Promotional Ideas

01 October 2010

The team at Silk are always here to help our customers by finding new, innovative ways of promoting your business with promotional items which are both useful and exciting.

One such unique product which we have in our range is the Antibac pen.  This pen has achieved the British safety standard, EN 20645 – determination of antibacterial activity.  It actually helps to prevent the spread of bacteria and germs.

The development of this pen is quite unique.  The manufacturer Senator Pens, has linked up with a UK partner to produce an effective anti-bacterial additive.  The anti-bacterial agent is moulded into the plastic of the pen, so that it effectively acts every time the pen is handled, to create a zone of inhibition,  which helps to prevent the passing of germs and infestion as the pen is used by different people.

The best way to explain the 'zone of inhibition' is with reference to the actual testing process of an antimicrobial agent.

Bacteria are swabbed across a culture plate/Petri dish. Small filter-paper discs, saturated/impregnated with the compound (in this instance, the anti-bacterial agent) are placed on top of the growing bacteria. If the compound tested is effective against bacteria a clear ring will appear around the filter-paper disc in 24/48 hours. This ring is called the zone of inhibition (my reference… 'halo of protection') and is measured in mm to see how wide it is.

The larger this zone of inhibition, the more effective the compound tested against a particular type of bacteria. The bacteria cannot grow near the disc because the properties of the compound/anti-bacterial agent destroys/inhibits growth.

Thus, the size of the zone of inhibition is a measure of the anti-bacterial agent’s effectiveness. The larger the clear area around the filter disk, the more effective the compound. T

The pen has a 6mm zone of inhibition for C.Difficile and 11mm for MRSA – which confirms the effectiveness of the anti-bacterial agent  moulded into the plastic of our pen. This far exceeds the 1mm Zone of Inhibition required to receive the British Standards acceptance.

For more information about this product and the many other ideas that we can offer to assist you, please call our sales team.