The LifeStraw

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dniice87

Joined
Jul 19, 2005
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I was looking through Time Magazine earlier today and read this...what do you think about it? It looks pretty convenient for camping.

"The LifeStraw, a beefed-up drinking straw designed by the Swiss-based company Vestergaard Frandsen, uses seven types of filters, including mesh, active carbon and iodine, to make 185 gal. of water clean enough to drink. It can prevent waterborne illnesses, such as typhoid and diarrhea, that kill at least 2 million people every year in the developing world. It can also create safe drinking water for victims of hurricanes, earthquakes or other disasters. And finally, it makes a handy accoutrement for the weekend warrior's back-country hike. The price of a caffe latte—about $3—really can save a life."

http://www.lifestraw.com/en/low/low.asp

http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1129551,00.html
 
This looks very cool. I have kept a Survival Straw in all my gear and vehicles for awhile now. But, there pretty hard to find anymore and not cheap. This looks good, but I can't find any info on how to purchase. I wonder if it is available to the private sector? Thanks for sharing the find!
 
Everyone should have one. Most rivers you find are so dirty that one sip would kill you.
 
mymindisamob said:
...can't find any info on how to purchase.
Click to expand...
You could try contacting their North American office:

Vestergaard Frandsen Inc.
1940 Duke Street, Suite 200,
Alexandria, VA 22314, USA
Tel: +1 703 684 3138

Email: usa@vestergaard-frandsen.com
Webform contact page for USA: http://www.lifestraw.com/en/high/email.asp?pmail=usa@vestergaard-frandsen.com&memnam=North+America

Team members - Regional Office (North America)
Thomas Damsbo Soerensen, Regional Director

(edit to add) Looks like they are wholesale only, given stats below from their corporate site's Specifications page. We'll have to see what their distribution/retail channel looks like after the Lifestraw's early 2006 release.
-----------------
Packing
100 pcs in one carton (Size: 60x42x20 cm; Weight: 10.8 Kg)

Shipping Volume
540 cartons per 20' container
1100 cartons per 40' container
-----------------

I'm a bit concerned about QC from a company with the self-ascribed geographical focus quoted below from their own website. The countries they are off-shoring their work to are not my idea of high-tech cognoscente. But if the Lifestraw works, especially at a very affordable price, where it is made doesn't matter IMHO.
"A sales office was set up in Kenya and a sales and procurement set up was established in India. Since the turn of the century sales offices have been set up in Ghana and the USA, and we have added a procurement office in Thailand and laboratories in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand."

Also, given that "The (giardia) cysts are only about 6 microns (6 one-thousandths of a millimeter) in diameter" per this webpage, isn't the Lifestraw filter mesh too large to stop giardia, since they say of their filter, "3 stage particle filtration - filters remove particles down to 15 microns"

Don't get me wrong, I'm hoping as much as anyone that the Lifestraw is as effective as its advertising claims. Because if they are, it's a good thing for all of us.
 
I would wonder about the claims.
185 gal. maybe, likely only if you are filtering tap water. If you check the
useful life of std. filters they will be about the same and they have 3-4 times
the amount of filter media. Also remember that iodine requires contact time to work properly, a straw willl not offer that contact time. If the iodine is placed ahead of the carbon the carbon will filter it out. If placed after the carbon the iodine will need a min. of 20-30 min. to work. I think you will want to swallow long before then.
The claims are just to good to be true!
 
frediver said:
..Also remember that iodine requires contact time to work properly...If placed after the carbon the iodine will need a min. of 20-30 min. to work...
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I am no expert and am reaching a little ways back to my pre-med and med-school chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology and based on what I most rcently found looking up this topic... iodine in filtration works a little different then does iodine tablets.
http://home.earthlink.net/~alanwdove/Water.html said:
...The oldest (and cheapest) method of purifying water is to boil it. Boiling for five minutes will kill any biological hazards you could reasonably expect to find. Most pathogens are actually long dead by the time the water boils, but the five minute boil should get them all (High altitudes: add 1 minute for each 1,000 feet above 10,000 feet). Boiling will NOT neutralize chemical pollutants.

Chemical purification involves the use of iodine or chlorine to kill the nasties in the water... you must make sure that water at 25 deg. C (70deg. F) sits for 20-30 minutes with iodine in it for purification to take place. If the water is colder (as it usually is), you will need to let it sit longer...Used properly, iodine will kill most protozoa and all bacteria and viruses in water. After prolonged use, some people develop thyroid problems, so be aware of this potential side effect.

