Soap Free Podcast

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Hello, everyone, it's JP from Procyon here in the last few days of our covid July of 2020. I hope everybody out there is staying safe and taking care of themselves and their families and friends we have as a company. Been receiving really generous participation from some of our users and also we reached out to some people who haven't used it before, who are professional cleaners in the industry, asking them to try it and review it. And we've had just such thoughtful, enthusiastic and generous response.

[00:00:39.850] 

It has reminded me once again of what I love about the spirit of the cleaning industry year, perhaps in particular here in the midst of this very difficult time, people are spending a lot more time at home and they're turning to professional cleaners to deliver the always important service. But just makes me think that in this time, generally, it's so important that we all find ways to care about each other as people suffer through the effects of this virus, including feelings of isolation and depression.

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So all the contact we can have with people showing that care is super important and all of us at Procyon are proud to be part of that. And we are here for you. So I wanted to share in particular that I've had some really heartfelt calls with some people both to tell me how much they appreciate usually the extreme pre spray, the spot and stain and the powder and just how much their customers love it. Once they've experienced the green cleaning and the residue free experience in their carpet and their upholstery, that they never want to go back.

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And there are so many people out there who are sensitive to allergens and therefore volatile organic compounds or Vox's that customers are thrilled to learn that there's a product out there that can be thoroughly cleaned and yet protect their health and avoid so many of the problems that the common cleaners that are so perfumed and so out there cause for them. So for those people that are already using our product and are committed to green cleaning, thank you. And so appreciative that all of us have Procyon on our.

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But for those of you who may be out there, either in your households or as professionals that haven't used a green cleaning solution or Procyon in particular, really want to encourage you to try it. And for professional cleaners who may be skeptical about whether a green cleaner has the chemistry to do the cleaning, that you feel that you are getting the excellent clean results you may be getting from a residue causing soapy solution. Even if you are committed to your process, consider trying Procyon and adding it as an additional service for your clients.

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It's a premium service and to be able to call yourself a green cleaner or to offer that as a possible service for your customers. I know from the experience of our dedicated users that your business will increase, that you're going to increase your customer satisfaction and you're going to improve your health as well, because you will not be breathing or touching the dangerous chemicals that are contained in most cleaners. So that's about it for right now. Just we're thinking about all of you as we get through this crisis together.

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Feel free to contact us either online or by phone. You can see us online at Soap Free Procyon spelled p r o c y o n dot com. Or you can call us at one 800 Procyon. Thanks so much for listening and we'll be talking soon. Stay green. Stay healthy. So long.

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Jonathan Perlstein talks about how to keep you homes safe in an eco-friendly way.

You're listening to the soap free podcast. The show that brings you the latest information on soap free products, trends and ideas. 

00:00:17

Hello, it's JP from Procyon. This is the week of July 6th and the whole COVID virus issue has been on my mind and my heart as we've watched the numbers increase and people are concerned about how to keep their homes safe. And so it occurred to me that it was time to speak a little bit about how to keep your home safe and the greenest possible way.

00:00:46

So this morning, I took some Procyon Multipurpose Cleaner and Degreaser. This product is made with the same ingredients that are used in food processing. Extremely safe. No volatile organic compounds. So I love cleaning with it. I mixed it up and the mixture for cleaning the hard surface that I used was four ounces to the gallon. And you can of course not. You can just mix two ounces to a half gallon if you want. Make a spray bottle. I sprayed our counters.

00:01:23

We happen to have a granite counter, but it works great on Formica counters or other hard surfaces. So sprayed it down. And I used a Dobi pad to rub it in and then it used a clean towel to wipe it off. It's great at cutting grease and it's much more effective than many other cleaners you might use, including soap. 

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The one thing that we don't do in cleaning with Procyon is we don't have the same chemistry as a soap with respect to destroying the virus. So whether using soap or so Soap Free Procyon, what I like to do in our household is I do make a bleach solution. And you can choose just look right on a Clorox or other bleach bottle and you can choose whether you want to use a sanitizing or a disinfecting strength. So if you're sanitizing, it's a much lighter mix. It would be something like it could be two teaspoons to a gallon. But if you want hospital level disinfection, which is what I choose for our family, I use a full half cup in one gallon of water.

