Rex Morrison, founder of the non-profit Process Cleaning for Healthy Schools (PC4HS) Consortium, has issued a challenge to makers of liquid and other hand soap products to design a soap that automatically changes color to green after a prescribed interval of washing hands, ensuring greater hand cleanliness and prevention of infectious illness in K-12 schools.
“The goal is to make it easy - and fun - for kids and adults to spend the proper time washing their hands by providing a visual cue corresponding to a prescribed wash-time interval,” said Morrison, who is in talks with several leading companies to see which is best qualified to produce this health-protecting product. “The soap will change from its original color to green after so many seconds of skin contact and gentle rubbing, thereby helping to ensure proper time is spent washing hands followed by rinsing to thoroughly remove germs.”
He adds, "We want kids to remember, that 'when the soap turns green, their hands are clean' and can be rinsed. We also want to thank UMass Lowell TURI Field Scientist, Heidi Wilcox, for jointly suggesting the concept."
Proceeds from sales of the “Green is Clean” hand soap will go to the non-profit Process Cleaning for Healthy Schools (PC4HS) Consortium and other non-profits.