...the use of filters...only a system which includes an iodine matrix will kill viruses...a filter with pores larger than 0.2 microns ...will let bacteria through. The advantages of a filter are quick processing time (don't have to wait for the pot to boil or the iodine to do its work) and clean-tasting water (no iodine or vitamin C flavor). Some systems also contain a carbon filter which will remove chemical toxins. ...
Click to expand...
other web site said:
...Depth Filter with Iodine: This filter combines physical filtration with chemical treatment to kill the little nasties. The filter snags Giardia and other larger bugs, while a resin-bonded-iodine element kills bacteria and viruses on contact. Unlike treatments using "free" iodine (tablets), the resin-bonded iodine contributes little of the chemical to the water...
Click to expand...
other web site said:
...ALL filters...TRAP but DO NOT KILL bacteria, viruses, protozoa and other forms of microorganisms...
...To get around these Indisputable Adverse Limiting Factors of Filtration & Reverse Osmosis Systems, some manufacturers provide Post-Use Disinfectant of their products by employing Iodine or Colloidal Silver Solution to kill the microorganisms that are invariably trapped and reproduce INSIDE the filter...
Click to expand...
I could be wrong and welcome anyone with a little more background in these areas to correct me if I am.
 
only background I can give is that was a system the the now defunct PUR company used. They had to withdraw the filters from market. The iodine did dont have enough contact time and then it was filtered out by the stop-top carbon cartridge. At least that was the short version given on the info. boards at the time.
 
I don't know of anything that will filter out a virus. Anything that would wouldn't last ten gallons before it plugged up with minerals and disolved particles. I cannot see how every virus or bacterium in a sip of water would be able to contact an impregnated resin long enough to kill it. It sounds too good to be true. I routinely drink untreated water while wandering the woods here, but it is from carefully selected fresh springs. When in unfamiliar territory, I crudely filter, chemically treat, and then boil. No water fever yet.

An interesting trivia fact: The old idea of a coin down a well bringing good luck related to the fact that silver can kill bad micro-organisms. Few people who ate and cooked with silver in Europe during the middle ages secumbed to disease. Settlers heading west during the 1800's dropped silver coins in their water casks to keep the water fresh.

Codger
 
Codger_64 said:
...I cannot see how every virus or bacterium in a sip of water would be able to contact an impregnated resin long enough to kill it. It sounds too good to be true...
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You do NOT have to filter out every bacterium...you just need to be able to decrease the absolute number. There is a critical infective dose required depending on which bacterium you are filtering. Iodine impregnated resins do seem to be a fairly common place component of modern filtration systems. This doesn't seem to work unless you have the proper filter design...based on what I have read.
frediver said:
...that was a system the the now defunct PUR company used...The iodine did dont have enough contact time and then it was filtered out by the stop-top carbon cartridge...
Click to expand...
I can't speak to that company. However, iodine impregnated resins do seem to be a fairly common place component of modern filtration systems. It is possible PUR's design was flawed?
 
Those numbers followed by a number in paranthesis are exponents. i.e. 10(4) means 10 to the 4th power.
UpToDate said:
The infectious dose of E. coli O157:H7 for humans is only 10 to 100 organisms (which is low compared to that of most other enteric pathogens)

Shigella — 10 to 100 organisms
Campylobacter jejuni — 10(4) to 10(6) organisms
Salmonella — 10(5) to 10(8) organisms
Vibrio cholerae — 10(5) to 10(8) organisms
Enterotoxigenic E. coli — 10(8) organisms
Yersinia enterocolitica — 10(9) organisms

other general classes/types/descriptors of E. coli:
• E coli, Enteroaggregative
• E coli, Enterohemorrhagic
• E coli, Enteroinvasive
• E coli, Enteropathogenic
• E coli, Enterotoxigenic
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UpToDate said:
Yersinia pestis, the etiologic agent of plague
Plague is a zoonosis primarily affecting rodents...Rodents are the most important hosts...
Humans are accidental hosts who play virtually no role in the maintenance of Y. pestis as a persistent pathogen in the ecosystem. While transmission may occasionally occur by direct contact or ingestion, survival of the bacillus in nature is dependent upon the flea-rodent interaction...

Humans acquire the disease by several routes:

Bites by rodent fleas
Exposure to humans with pneumonic plague
Handling of infected animal carcasses
Scratches or bites from infected domestic cats
Exposure to aerosols

Flea bites are the most common route of transmission of plague to humans, followed by contact with infected animals. In about 14 percent of cases, the source of infection is unknown. In the absence of epidemics, plague is largely a disease occurring in wild animals, with humans being an accidental victim.

The most common animals to transmit plague in the United States are squirrels, rabbits, and prairie dogs, although undetermined species account for about one-third of cases...
Click to expand...
UpToDate said:
Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax...
B. anthracis is a sporulating Gram positive rod. It is nonmotile and grows aerobically...
Spores of virulent B. anthracis, when introduced subcutaneously, begin to multiply. Production of the antiphagocytic capsule facilitates local spread, while exotoxin production produces extensive brawny edema and tissue necrosis.

Airborne anthrax spores... Spores between 2 to 5 microns in size are deposited on alveolar ducts or alveoli. They are...transported to mediastinal lymph nodes, where they multiply and cause a hemorrhagic mediastinitis but usually not a true pneumonia. Bacteremia and meningitis are frequent complications...

Gastrointestinal anthrax follows ingestion of grossly contaminated and undercooked meat. Anthrax bacilli are transported to...lymph nodes with the development of hemorrhagic adenitis, ascites and septicemia.

Anthrax is a rare infection in the United States.......
Click to expand...
I posted this earlier in the Survivorman thread now locked.
 
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