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And I do that at a smaller portion and put it in a 16 ounce spray bottle. So once I have finished cleaning the countertops with the Multi-purpose Cleaner and Degreaser, I lightly spray the countertop with the Clorox and once again use a Dobie pad or similar. And gently move it around to make sure that the countertop is completely coated, at which point I let it sit for 10 minutes at the end of ten minutes. I take a white towel with bleach fast and wet it down and thoroughly rinse the countertops and then let them air dry.

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We take that towel that has some bleach on it and I use it to clean all of the handles on our appliances, the poles on our cabinets and drawers. And then I'll do a fresh spray of the bleach solution and I clean all the doorknobs on the house. So that's just. I do that twice a week in our household. You can choose to do it at the interval that you feel appropriate for your risk assessment. If you're wanting to disinfect the soft surfaces in your house, I once again, we've post this on the Web site before.

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I want to recommend a wonderful product that's made by a company, Benefect, and it's called Decon 30. This is a botanical disinfectant. It's extremely safe. And it is EPA certified to kill ninety nine point nine percent of bacteria and also viruses. It's used in hospital settings. The amazing thing about this product is it's it uses something called thymol t h y m o l, it's a derivative of the herb thyme. This product, the one I select, has a very light lemon and thyme scent.

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You can you can blend that according to the directions and then just spray it lightly on both hard and fabric surfaces. So if you've had guests in the house, you may choose to lightly mist your upholstery with this. You can also use on the countertops, if you like, in place of bleach. So that's just a quick hit for you as we are all continuing to be wary of and fight this epidemic. All of us at Procyon wish you happiness and health, and we always welcome your questions. You're welcome to submit them either through our Web site at soapfreeprocyon.com or you're also welcome to call us at one 800-PROCYON. 

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Thanks. And I'll look forward to talking to you on the next podcast next week. Have a green and healthy week.

00:05:43 

Thanks for joining us this week on the soap free podcast. Make sure to visit our Web site, SOAPFREEPROCYON.COM where you can learn more about amazing soap free cleaning products. Be sure to subscribe to the show in iTunes, Google, Spotify or iHeart Radio. So you'll never miss a show. While you're at it. If you found value in this show, we'd appreciate a rating on iTunes. Thanks so much for that effort. Until next time.

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More about Soap Free cleaning with Jonathan Pearlstei

As always, it's great to be here and have the opportunity to
share some information about the importance of so free cleaning with our
audience. So, number one, our number one mission is to help people live
healthier lives and and also to make our environment healthier. So I'd like to
share with you some common sense and practical ways in which soap free, clean
is really important. First thing I'd like to share is most of us have taken a
shower in the past day or two and we've watched our hair. 

So the next time you're showering and your shampoo, your
hair, you stop and think to yourself as you stick your head under the spigot.
How much water is it taking to get my hair wet? And then you shampoo your hair
and you agitate the shampoo by scrubbing your scalp and then you rinse. How
much water is it taking to rinse all that soap out of your hair? It's quite a
bit. And if you use that much water on your carpet or upholstery to rinse out a
soapy, sticky cleaning substance. 

Think about the effect of over-wetting on your precious
carpet or your your furniture creates its own problems. Mold and bacteria
growth and that funky wet dog smell that can remain in a damp or poorly clean
carpet for days. But when you're not putting soap in, you don't need to use as
much water to rinse. And so that's one of the very important things and healthy
things about so frequently. No residue. And we're not over wetting the carpet
or upholstery. 

When we rinse it so we don't endanger ourselves with
essential mold and bacteria growth and odors. A second example I like to call
the washing machine lesson and washing machine runs several rinse cycles just
to remove detergent and soap residue from your clothes. That's a lot of water.
Another place we see that is if you've been in a hot tub or pool, often there's
suds that you'll see floating on water. So this sticky soap detergent residue
is being released from swimsuit fibers or clothes even after many rinse cycles. 

If you were to contact your local hot tub dealer and ask
them why they sell de-foamer with your hot tub, they they they know exactly
why. It's not because there's foam from their other chemicals. It's because of
all those swimsuits that are in there and all the residue being rinsed out. So
that's why a truly clean carpet needs a soap free treatment as opposed to, once
it's in, you can't get it all out. Now, why does this matter? 

