) buy very expensive taste neutralising tablets

http://www.interhealth.org.uk/travelshop-water-purification-neutralising-tablets.html

b) buy soluble vitamin C tablets

which are exactly the same thing!

 

[santaman2000]

For those who dislike the chlorine taste - you can

a) buy very expensive taste neutralising tablets

http://www.interhealth.org.uk/travelshop-water-purification-neutralising-tablets.html

b) buy soluble vitamin C tablets

which are exactly the same thing!

Yep. Or Tang. Or Koolaide. Or just brew your tea or coffee.

 

[rik_uk3]

Personally I prefer the chlorine. Granted it isn't the most pleasant taste but then again neither is the iodine. Plus chlorine kills 99.99% of al those nasties out there; iodine, not so much. Ironically chlorine tablets are harder to find over here. Available yes, but not easily found on the shelf.

Chlorine tablets are cheap enough in the UK and are used for pool maintenance, so maybe check your local pool store?

 

[santaman2000]

Chlorine tablets are cheap enough in the UK and are used for pool maintenance, so maybe check your local pool store?

LOL. The ones for pool mx or industrial sized over here but thanks for the tip. They're not expesive (the drinking water size) just not something Walley- World or Bass Pro stock on the local shelves I can get them over the internet.

 

[rik_uk3]

We used the tablets to clean the innards of Dialysis machines, they came in tablets for 1 litre of water. The strength would be far higher than needed for drinking water though.

 

[santaman2000]

that might be workable. The ones here (for pools) are about the size of a baseball and are floated in the pools. At least they were; I might need to look again as it's been years.

 

[brambles]

I wanted to get some Iodine drops for purifying water from Grampian mountains streams on my hikes.
.

Not the biggest hardship to drink it neat - I've done it since I was a nipper!

 

[Bongo]

I freelance for a number of expedition companies and up until last year iodine was the norm. They then started to issue a sodium peroxide based system.

a really good idea add a tablet to a tiny bottle of water (doesn't have to be clean) leave it for 5 minutes you then have the means to purify 650 litres of water. Add it to the unpurified water wthin a couple of minutes good to drink. Odorless, tasteless and colourless.

A great system until an individual treats it as a magic bottle and doesn't add the tablet. Que me trying to work out a mystery illness 5 days before the end of a trip within a three man tent group (turns out they'd been sharing puryfying drops)

the name of this escapes me but i'm using it again this month so will come back with it.

certainly better than iodine in my experience (as long as you understand the concept!!!)

seems to be the way things are going after the EU got involved!!!

Dan

As promised, took delivery of a bag of these today for taking away with me this week.

Here's the link.

http://aquaprove.com/

no idea where you can buy these things just know that it works!!!!


No connection to the company or anything like that.

Dan

 

[Lost in civilisation]

As promised, took delivery of a bag of these today for taking away with me this week.

Here's the link.

http://aquaprove.com/

no idea where you can buy these things just know that it works!!!!


No connection to the company or anything like that.

Dan

If you scroll down this page where it says the active ingredient is Chlorine Dioxide which is widely available from other companies like Lifesystems here

 

[Bongo]

My bad, I seemed to remembered wrongly it was a sodium peroxide system.

I just use the stuff.

Never really paid that much attention to the active ingredients, used a number of different chemicals over the years.

Just going back to the Opening post. Iodine is still available as stated but does make everythng taste rank. the bonus is though that once i'm back to non exped stuff nobody usually wants to drink from my bottle as even the nalgene's hold a bit of that taste!!!

 

[kiltedpict]

When I was in Nepal, I actually got to like the taste- it reminded me of drinking a watered-down Talisker and there was no hangover the next day!

 

[Gill]

I had been trying to find Polar pure over the last couple of days with no result but found this so thought that it might have helped to have it removed.
http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper...ewspaperid/2191/Drugridden_southern_Ohio.aspx

 

[forestwalker]

A pretty good source on water purification systems is "Water Disinfection for International and Wilderness Travelers". One problem with the iodine based systems is that some sensitive indviduals may react adversely, and also the young.

 

[horsevad]

A pretty good source on water purification systems is "Water Disinfection for International and Wilderness Travelers". One problem with the iodine based systems is that some sensitive indviduals may react adversely, and also the young.

Thank you for the link.

The article seems very well-researched, but all figures given for heat-inactivation in the article is for bacteria in their vegetative state. Some bacteria, however, is able to enter a more dormant state, in which the bacteria is converted to a spore capable of surviving temperatures well over boiling.

The table of heat inactivation time in the article should therefore be read and used with an understanding that it in itself does not provide a complete and definite answer.

//Kim Horsevad

 

[udamiano]

The WHO (world health Organisation) commissioned a report on protozoa and the effect of chemical based treatments. The report highlighted the adapting resistance that protozoa are gaining to both Iodine and Chlorine based treatments, to such a degree that the levels of solution needed to provide 100% sterilisation would in fact be over and above the recommended maximums for those chemicals.
here is a link on the papers produced

LINK1

A second report testing different chemicals gave a definite winner as Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate

?Here is a link to the WHO report on SD

 

[santaman2000]

As far as I know 100% has never been possible within practical limits. That said I see your point about the increasing resistance of protozoa as well as bacteria and viruses. Not only to sterilization but to antibiotics as well. I think we're on the way to a serious epedemic in the not too disatant future.

 

[forestwalker]

Thank you for the link.

The article seems very well-researched, but all figures given for heat-inactivation in the article is for bacteria in their vegetative state. Some bacteria, however, is able to enter a more dormant state, in which the bacteria is converted to a spore capable of surviving temperatures well over boiling.

IIRC the author also states that the ones that survive boiling are of not known to be harmful if ingested. You do not need sterile water, you need water that contains sufficiently few pathogenic organisms that it is safe to drink.

 

[Vulpes]

What about Pottassium Permanganate granules, I think it is pretty much the same thing(may be wrong). I bought some from a chemist about 2 years ago, but I dont know if you can still buy it know ?

Still obtainable, but really hard to find. Larger chemists used to stock it in little tubs, but they've stopped. Same thing happened with gentian violet, which is an amazing fungicide and hydrogen peroxide, which is great for wound cleaning.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Potassium permanganate is not hard to find chaps but the price is a bit hard to swallow , same as with Iodine just go to a horsey\farmy place such as,

www.animalmedicationdirect.co.uk

www.equestrianuk.com

these were in the first search I did on google, just type in potassium permanganate and up they came,

 

[Retired Member southey]

Same with the Gentian violet, just widen your searches,

www.omlet.co.uk