The history and development direction of Japanese antibacterial products

1. Foreword
2007 is a memorable year for the Association (hereinafter referred to as SIAA). In this year, the international standard ISO22196 for antibacterial performance testing of plastic products, which SIAA has been dedicated to for many years, was officially released. The antibacterial detection method proposed by Japan can become an international standard, which can be seen as the value of antibacterial products has been recognized internationally. At the same time, Japan’s leadership in antibacterial agent detection technology has also been recognized internationally.
SIAA has celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. Through work related to the ISO22196 international standardization proposal, SIAA itself has also achieved considerable development. Here, while reviewing the history of the development of antibacterial products, I will also describe the relevant work carried out by SIAA in ensuring the quality and safety performance of antibacterial products and promoting and popularizing antibacterial products, as well as the future development direction of antibacterial products.

2. The history of antibacterial products and the development of SIAA
Japan has been producing antibacterial fiber products for the purpose of anti-odor since the 1950s and 1960s. However, due to technical problems such as antibacterial agents, it was not able to form a large scale in the market in the early stage. After the 1970s, some highly safe and durable antibacterial agents were developed and applied to antibacterial fiber products, resulting in the gradual expansion of the antibacterial market. It is generally believed that antibacterial products have begun to be widely recognized and accepted by society since the antibacterial and deodorant socks [Commute Quick Legs] were launched on the market and were widely welcomed by consumers.
Antibacterial products during this period were mainly fiber products processed with organic antibacterial agents.

Since then, since 1992, various inorganic antibacterial agents have been developed that have excellent heat resistance and can be used for injection and extrusion molding. They can be applied to other products besides fibers, rapidly expanding the scope of use of antibacterial agents.
Since 1995, many products on the market, including clothing, have been marked with the words “antibacterial” or “antibacterial processing”, and there has been an antibacterial upsurge. However, because a considerable number of these products have no antibacterial effect and some are harmful to human safety, consumers and the publicity media have strongly criticized them.
Relevant people in the industry were very worried about this situation, so in 1998, the Silver and Other Inorganic Antibacterial Agents Research Association, established by the Inorganic Antibacterial Agent Manufacturers Group, joined forces with organic antibacterial agent manufacturers, antibacterial product manufacturers, and antibacterial testing institutions. SIAA was established in 2001.
In order to achieve the purpose of protecting consumer rights and interests through administrative means, it is necessary to formulate new standards for antibacterial products. In December 1998, the then Bureau of Life and Industry of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry organized a seminar on new functional products related to life. Administrative agencies and experts , consumer groups, industry groups and SIAA representatives jointly participated in the formulation of the “Guidelines for the Processing of Antibacterial Products”.
In order to ensure the sound development of the antibacterial products market, this guideline formally defines the concept of “antibacterial” on the one hand, and also stipulates the basic rules that relevant enterprises must abide by, that is: when selling antibacterial products, enterprises must provide consumers with The following information: ① Antibacterial agent processing parts; ② Antibacterial effect; ③ Types of antibacterial agents; ④ Safety of antibacterial products; ⑤ How to use antibacterial products, and other precautions.

This policy stipulates relevant regulations that must be followed by industrial groups that manufacture and sell antibacterial products. However, manufacturing companies that do not belong to industrial groups are also allowed to sell on the market if all their antibacterial products comply with the provisions of this policy.
The standards SIAA has been using since December 2000 are independent standards for antibacterial product company groups based on this policy.
In December 2000, based on this policy and combined with the testing methods for antibacterial products, the JISZ2801 standard for testing the antibacterial effect of antibacterial products was formulated.
This standard adopts the film-laying method already used by SIAA, which is simple to operate and has good repeatability. It is also an internationally accepted method. It passed the international standardization process mentioned above and successfully applied with almost no changes to the main structure. For ISO22196 standard.
In order to ensure the implementation of the antibacterial testing standard JIS, SIAA has formulated a testing agency accreditation system (Japan National Laboratory Accreditation system: JNLA) suitable for the antibacterial field. The antibacterial performance of antibacterial products registered with SIAA must be issued by a testing agency that has passed the JNLA system. , the antibacterial performance of registered products is in accordance with JISZ2801 regulations. Only when the antibacterial activity value is above 2 can it be used with the mark [JISZ2801 Antibacterial Suitable]

Table 1 The history of antimicrobial products and the development of the Antimicrobial Products Association (SIAA)

At present, the scale of Japan’s antibacterial products is about 900 billion yen. In recent years, the antibacterial markets in Asia, Europe and the United States have also developed very rapidly. Many Japanese antibacterial agents and antibacterial products are exported to overseas markets, and overseas antibacterial products have also entered the Japanese market.
SIAA’s work has also received widespread international attention. SIAA’s work related to internationalization will be described in the next chapter.