What does it matter if there's a little soap underfoot?
Well, this is where I get back to something I've talked about in prior
episodes, and that is what we like to call the barefoot challenge. Think about
it. There are substances on the skin and they're absorbed into the human body.
If you were to take that clove of garlic. As I've discussed before, and cut it
in half and rub the wet garlic on the bottom, you're barefoot and then get
dressed within 24 hours, you're going to taste garlic in your mouth, even if
you haven't eaten anything for a long time. You can count on it. 

Likewise chemicals of cleaning enter our bodies through
exposure from what we touch, from our feet to our hands - for skin, the biggest
organ in our body. So when we have a customer or family walk with bare feet on
freshly clean carpet, the moisture from their feet activates the contaminant
and sticky soap and detergent residues and these chemicals in the carpet can
get absorbed through our feet and other skin that touches upholstery or
carpeted areas right into our bloodstream. 

And that can attack our neurological system or our brain. I
mean, how much toxicity and poison do we need to live with? And this can
contribute to cancers and other illnesses. So a really simple way to enhance
your health and that of your family, your friends, is to make sure that you're
using soap free products to clean these important surfaces in your home. I hope
that's helpful, everybody. I hope those are some good, commonsense examples so
you can understand why it is so important to use soap free products like
Procyon. 

And you can learn more about Procyon products at our
website: soapfreeproyon.com. Thanks so much for your time today. 

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Soap Free Procyon's Co-owner Jonathan Pearlstein talks about the science behind soap free cleaning.

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You're listening to the Soap Free Podcast. The show that brings you the latest information on soap free products, trends and ideas. 

00:00:16

Lex, first of all, thank you for the opportunity to speak briefly today about the science behind soap free cleaning in particular. How does Soap Free Procyon work? What's it doing? Before I get into the specifics, just like to mention the importance of cleaning with as few unnatural ingredients as possible. And our founder, Ivan Day, loved to talk about how our skin is the largest organ of our body.

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And it is super absorptive. If you were to cut a clove of garlic in half and wipe it on the bottom of your foot before you go to bed, in the morning, you'll taste garlic in your mouth. It is that absorptive right into our bloodstream. So it really matters what we are walking on and sitting on where our skin and the skin of our family's small children, in particular, because they have set a small surface area, are absorbing into their bodies.

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A lot of components of detergents are related to the same chemicals as you might find in antifreeze or other petroleum byproducts. So the last thing we want to do is be absorbing that in our skin. And this is why we, Procyon, are so passionate about soap free, detergent free cleaning. So what is Soap Free Procyon doing? First of all, as a soap free product, we add in all cleaning products, have to wet a fiber. And wetting is it has to do with surfactants.

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What is a surfactant? A surfactant is an ingredient that changes surface tension, generally reduces it. As a matter of fact, if surfactants weren't in even soap products. Soap won't mix with the water. Water will repel the soap. So there has to be a surfactant ingredient. Soap Free Procyon uses all natural surfactant and emulsifying agents. But these agents are the same type of products that are used in food production. And so literally in their component parts, edible, similar to baking soda and sea salt.

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So you can tell. We all have jumped in the ocean and we get a little water in our mouth and we taste it. It's not harmful. We don't want to drink it because that would be harmful to our system. But as the cleaning agent, that type of product is amazing. So what does wetting mean? Wetting agents are surfactants do two things. First, their ability to reduce surface tension allows the cleaning solution to penetrate into areas where surface tension might otherwise impede its access.

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And this facilitates the cleaning surface features, especially with finally detailed geometry. So carpet fiber, fabric fiber. This is a three dimensional geometry and it's very important that we have that surfactant to allow efficient wetting of the surface. So by lowering the surface tension, we allow the liquid to surround and penetrate between small particles and substrates, which facilitates the separation, the particle from the fabric. It's especially true in the case of ultrasonic cleaning. But most people aren't using that on their efforts.

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The particles are free of the substrates or the fabric. They can be rinsed away. So this is why changing the surface tension is so very important. Second, wetting agents can exhibit what are called surface active properties. In simple terms, the wetting agents are formulated to be highly attractive to a surface. If the cleaning solution is more highly attracted to the substrate, then the contaminants such as oil or, let's say, a wine stain, the contaminant loses the tug of war, if you will.

