I have heard of this before. Since I have access to online journals via my university, I looked for recent findings. Here's what I dug up, but it must be taken with a grain of salt as it's a thesis from an undergraduate college:
From : GREENHOUSE SANITATION: EFFICACY OF DISINFECTANTS ON CUTTING BLADES USING TMV ON PETUNIA AS A MODEL (2008)
"All treatments tested reduced incidence of TMV infection from contaminated razor blades. The most effective one-minute disinfectant treatments in these studies were: 20% non-fat dry milk, 20% non-fat dry milk plus surfactant, 1:10 household bleach, and 1% VirkonŽS. [.....] Of the two treatments which provided zero percent incidence of transmission, bleach is corrosive to cutting tools, and thus non-fat dry milk is the preferred treatment. The method by which milk is able to prevent transmission is unknown; this warrantsfurther study."
An other interesting piece of info I found is that industry professionals recommend that their workers wash with non fat dry milk (or skim milk) after normal hand washing. I also discovered that milk also works against powdery mildew.
There have been some studies that have suggested that the milk proteins encapulate virus particles, and so disabling virus transmission.
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Camille
Completely orchid obsessed and loving every minute of it....
My Orchid Photos
Last edited by camille1585; 05-07-2009 at 11:23 AM..
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