NEW YORK CITY — In early October, Kris Kobach, Kansas’ former Secretary of State, and Daniel Drake, a Wichita-based venture capitalist-turned-CEO, made a sales pitch to Kansas legislators. The duo wheeled in what looked to lawmakers like a “refrigerator” — a shiny metal box Drake called a “revolutionary” device that would “kill COVID” and bring “several hundred jobs back to Wichita.”
“This stuff is very cutting-edge,” Kobach said. The local development of such exciting technology was why, he told lawmakers, he wanted Kansas to get the “first bite at the apple.”
During their pitch, Drake explained that his company, MoJack Distributors, had developed a line called “Scent Crusher” that uses aerosolized ozone, a tri-oxygen molecule, to sanitize hunting and sports products, “only to realize that we weren’t here today to be able to get hunters or sportsmen to be better athletes or better hunters, but to kill COVID.” He told lawmakers the sample product next to him was part of a new line called “Sarus Systems.”
The former, controversial secretary of state and his new business partner made sweeping claims before the Legislature about the efficacy of Sarus System’s products, but experts say the claims were misleading. After a two-month investigation, Columbia Journalism School was unable to verify the vast majority of their statements.
There is no evidence Sarus Systems has made material steps toward rehoming hundreds of jobs to Kansas, and shipping records show products are currently being manufactured in China. There is also scant evidence their machines, or ozone in general, can safely eliminate SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. And while the pair have hyped the products’ popularity, claiming a three-month backlog and international interest, we were unable to verify any purchases — from the state of Kansas or otherwise.
Sarus Systems’ products are designed to be easy to use: The user fills a water tank, drops in one “optimizing agent” tablet containing ozone, turns the machine on, leaves the room and waits as a vapor disinfects everything from personal protective equipment to entire rooms — in just 90 minutes. When first interviewed in October, Drake said his product was superior to commonly used household cleaners certified by the Environmental Protection Agency because “our product actually kills COVID, SARS-CoV-2, everywhere, everywhere, it can touch. So it kills the underneath of the desk, top of the desk, the underneath of the chair, the air in the room, the cracks and crevices in the keyboards. It does a hundred percent super deep clean job that even a human couldn’t do.”
As proof, he pointed to a third-party lab test on the Sarus Systems website done by MRIGlobal, a research institute based in Kansas City, Missouri. The study is heavily redacted and sports a red “CONFIDENTIAL” stamp on the first page. Even the name “Sarus Systems” and its product were redacted — though both Drake and Kobach have publicly said the company paid for the test. The duo gave the Kansas Legislature an unredacted copy of the study, which was obtained by Columbia Journalism School.
MRIGlobal tests products for clients under criteria defined by the clients themselves, according to those familiar with the lab’s work. The study was not designed to prove that these products effectively “kill COVID” in real-world environments, as Drake and Kobach have claimed. In fact, the unredacted version shows the products were tested in extremely controlled rooms and that “stainless steel coupons” — small pieces of stainless steel exposed to the virus — were tested for sanitization.
Experts who reviewed the unredacted study were unconvinced by the results.
“Ideally, this study would be one small part of a much longer, more complicated investigation, but the surfaces, materials, or ventilation of a typical hospital room or clinical work area are not replicated here,” said UCLA Emergency Medicine physician Mark Morocco. “I doubt that any health care entity would consider such a limited study sufficient to consider utilizing such a system (as Sarus’).”
In other words, the study makes no suggestion that the product would be effective on porous surfaces, such as a desk or a chair, as Drake claimed.
The study claims that ozone can sanitize the room at a rate of 99.8% — a figure too low to kill the virus under EPA standards. The study failed to address the health risks of ozone, which, according to the EPA, include lung damage, throat irritation and other respiratory ailments. The EPA considers ozone generators pesticidal devices, and as such, they have not reviewed the safety or efficacy of such products as a means for SARS-CoV-2 sanitization.
On its webpage “Ozone Generators That Are Sold as Air Cleaners,” the EPA recommends — with italicized emphasis — that consumers use “proven methods of controlling air pollution. These methods include eliminating or controlling pollutant sources, increasing outdoor air ventilation and using proven methods of air cleaning.” They do not recommend the use of ozone for these purposes.
Originally, Sarus Systems’ website indicated it was “an establishment registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.” But the agency confirmed it had not reviewed the products and was not certifying any ozone technology for COVID-19 response.
After being presented with a detailed set of questions related to the company’s claims about the EPA, the website was changed. It now reads, “Sarus Systems designs and distributes products produced by manufacturers registered with the Environmental Protection Agency.” Drake did not explain the change in his statement, saying he stood by his claims and did not feel the company had been misleading.
