California EPA: Ozone emissions spur call for survey

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California EPA: Ozone emissions spur call for survey

tartineaucho...

08:22 AM PST on Friday, March 3, 2006

By DAVID DANELSKI / The Press-Enterprise

California's air-quality regulators want to know how many people

rely on air purifiers that actually pollute the indoor atmosphere

with potentially harmful ozone.

The state Air Resources Board has commissioned UC Berkeley

researchers to survey 1,800 households and estimate how many have

the ozone-producing machines and how often they're used. The goal is

to determine how big a health risk consumers face from the machines'

indoor air pollution.

The air purifiers still are aggressively marketed in Southern

California, more than a year after the air board issued a public

warning and asked the state attorney general's office to investigate

for potential consumer fraud.

Not all the machines are harmful. However, additional research

affirmed earlier studies that found some machines not only fail to

effectively clean the air, but they produce harmful ozone gas that

can worsen asthma, deaden the sense of smell and damage the lungs.

" We don't have second- or third-stage smog alerts anymore, but now

you make one in your home, " said Jerry , an air board

spokesman. said the agency doesn't have the authority to ban

or otherwise crack down on the machines. Representatives of one

manufacturer said the air purifiers are safe and effective. The

machines emit ozone but not enough to be harmful, they say.

Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge, a member of the air board's governing

body, said he thinks that enough research has been done to support

the creation of state laws to regulate the machines.

UC Berkeley's telephone survey will ask residents whether they use

an air purifier, which model they use, why they use one and how

often. The researchers also will try to determine what else the

state can do to evaluate the potential health risks from the

machines. Results of the $100,000 survey are expected late this year.

A Researcher's Findings

Air-pollution officials have battled outdoor ozone, a byproduct of

vehicle and factory emissions, for decades.

Ozone is an invisible gas that can inflame the lungs and bodily

tissues. It causes headaches, nausea and runny noses and can

aggravate conditions like asthma enough to send people to hospitals.

No one should be making the stuff in their homes, state officials

said last year. But tests continue to find that many air purifiers

now on the market do just that. Some of the most recent tests were

done by Jerry Siegel, an engineering professor at the University of

Texas at Austin, who presented his results at an indoor-air

conference in Beijing, China, in September.

Siegel went into his research believing that many of the machines

might not be effective air cleaners but probably weren't harmful, he

said in a telephone interview. After testing 10 models, he found

that some emitted seriously harmful levels of ozone.

" They should never be used in an occupied building, " he said.

Machines that used ion-exchange technologies emitted much less ozone

but enough to raise health concerns, he said. Only machines with

high-efficiency particle filters, known as HEPA filters, emitted no

ozone and resulted in significantly cleaner air, Siegel said.

Machines that deliberately produced ozone or relied on particle-

ionizing technologies were ineffective air cleaners, he said. Such

machines removed only a negligible amount of smoke from burning

incense in a laboratory air chamber, he said. " They are emitting a

dangerous gas and not removing many particles from the air, " Siegel

said.

Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office,

said the agency is conducting a review to look for possible

violations of laws that protect buyers from unfair business

practices and false advertising. The office hasn't initiated a full-

scale investigation, he said.

Endorsed by Dr.

In its warning last year, the air board listed several ozone-

generating machines to avoid, including the Living Air and Fresh Air

models made by Greeneville, Tenn.-based EcoQuest International.

Radio talk-show personality Dr. Schlessinger endorsed the

Fresh Air model last month during her call-in advice show on KFI

radio, saying she has one of the machines in her office.

Company representatives defend the air purifiers. A paid science

adviser said by telephone that recent models use new technology and

generate less ozone than older models. None of the machines,

however, emits enough ozone to be harmful, said L. Marsden, a

food-science professor at Kansas State University. " Even with the

older machines, the levels are very low, " Marsden said. " No one is

selling products with dangerous levels of ozone. "

, 82, of Temecula, said she was hooked by a Fresh Air sales

pitch when Schlessinger endorsed the machine on the radio. She got a

free trial from Santa Barbara-based dealer Giddens.

hoped the machine would give her relief from her allergies. said

the machine fogged up her home. " It had this smell to it, and it

wasn't doing anything for me, " said , a retired Navy officer.

When she tried to return it, Giddens wouldn't take the delivery,

said.

Giddens said gave her a bad credit-card number and never

intended to pay the $800. She took to small-claims court and got

a $400 judgment and the machine back. Giddens acknowledged that the

Fresh Air model emits ozone. " If you get the ozone at the right

levels, it's perfectly safe, " she said.

Siegel, the indoor-air expert, strongly disagrees. Ozone is a

harmful gas, period, he said. " There is no debate about ozone. "

Ozone Generators Sold as Air Purifiers

The following is a partial list of portable ozone generators that

are sold as air purifiers, primarily for residential use. Inclusion

on this list is based on information available at the time of

review. Exclusion from this list is not to be construed as

endorsement by the California Air Resources Board. Ozone generators

intended for commercial use, and in-duct systems or other non-

portable devices, are not listed here but may generate potentially

harmful levels of ozone.

Air-Zone (All models): XT-120, XT-240, XT-400, XT-800

Alpine (Certain models): Living Air Classic, XL-15, Living Air

BreezeAT, LA1, LA2, Peak, Flair

Applied Ozone Systems (Most models): CS-1, CS-2

APSNA (All models): FA1, C3, BAT, F2

Aqua Sun Ozone International (Certain models): 202A, 217A, 308, 206-

A, Kleenair 2500R

Biozone (All models): 50, 102, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000

Cliff Enterprises (CSE) (All models): CSE 100, CSE 101

Crystal Air (All models): Pro (420, 700, 3400-1), Multizone 280

Csonka (All models): Original Air Care, Super Air Care, Pro Air Care

Ecoquest (Most models): Fresh Air, Living Air Classic, Breeze AT,

Flaire

Enaly (Most models): OZX-A200B, OZX-A500B

Jenesco (All models): DC-12, PT101, PT101W, PT109, PT109W

Lenntech (All models): Series 3000

Nature's Air (Only model): NA-2

Odatus (All models): II

Ozone Solutions (All models): MZ-280, OMZ-420, OMZ-700, OMZ-1000

Prozone (All models): The Prozone, PZ6-AIR, Whole House Twister,

Whole House Air & Surface Purifier

Pure 'n Natural (Certain models): OZ-2000 ('Odor Zapper'), Sani-Mate

AS-250-B

RainbowAir (All models): Newaire Plug In, Activator (250, 500, 1000)

SpringAir (Certain models): CS-1, CS-2

SurroundAir (Certain models): Multi-Tech

Taoture International Enterprises, Inc. (Most models): OZX-A200B,

OZX-A500B

Windchaser (Certain models): IF-1, IF-2, IMC-1

Source: California Air Resources Board Web site

(http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/indoor/ozone.htm)