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Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Articles educating you to the hidden toxic dangers lurking within your Home's Environment. HealthProO2 tips to educate our visitors to protecting their family's health.
Our Competition's Air Purifiers often pump ozone into your home space, causing a health risk!
Health Risks of injecting Ozone into your Home Space
While you may have once thought that all air purification systems are effective, it should be noted that certain models can actually emit unhealthy levels of ozone into your home's. Before we go any further, it is necessary to first understand what ozone is and how it is generated. In simplest terms, ozone is a gas that is produced from regular, natural earth processes. For instance, when a bolt of lighting flashes in the air, it charges and modifies millions of O2 oxygen molecules into O3. The resulting product is known as ozone, and this naturally occurring gas has brought rise to much concern over Ozone pumping ionize air purifier units. Our recommended NanoO2 air purifiers do not emit any dangerous levels of Ozone and we include a 2 free Ozone Badge exposure kits with each NanoO2 unit to visually prove this to our customers.
Just what can ozone do to a person’s body? First and foremost, after entering the human respiratory system, ozone can cause several unwanted symptoms. These symptoms include irritation of the eyes, respiratory tract, nose, and throat. In addition, tightness in the chest is a known feeling associated with contamination. In more severe cases, ozone can have a significant impact on lung performance, leading to extreme difficulties in breathing. Clearly, there are several reasons that ozone should be considered a detrimental home air pollutant.
All NanoO2 air purifiers come with a free Ozone Detector badge kit to test your homes Ozone levels. Considering the numerous health risks associated with ozone, it is important to make sure that unhealthy levels are not being produced in your very own home. Just how can ozone develop in a household anyway? Surprisingly, certain air purification units that utilize ionization as a means of operation can produce unhealthy quantities of ozone particles that react with air born VOCs turning some into formaldehyde. Well this may come as a surprise to many, various companies that manufacture these products put warnings right on the front of their packaging to notify customers of the potential risk of ozone emission.
How, then, is ozone actually produced in the home? Basically, there are two types of air purification systems on the market today: HEPA filters and ionic units. Well HEPA systems operate by cycling the surrounding air and filtering out any unwanted contaminants with enhanced carbon charged filters. Ionic air purification units function in a completely different fashion. With these models, the surrounding atmosphere is charged with enriched oxygenated negative ions, and as a result the contaminants in that given area are destroyed. Unfortunately, the byproduct of these types of units is (you guessed it) O3 ozone.
Given the range of health effects and the possibility of ozone developing in your household, just what can be done to remedy the issue? For beginners, integrating an efficient ventilation system is crucial in the removal of not only ozone but also any unwanted airborne contaminants. Studies have indicated that families who keep their windows closed throughout the winter season are at much greater risk for generating unhealthy concentrations of ozone in the air. Experts believe that a safe level of ozone for a one-hour average concentration in a household is roughly .12 ppm (parts per million).
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
What is Ozone?
Ozone is a gas. It can be good or bad, depending on where it is. "Good" ozone occurs naturally about 10 to 30 miles above the Earth's surface. It shields us from the sun's ultraviolet rays. Part of the good ozone layer is gone - destroyed by man-made chemicals. Without enough good ozone, people may get too much ultraviolet radiation. This may increase the risk of skin cancer, cataracts and immune system problems.
"Bad" ozone is at ground level. It forms when pollutants from cars, factories and other sources react chemically with sunlight. It is the main ingredient in smog. It is usually worst in the summer. Breathing bad ozone can be harmful, causing coughing, throat irritation, worsening of asthma, bronchitis and emphysema, and even permanent lung damage, if you are regularly exposed to it... Environmental Protection Agency and Medline Plus complete study on Ozones impact on your health... http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ozone.html
Ionic air purifiers that rely upon emitting ozone definitely pose a health threat, it should be noted that there a number of other machines that are capable of producing ozone in a given area. For instance, common office supplies, such as printers and photocopiers, are known sources of the Ozone contaminant. As far as naturally occurring ozone is concerned, most of it stays concentrated in the earth’s ozonosphere, while very little of it actually reaches ground level. Urban areas are said to be more likely to develop unhealthier levels of ozone, as vehicle emission can serve as a source of the pollutant as well. Most of the studies regarding the issue are in the preliminary stages, and experts are currently finding ways to prevent the risk of producing the contaminant. Either way, you should no doubt take the appropriate measures to limit the possibility of ozone generation in your area, as it can benefit everyone in the household. You can purchase HealthProO3 Ozone levels exposure test kits from this page for $16.99 (4 pack)