3. International promotion of antibacterial standards
While the antibacterial market in Japan has stabilized, SIAA has decided to promote it internationally. Considering the sales of antibacterial products in the international market in recent years, it is necessary to establish international standards for antibacterial testing methods. So SIAA began to focus on establishing ISO antibacterial standards. At the ISO/TC61 meeting held in Maastricht, the Netherlands, in 2003, SIAA submitted a new business project (NewWorkItemProposal: NP) proposal. At the meeting held in Chengdu, China in 2004, NP and proposal (WorkingDraft) It was adopted, passed the deliberation of representatives from various countries, and was officially released in October 2007.
The release of ISO22196, the international standard for antibacterial performance testing standards, is of great significance to antibacterial related people around the world.
In order to apply for ISO antibacterial standards, our association has participated in the International Microbial Deterioration Research Group since 2002, introduced the JIS standards to its members, and learned about the advantages of this method through RoundRobinTest. SIAA organized IBRG meetings in Kyoto and Nara in March 2004 and November 2005 respectively. In particular, at the Nara Conference, a panel discussion on antibacterialism was held with the participation of international researchers, Japanese administrators, experts, consumer groups, and relevant personnel in the antibacterial community. The significance of antibacterialism was unanimously recognized, and at the same time, it also contributed to the early introduction of antibacterial concepts. Deepened understanding of Japan’s antibacterial history, traditional culture, architecture, etc.
In addition, the China Antibacterial Materials and Products Industry Association (now CIAA, Antibacterial Industry Branch of China National Health Industry Management Association) is an organization dedicated to the antibacterial industry like SIAA. Since 2002, the association has been strengthening exchanges with CIAA. The two associations work closely with each other to establish unified antibacterial testing standards.

4. Future development direction
In recent years, Japan’s antibacterial product market has stabilized, and consumers have fully accepted the antibacterial concept. However, the antibacterial market is currently saturated and it will be difficult to grow significantly in the future. In order to grow and internationalize the antimicrobial products market, SIAA describes the future development directions and in order to achieve its goals.A work plan was formulated and has been implemented since 2006. Below are some of the things we have started to do to achieve our goals.
(1) Establishment of antibacterial effect detection technology
In order to make domestic and foreign consumers more aware of the value of antibacterial products, from now on, we must first consider establishing antibacterial effect detection technology. Based on the collected data on the antibacterial performance and bacterial reproduction that need to be achieved in various environments and conditions, the Association A number of tests were conducted on the impact data.
(2) International promotion of antibacterial product certification system
Currently, except for Japan and China, other countries have no antibacterial performance and safety testing standards for antibacterial products. With the growth of the antibacterial market in various countries around the world, there is a possibility that some counterfeit and unsafe products will appear like Japan’s early market. product. In order to prevent this phenomenon from happening and to popularize antibacterial testing standards, SIAA allows foreign companies to join the membership and popularize the SIAA logo internationally.
In order to enable countries around the world to accept the SIAA mark, while implementing the ISO22196 standard, the Association also vigorously promotes the correct meaning and purpose of antibacterial. Based on the original SIAA logo, SIAA removed the Chinese characters and adopted the ISO standard number and the text [KOHKIN] (Figure 2). This logo has been officially used since November 2007.

(3) Transition to the new certification system
In order to promote antibacterial certification systems like SIAA globally, the SIAA certification system needs to be converted into an internationally accepted certification system based on ISO/IEC guide 67. The new international certification system should not only include the determination of the antibacterial performance of products, but is also being discussed to establish or Introduce manufacturer quality management system, third-party judgment committee and monitoring system, etc.

1. Develop antibacterial performance test guidelines in OECD

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) held a seminar on antimicrobial performance in 2002, and then established Task Forthon Biocide (TFB) under the Chemical Federation in June 2003. In November 2004, an international symposium on detection methods for antimicrobial products (Treated Articles) was held. SIAA sent representatives to attend the first meeting of the unification working group.
SIAA actively participated in this plan and is committed to adding testing methods and, more importantly, antibacterial performance determination standards to the above unified standards for testing methods of antibacterial products. This will make the OECD standards more comprehensive and stronger than the ISO standards. influence, thereby achieving the goal of internationalizing antibacterial standards.

5. Summary
Just now we reviewed the history of antibacterial products and the development of SIAA, and also discussed the future development direction. At present, we still have very heavy and complicated work to complete for the future development of antibacterial products and SIAA. At the same time, there will definitely be many difficulties in these tasks. However, we must have the courage not to be afraid of failure in order to overcome difficulties and usher in the future. Antibacterial for a better tomorrow.

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