AFM Safecoat Products - genuinely nontoxic
Most of the companies haven't gone far enough because the regulations don't
force them to. The buzzword in the business right now is "VOCs,"
which stands for volatile organic compounds. The EPA has established guidelines
under which manufacturers list the percentage of VOCs in their products.
VOCs are defined basically as chemicals that when released into the atmosphere,
can mix with nitrous oxide and produce ozone and smog. There are toxic chemicals
that off-gas in the home but that don't count as VOCs under these guidelines.
Two major toxic offenders, acetone and ammonia, are highly
volatile, highly toxic, but they're not counted as VOCs because they
don't make smog. People often think that zero VOCs translates into “non-toxic”,
but that's not necessarily true. That's why it's important to do your own
research and not just rely upon product labels. People with chemical
sensitivity often serve as a canary in the coal mine. They sometimes react to
products touted as zero VOCs or “non-toxic”.
The Safecoat Difference
Many so-called "Zero VOC" products on the market reduce emissions
that cause outdoor air pollution, but still contain a host of unregulated toxic
ingredients (such as formaldehyde, ammonia, acetone, exempt solvents and odor
masking agents) that cause indoor air pollution.
Safecoat products go much further to protect your health. In addition to
meeting the highest standards of environmental responsibility, they also
eliminate toxic ingredients such as solvents, heavy metals, chemical residuals,
formaldehyde and other harmful preservatives.
Their products are structured to literally create a "safe coat," with a
unique molecular formulation designed to seal surfaces (from wood to metal to
concrete, carpets, and much more), thus reducing "offgassing," or the
emission of toxins into your environment.
AFM Safecoat sets the standard for protecting personal health through reduced toxicity.
You can breathe easier with Safecoat — because they take health seriously.
Tokyo Schools
A Tokyo school board faced unhappy parents and negative
publicity after re-painting an elementary school. As a result of the
remodeling, a student became sick and was diagnosed as chemically sensitive.
The student was forced to stay out of the school for several months while they
searched for a solution.
In response to pressure
from the parents and a non-profit group working to stop "sick building
syndrome" in schools, the local governors and the committee of education
sought many potential solutions without success. Finally, they agreed to
repaint with AFM Safecoat products to try to block the offensive offgassing
from the standard paint they had used before. The walls of the school
were coated with Safecoat Eggshell and Safecoat Flat, and Safecoat Polyureseal
BP was applied to the wooden flooring.
The results were
dramatic. The ill student can enter into the classrooms and walk about
the corridors that are coated with Safecoat and has returned to school.
Parents are happy, and Safecoat is now being recommended to other Tokyo schools with chemically sensitive pupils.
Sapporo City Schools
Soon
after completion of construction at the Sapporo Asahigaoka High School
in Japan, several students reported symptoms of nausea, dizziness and
headaches. Two were actually admitted to the local hospital. School
officials were at first baffled, as they had specified supposedly
“environmental” products, but it was soon determined that a significant
amount of chemical offgassing was continuing in the classrooms.
School officials decided
to test several products, including AFM Safecoat, to see if they could avoid this
problem in the future. It turned out the affected pupils reacted to all of
these products except Safecoat, which was then used to repaint the school. The
Japanese television network NHK picked up on the story and interviewed one of
the student’s mothers, who said “the school has decided to use the Safecoat
product and for that I’m grateful. My son has been attending classes without
the fear of reacting to chemicals and is enjoying school again.”
Safecoat has now become
the paint of choice for Sapporo
prefecture schools. This past summer, more than 70 schools were painted or
repainted with Safecoat, with excellent results. Mr. Masaru Abe, official with
the City of Sapporo construction bureau in charge of finding safer
products for the schools, advised AFM last month that before, whenever they
would paint, they would receive constant complaints from teachers and students.
Since they had started using Safecoat, however, they had not had a single
complaint.