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And we can gently rinse it out with water. So the wetting properties of the cleaning solution benefit the removal of particles as well as other contaminants such as stains. So that's why wetting or the surfactant is so important. And again, it's all natural. It's an edible and an edible ingredient that we use at Soap Free Procyon. So the other action that's part of the science of soap free cleaning is emulsification. Now, soap is an effective emulsifier.

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We've all used soap on our hands when we have greasy hands at the sink. The problem is it leaves a residues and that residue is soapy, sticky, and so it re soils actively. That is to say that if something is sticky, the dirt particle is going to adhere to it and not able to be easily vacuumed out or rinsed out. What we want to do is what we do with Soap Free Procyon is we have a natural emulsification. And so what happens is we're using a PH, that is to say, an alkalinity.

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Let me speak briefly about the PH scale. Dirt and most contaminants in your fabric and carpets are acidic in nature. That is to say that they have a PH that is lower than seven seven being neutral, such as water. The dirt is acidic. And when you're trying to clean something that's acidic, you use the opposite, something that is. So our ingredients produce a PH right around nine and 10 depending on the product. And this is equivalent to baking soda or hand soap in terms of its PH.

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So it's still very friendly to our bodies, not dangerous to animals or humans, but that PH level and the chemistry of the age scale is what works to help emulsify and allow us to lift out away from the fabric, the stain or the soil. And since there is no soap in it, it's residue free. And it won't be completely not sticky and will read soil much less quickly to see the inner carpet. No residues. That's going to look more beautiful and stay clean longer.

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So I hope that wasn't too confusing for anybody, and we're always happy to answer questions as we're able, but the magic of Soap Free Procyon is in its natural chemistry, its natural ingredients. And I invite everybody to go to SoapFreeProcyon.Com. For even more information and to review our products.

00:07:25 

Thanks for joining us this week on the Soap Free podcast. Make sure to visit our Web site, SoapFreeProcyon.Com, where you can learn more about amazing soap free cleaning products. Be sure to subscribe to the show iTunes, Google, Spotify or iHeart Radio. So you'll never miss the show while you're at it. If you found value in this show, we'd appreciate a rating on iTunes. Thanks so much for that effort. Until next time.

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This week, we talk with Jonathan Pearlstein, Vice President of Plus Manufacturing, about the history of Soap Free Procyon. He shares the philosophy and mission behind soap free cleaning, as well as the passion and vision behind the company. 

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You're listening to the soap free podcast. The show that brings you the latest information on soap free products, trends and ideas. 

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Well, first of all, let's I want to thank you for the opportunity to share some of the back story about Procyon and its founder and what brings Bob Plaster and me, Jonathan Pearlstein, as the successor owners to this point in time where we are carrying on the process, on tradition. 

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First of all, so everybody knows, Ivan Day, the founder of the company, started making Procyon almost 40 years ago. Ivan had a long history as a carpet cleaner. He was a simple man. He only had about an eighth-grade education, but he had a PHD in people, he really cared about people. He was a square shooter, liked to educate people. And he was very concerned about people's health. And I can go into more about who Ivan was on future podcasts. But the important thing to know is this. Bob and I are both cousins of Ivan, Bob by blood, me by marriage.

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And I first met Ivan, in about 2000, while I've known him for almost 30 years. I started working for him with Procyon about 15 years ago. I'm a recovering attorney and I have long done the corporate work and the business negotiations with Ivan. And back in about 2007, I traveled with Ivan. The ISSA show in Las Vegas. One of the largest cleaning products and equipment shows in the whole world. Fills the entire convention center. I was there to negotiate with some distributors and suppliers when I came home from those three days in Las Vegas.

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But I was really struck by was the tremendous character and the passion that people in the cleaning industry bring to what they do. Everybody from the suppliers of solutions, the equipment suppliers, but most importantly, the end users, the people that are out there serving clients in their homes, cleaning every day. And it occurred to me that this was a recession proof business. No matter what's going on, the economy, things get cleaned every day. Schools, hospitals, office buildings and people's homes.

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Now, Ivan was like a John the Baptist of the green cleaning industry. He was passionate about the fact that volatile organic chemicals in the air VOCs were harmful and that people should not be putting or introducing harmful chemicals into their home or their work environments. And so that's why it was so important to him. That Procyon was completely natural, using food grade ingredients, things that are used actually in processing food. People would often be stunned at shows when we would literally spray the solution in our mouth because there's nothing we don't suggest.

