Isn't it Ionic? Air purifiers make smog

[Guest guest]

Isn't it Ionic? Air purifiers make smog

by Roy Britt, MSNBC

http://www.imakenews.com/pureaircontrols/e_article000585385.cfm?

x=b7nCKsS,bvtv58G

Isn't it Ionic? Air purifiers make smog

In poorly ventilated rooms, ozone can build up to unhealthy extent

By Roy Britt

LiveScience

Updated: 4:36 p.m. ET May 9, 2006

Here's how to create your own personal Stage 2 Smog Alert: Buy an

indoor air purifier.

Using a popular process called ionization, the air cleaners can

actually generate ozone levels in a room that exceed the worst smog

days in Los Angeles, a new study finds.

The devices are popular in urban areas. They are touted as getting

rid of dust, pollen and other airborne particles.

Ionic air purifiers, one type of these devices, are said to work by

charging airborne particles and then attracting them to metal

electrodes. They emit ozone as a byproduct of this ionization

process.

In a small and poorly ventilated room, the ozone adds to existing

ozone and creates potentially unhealthy concentrations.

" People operating air purifiers indoors are more prone to being

exposed to ozone levels in excess of public health standards, " said

study leader Sergey Nizkorodov, a chemistry professor the University

of California, Irvine.

The research, funded in part by the National Science Foundation, was

announced today and is detailed in the Journal of the Air & Waste

Management Association.

Ozone high in the atmosphere protects Earth from damaging

ultraviolet radiation. Down here, it is called smog. Ozone can

damage the lungs and cause shortness of breath and throat

irritation, and it can also exacerbate asthma.

Nizkorodov and colleagues tested various air purifiers in homes,

offices and cars. In many cases, ozone levels inside climbed above

90 parts per billion, exceeding California's basic safety threshold.

In some cases, ozone soared higher than 350 parts per billion, which

if measured outside would trigger a Stage 2 Smog Alert, an event

that hasn't occurred in the Southern California coastal air basin

since 1988.

California lawmakers are considering legislation to reduce emissions

from indoor air purifiers. Meanwhile, both the state and the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency have issued advisories discouraging

their use.

" These machines are insidious, " said Barbara Riordan, acting

chairperson of the California Air Resources Board (ARB), in a

warning last year. " Marketed as a strong defense against indoor air

pollution, they emit ozone, the same chemical that the ARB and …

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been trying to eliminate

from our air for decades. More chilling is that some people

susceptible to the ill effects of ozone will eagerly bring these

Trojan horses home. "

Science does not even suggest the things do what they're purported

to do.

An EPA fact sheet has this to say about air purifiers: " Available

scientific evidence shows that at concentrations that do not exceed

public health standards, ozone has little potential to remove indoor

air contaminants. Some manufacturers or vendors suggest that ozone

will render almost every chemical contaminant harmless by producing

a chemical reaction whose only by-products are carbon dioxide,

oxygen and water. This is misleading. "

Pure Air Control Services

800-422-7873

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http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/productdetails/sku__SI861SNX

Are these here not valid or good?

Can anyone here advise me about the best air purifier in USA

I would like to order one here to Iceland but I dont want to order

something all the way - that doesnt work.

My friend has this one from sharper image is it not good?

Thank you if you can advis me

Greetings from Iceland

mygla

[Guest guest]

you need to order something that works with a hepa filter. NO ozone or

iomizer

Janet

[Guest guest]

order an aircleaner with a HEPA filter. MUCHO safer!!!!