Good Housekeeping: The Art Of Contamination Controls

By Wendy Meyerhoff, Life Science Leader magazine

It took Dr. Joseph Lister a while to convince physicians that something invisible had to be protected against, but since the concept took hold, cleanliness has been a major concern in life sciences. Now there are numerous standards defining “clean” in hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, biotech labs, and other life sciences areas, plus numerous options for meeting those standards.

Cleaning The Cleanroom
Anyone not clear about the importance of fighting contaminants just needs to review the statement of Roger McFadden, technical director of Coastwide Laboratories, based in Wilsonville, OR. In his paper, “A Basic Introduction to Cleanrooms,” McFadden noted: “A human hair is about 75-100 microns in diameter. A particle 200 times smaller (0.5 micron) can cause major disaster in a cleanroom. In fact, the Hubble Space Telescope was damaged and did not perform as designed because of a particle smaller than 0.5 micron.”