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People do that, by the way. You can taste it. But please don't be drinking it. But it is stunning because most people wouldn't would decline. Even touching them in a chemical solution will be sprayed in our hand because we're so used to everything being so dangerous. It's ironic that cleaning chemicals have often until present day are exempt from disclosing their ingredients. So Ivan was very passionate about this.

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I came home at a time when we were just about to plunge into the Great Recession that struck us in 2007. And at the time, I was having breakfast every Thursday morning with a very good friend and we were trying to decide what type of business to start with our sons who were high school sophomores at the time. This is the week after I came back from this ISSA show and we were meeting at the local golf course. Actually, the people that owned it were some legal clients of mine. Wonderful family. And there we are, seven o'clock in the morning and the family comes in.

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And I saw them bemoaning the fact that they were going to have to spend almost twenty thousand dollars replacing their clubhouse and restaurant carpet because it was just so filthy. I looked at Brian over bowls of oatmeal and I said, let's start a carpet cleaning company. I went up to the car where I happen to have a bottle of Procyon's wonderful spot and stain cleaner. And I brought it in and asked the family to get a couple of clean, white bleach, free towels.

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And I simply sprayed the solution on the greasiest spot in the carpet right outside the exit from the kitchen and the grease hoods where you could not even see the color or the pattern of the carpet. And after about 10 seconds, I put down the bar rag and twisted my foot in it and bang, there was all the color and all the pattern. And they were so stunned that they asked me to repeat it three times that they looked at me and said, come clean our carpet, write us a quote. 

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I had to tell them Lex that I'd never cleaned carpet in my life. And we'd figure it out. And so I called Ivan Day and he told us what equipment to rent. And the reason that we were so confident, knowing absolutely nothing besides the simple instructions he gave us that we could succeed was there was really no downside. There was no harm that the Procyon products could bring to that carpet. Literally, if we had pre-sprayed the entire carpet and then decided that we were too scared to proceed. It would have just dried and the residues would merely be like a light salt and it would vacuum right out. 

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We are a residue free product. That is to say, when you use Procyon in your in your carpet or your upholstery, when you rinse there will be no residue. And this is what distinguishes us. The biggest thing that distinguishes us from soap and detergent products that no matter what you do, will leave some residue.

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That residue is the problem. As Ivan used to say, carpets ugly out before they wear out? And the reason they ugly out is that people are using soap and detergents and it adheres to the fiber. I can start to wrap this up by telling you that Ivan was fond of explaining to people that if they've ever been in a hot tub and the jets go off and there's bubbles that remain on the surface. Those aren't residues from the jets. That is the residues of soap that is in all of our bathing suits when we launder them, because no matter how many rinse cycles you put it through, there's always some soap left.

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So over time, it causes dirt to adhere and it doesn't just vacuum out. So when you're using Soap Free Procyon, it reverses all that soap buildup and ultimately you will have to clean your carpets much less often because the dirt will merely vacuum out. At least, seventy five percent of it leaving your carpets clean, even between treatments with Procyon. 

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So to wrap up. I just want to tell you that the carpet cleaning business that we started is carried on by my good friend and he has become an absolute smash hit in the Seattle area. Once people have their carpets cleaned with soap free products, they don't want to go back because there's no odor, there's no residue. You can be confident that when you're stepping barefoot on your beautiful soft that you're not absorbing any dangerous chemicals. And my friend Brian, who continues this business now is exemplary of the thousands of independent, wonderfully hearted, passionate carpet cleaners that are out there serving people that provide better health in their homes. And both Bob and I, as the proud successor owners of the Procyon brand, are absolutely committed to making sure that this product remains available for all of those people who are dedicated to it and all of the new customers and cleaners that we can bring the Procyon brand to.

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We truly believe that it makes people healthier. It makes the earth healthier and all of our lives better. 

[00:09:25.660] 

Thanks for joining us this week on the Soap Free Podcast. Make sure to visit our Web site, SoapFreeProcyon.com, where you can learn more about amazing soap free cleaning products. Be sure to subscribe to the show in iTunes, Google, Spotify or iHeart Radio. So you'll never miss a show while you're at it. If you found value in this show, we'd appreciate a rating on iTunes.

[00:09:50.490] 

Thanks so much for that effort. Until next time.

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