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Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Articles educating you to the hidden toxic dangers lurking within your Home's Environment. Hidden dangers of Ozone pumping air purifier ionizing units.
California bans sale of excessive Ozone producing Air Purifier units starting in 2009.
State ban on ozone air purifiers 1st in nation ... The Associated Press
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/regstate/articles/10126071.html
The state has banned widely used indoor ozone air purifiers, saying the devices aggravate many of the problems their advertisements claim to relieve. The California Air Resources Board called the ban, enacted Thursday 09/27/2007, the first of its kind in the nation. "Some manufacturers of ozone generators have argued that ozone has the ability to reduce levels of indoor air pollutants," the board said in a statement. "Research has shown that the opposite is true."
The new regulations, which take effect in 2009, ban the sale of devices that produce more than 0.05 parts per million of ozone, a concentration the board says is enough to harm human health. The board estimated that about 500,000 Californians had been exposed to excessive levels of ozone because of the devices.
"People with respiratory problems need to be protected from ozone," Mary Nichols, chair of the Air Resources Board, said in the statement. "Consumers bought these devices hoping to reduce suffering for themselves or a loved one, only to make the situation worse."
Ozone, the primary component in smog, is produced intentionally by some air purifiers, and is produced as a byproduct of electronics in others. Users and marketers of the devices testified to their benefits at a public hearing in California on Thursday. Ozone, the primary component in smog, is produced intentionally by some air purifiers, and is produced as a byproduct of electronics in others.
California Cleans Up Indoor Air Cleaners Posted: 27 Sep 2007 14:30:57
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 27, 2007
Dimitri Stanich.... www.arb.ca.gov
Air Purifier Devices emit ozone, a gas known to create and exacerbate respiratory problems
SACRAMENTO: Today, the California Air Resources Board adopted the nation's first regulation to prohibit indoor air cleaners from emitting more than 0.050 parts per million of ozone.
Some air cleaning devices, called ozone generators, have been
shown to produce indoor ozone concentrations several times
higher than the state's outdoor air quality standard. CARB's new
regulation prohibits the sale of devices in California that
produce enough ozone to harm human health. The standard of .050
parts per million will assure that concentrations remain below
that level. Some devices exceeding these levels may be exempted
but only for industrial use and where exposures are already
regulated.
There are many types of air cleaners using a variety of
technologies to remove pollutants from the air in homes and
offices. Some produce ozone intentionally and others as a by
product of the electronics. The law mandating CARB act, Assembly
Bill 2276 signed into law in the autumn of 2006 targeted those
consumer devices that produce large amounts of ozone.
"People with respiratory problems need to be protected from ozone," said Mary Nichols, Chairman of the Air Resources Board. "Consumers bought these devices hoping to reduce suffering for themselves or a loved one, only to make the situation worse." An ARB-funded survey by the University of California at Berkeley, found that in the last five years 50 percent of California households that purchased air cleaners did so to address asthma and allergy problems. Forty five percent of those homes included children.
Ozone is the main ingredient of smog and is the primary target
of numerous local, state, and federal health-protective
measures. Very low exposure is tolerable to humans but at higher
levels adverse and even dangerous health effects can result. Much
research and analysis has led California to establish an outdoor
ozone standard of 0.070 parts per million over an 8-hour period,
and 0.090 parts per million over a one-hour period. Exposure
beyond this level can lead to lung inflammation and impaired
functioning, coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath,
worsening asthma symptoms, hospitalization due to respiratory
issues, and potentially death. The new regulation will prevent
this type of dangerous exposures to an estimated 500,000
Californians.
Some manufacturers of ozone generators have argued that ozone
has the ability to reduce levels of indoor air pollutants.
Research has shown that the opposite is true. Ozone reacts with
certain indoor chemicals to form ultra fine particles, which are
respiratory irritants, and formaldehyde, a known human
carcinogen. Manufacturers also alleged that ozone reduces odors
and kills mold and bacteria in the air. However, while ozone can
react with some odorous chemicals, it also irritates nasal
passages and degrades one's sense of smell, thereby masking the
smell rather than eliminating it. Ozone can kill microbes in the
air but only at concentrations roughly 100 times greater than the
amount allowable by this regulation.
Michael T. Kleinman, a professor of Environmental Medicine at
the University of California at Irvine, supports the board's
actions, "Ozone is associated with human deaths. It can cause
irreversible changes such as fibrosis-like stiffening of the
lung." Kleinman added, "In my opinion, the use of an
ozone-generating device as an indoor air cleaner is dangerous,
especially if occupants already have lung or heart diseases, or
are elderly."
The new CARB regulation also requires all air cleaners pass an electrical safety test to prevent fire hazards. They must also carry a specified label on packaging that helps consumers identify acceptable CARB-certified air cleaners. Any air cleaning device designed for use in a single room, a whole house, an entire floor in a multi-story commercial building, inside cars, as well as "personal air purifiers" worn around an individual's neck is subject to this regulation.
For more information go to ARB's web site: http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/indoor/aircleaners/aircleaners.htm
The Air Resources Board is a department of the California
Environmental Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and
protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through
effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and
considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air
pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain
health based air quality standards.
Not all air purifier units are created equal! Looking for air purifiers proven safe to work at cleaning up the home air your breathing????
There is a large body of written material on ozone and the use of ozone indoors. However, much of this material makes claims or draws conclusions without substantiation and sound science. In developing the study: Ozone Generators that are Sold as Air Cleaners, the EPA reviewed a wide assortment of this literature, including information provided by a leading manufacturer of ozone generating devices. In keeping with EPA's policy of insuring that the information it provides is based on sound science, only peer reviewed, scientifically supported findings and conclusions were relied upon in developing this document.... http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html