Until COVID, Anthony Baldasaro & Apoorva Yadav, the co-founders of Magec Tech™ ltd, were developing medical sanitation devices using a 10 year ago discovery of a narrow spectrum of ultraviolet light called Far-UVC that inactivates viruses & bacteria so they cannot reproduce & infect us but does not harm people, animals or plants. Magec is an ancient name for the sun from a lost culture off the coast of Africa.
Spring 2020 Al Errington was looking for solutions to COVID for the tourism industry when he came across references to Far-UVC. Al Errington asked Anthony and Apoorva if it was possible to develop Far-UVC for airborne viruses and shortly joined the Magec Tech™ team in developing what they now call Magec Air™, devices that can inactivate viruses and bacteria that are airborne in areas up to 50 square metres/500 square feet while people are present. Far-UVC inactivates viruses and bacteria that are airborne while people and animals are present effectively reducing person to person transfer and infection as well as animal to person and animal to animal.
Far-UVC is ultraviolet light in the low end of the ultraviolet light spectrum from 207-222nm illustrated in the graphic below. Natural Far-UVC from the sun is blocked by the earth’s ozone layer.
Dr David Brenner of Columbia University explains Far-UVC in this TED Talk as well as explaining both Far-UVC’s effects on viruses & bacteria as well as it’s lack of effects on people:
- “Far-UVC light efficiently kills viruses, and bacteria too, but all the available evidence, and here’s the thing, is that it’s safe for human exposure”…
- “overhead, indoor Far-UVC lights could be used to kill viruses in indoor spaces where people are present and reduce the risk of person-to-person transmission of COVID”…
A serious COVID issue is that the virus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID can be airborne for lengthy periods of time and variants increase the danger of every virus, including SARS-CoV-2. While current technology does not support safely sanitizing air while people are present, this discovery uses Far-UVC ultraviolet light to quickly and safely inactivate viruses and bacteria while people are present.
Far-UVC only inactivates viruses and bacteria that are directly exposed, which make this technology particularly applicable to those that are airborne, including virus variants. The reason Far-UVC is safe for people but “kills” viruses and bacteria is physics, Far-UVC is easily blocked by virtually any organic or inorganic material of any substance. Viruses & bacteria their sheath (essentially skin for want of a better word) is as close to non-existent as physically possible. Far-UVC can inactivate viruses and bacteria in the air but cannot inactivate viruses or bacteria if they enter a person’s body, even if it is just in their surface skin. Beneficial bacteria in the skin that are easily destroyed with soap, chemical sanitizers or inactivated by sunlight are difficult for Far-UVC to reach let alone affect. The physics of Far-UVC makes it safe for people, animals and plants but very effective against COVID as well as other viruses and bacteria that are airborne like the “common” cold, flu, chicken pox, mumps, measles, whooping cough, tuberculosis, legionnaires disease…
For COVID, we retooled our approach to develop Far-UVC devices to combat COVID as well as other viruses & bacteria that are airborne in occupied public & work areas. Our Magec Air™ devices can inactivate viruses and bacteria that are airborne in areas up to 50 square metres/500 square feet while people are present.
Magec Tech™ does not advocate that Far-UVC replace masks, physical distancing or vaccines during the current COVID pandemic or any epidemic. COVID-19 is a pandemic and all available technologies, both traditional and new, should be applied. However, we believe Far-UVC can substantially enhance the efficacy of traditional measures of combating contagions by actively inactivating viruses and bacteria that are airborne while people are present in public and workspaces thus reducing the scope and duration of the human, economic and societal costs of COVID.
Optimizing Far-UVC into an effective, cost-efficient technology has been challenging. Government support has been difficult to access because Far-UVC technology is not medical, it is physics. We have however persevered and are now ready to release our technology against COVID and the ancient problems of airborne viruses and bacteria. We are especially interested in patent licensing agreements with lamp and light manufacturers with current capacity that supports substantial and expedited manufacturing for distribution as soon as possible. To support accelerated manufacturing and distribution Magec Tech™ has started a GoFundMe campaign linked on their websites MagecAir.com and MagecTech.com.
Far-UVC is ultraviolet light in the low end of the ultraviolet light spectrum from 207-222nm as in the graphic below. Far-UVC is often confused with conventional UVC (Ultraviolet C), but it’s effects are very different. Conventional UVC is very effective at inactivating viruses & bacteria but is hazardous to human health so it can only be safely applied in enclosed water & air systems where people and animals are not exposed. Far-UVC is also very effective in inactivating viruses and bacteria but has no discernable effects, positive or negative, on people, animals or plants.
Because this technology uses new science; validation, recognition, and implementation has been challenging and support of governments difficult to access. We have however persevered and are now ready to release our technology against COVID and the ancient problems of airborne viruses & bacteria.
We are also interested in patent licensing agreements with lamp & light manufacturers with current capacity that can support substantial and expedited manufacturing for distribution as soon as possible.
* Magec Air™ is a trademark of Magec Tech™ Ltd for our line of Far-UVC enabled devices that “inactivate” viruses & bacteria that are airborne without harming people, animals or plants.