are air purifiers bad for health

Room Ionic Ozone Air Purifier with New Whisper Quiet Fan Technology 4.5 x 4 x 3.1 inches #97,553 in Home and Kitchen (See Top 100 in Home and Kitchen) #50 in Home & Kitchen > Heating, Cooling & Air Quality > Air Purifiers > Air Ionizers See all 97 customer reviews See all 97 customer reviews (newest first) This little thing works like magic! My coworker who sits next to me smokes- yuck. But now with this little thing on, I can hardly tell whether he smokes or not. Can you believe it? Ever since moving into our house, our cold storage and the neighboring room have had a faint moldy or dank smell to them. Excellent customer support and this little unit has performed very well for the couple of days it is in use. Only used a couple of days but it really is fast in cleaning air and is easy to use. I absolutely love this ionizer! It may replace all of my others!I've been using ionizers and air purifiers since the 90's and have tried quite a few due to my asthma.

We bought this unit to try in the "kitty room" and are so happy we did! All we did was plug the unit in and within an hour we could tell a big difference! Product is delivering the Ozone effect it advertised to deliver. It's reaching into other rooms beyond the 330 sq ft advertised as well which is a plus, in my opinion. Work very well, runs quiet. My wife had gastric bypass years ago and as anyone who has undergone that or knows someone who did can attest, bathroom odors/issues can be problem.Not all air filters are created alike. In fact, some of them can introduce other things into the air as they act to remove particulates and microbes, thereby replacing one harmful airborne substance for another. In particular, air filters that produce large amounts of ozone can be a real health hazard for many people. Fortunately, there are many low-ozone and ozone-free air purifiers that cleanse the air without releasing large amounts of other substances. Low-ozone and ozone-free air purifier systems will take care of germs and other airborne particles without adding too much ozone to the air that is being breathed.

Ozone is well-known as the substance that makes up the layer that protects the Earth from the sun’s most harmful UV radiation. However, while ozone in the ozone layer of the Earth’s atmosphere is beneficial to human beings, it is not something that is good for people to breathe in large amounts.
what is a hepa air cleanerIn fact, ozone is one of the primary chemicals found in smog, which has long been known for its detrimental impact on human health.
sharper image ionic air purifier Several studies have demonstrated that prolonged exposure to large quantities of ozone is harmful to men and women.
air purifier and cat hairThe United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for example, has demonstrated in several studies that ozone can inflame lung and bronchial tissue, resulting in the obstruction of smaller airways and reducing the amount of oxygen that the body absorbs.

This makes ozone particularly harmful to individuals who suffer from asthma. When it comes to choosing the right air purifier, options that release large amounts of ozone are not good for asthmatics who are seeking air filtration for their home, office, or other indoor space. Even in non-asthmatics, however, breathing ozone can cause coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation, and many other respiratory problems. One of the reasons for this appears to be that the molecular structure of ozone makes it more difficult for the human respiratory system to keep ozone out of the lungs than to trap particulates before they make it into the human body. If an air filter is releasing large quantities of ozone into the air, then it is not acting as a true air purifier. Ozone contaminants pollute the air, so it is best to avoid air filtration systems that give off significant amounts of ozone. There are several air filters on the market that work by releasing large amounts of ozone into the air in order to mask odors and other indoor air quality problems.

These so-called “ozone generators” are the most obvious culprits when it comes to adding ozone to indoor air. It should also be noted that ionizing air filters also tend to release ozone into the air during the filtration process. If you are searching for a system that does not use ozone in air purifiers or release ozone gas into the air, then it is best to avoid ionizing air filters and stick with a traditional HEPA or UV-based filter. Whether you choose a commercial air filter such as the Air Oasis 5000 or a countertop air purifier such as the Air Oasis 3000, you can be sure that you are not getting a filtration system that is releasing large quantities of ozone into the air. In fact, our filters and purifiers are among the very best systems available today. They meet ozone standards that are even more stringent than what the EPA prescribes, making them ideal choices for any indoor air purification need in any space, especially when individuals with chronic respiratory issues are likely to be using the space quite often.

The nano Induct is a particularly good choice for those who want a system that doesn’t produce significant amounts of ozone. Air quality can be improved without harming the environment using our Air Sanifiers®. The in-duct purifier is placed in central HVAC systems to clean the air without adding significant amounts of additional ozone. Our Bi-Polar units and Mobile units may also be of interest: These product no ozone at all. At Air Oasis, we want to provide you with the highest-quality systems that do not use ozone in air purifiers in quantities that could be harmful to your health. In fact, we are the first choice for many people who need a quality low-ozone or ozone-free purifier. We want to help you obtain the air filtration and purification systems that will meet your specific needs, so contact us today for assistance and we will be glad to serve you.Shortness of breath, dry cough or pain when taking a deep breath, tightness of the chest, wheezing, and sometimes even nausea are common responses to ozone.

Ozone reacts with molecules in the lining of our airways. Chemical bonds break and reform in different ways with the addition of oxygen atoms (the process of oxidation) from ozone, and this causes acute inflammation. The lining of our airways loses some of its ability to serve as a protective barrier to microbes, toxic chemicals, and allergens. Our airways respond by covering the affected areas with fluid and by contracting muscles. Breathing becomes more difficult. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) at the National Institutes of Health reports that in controlled tests, a 5 to 10 percent reduction in lung capacity occurred in volunteers engaged in moderate exercise for 6.5 hours at just 80 ppb (National Institutes of Health 2001), a level commonly reached during warm weather in many parts of the world. Ozone also triggers asthma and may aggravate other respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Ozone concentrations can make the small bands of muscles that help control breathing more sensitive to dry air, cold or dust, so ozone exposure may increase allergic responses in susceptible people.

While the effects of acute, short-term episodes of ozone exposure are reversible, the human body's response to long-term exposure may not be reversible. Exposure to ozone at levels we commonly encounter in many of our own communities permanently scars the lungs of experimental animals, causing long-term impairment of lung capacity, or the volume of air that can be expelled from fully inflated lungs. Ozone may have similar effects on human lungs. Studies in animals also suggest that ozone may reduce the human immune system's ability to fight bacterial infections in the respiratory system. Ozone damage to people can occur without any noticeable signs. Even when initial symptoms appear, they can disappear while ozone continues to cause harm. Otherwise healthy people can expect to experience acute but reversible effects if they exercise regularly outdoors when ozone levels are high. The NIEHS considers such people to be especially susceptible as a group. Children's vulnerability to ozone's ill effects provokes great concern among health professionals for several reasons.

One reason is that children's respiratory defenses have not reached their full capability. Another is that children breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults so they take in more ozone per pound of body weight than adults do. Children are also in a phase of rapid growth, and their metabolic rates are higher than adult rates tend to be. Furthermore, children generally exercise outdoors more than adults do. According to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine with fourth grade school children, each increase of 20 ppb in ozone is associated with a 63 percent school absence rate increase for illness. The same increase in ozone concentration is associated with an 83 percent increase for respiratory illness. (Gilliland 2001) 20 ppb represents a relatively small and common increase in ozone concentration. Responses to ozone pollution vary from one individual to another, sometimes for reasons we don't yet understand. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 5 to 20 percent of the total U.S. population has an unexplained greater susceptibility (American Lung Association 2000).

The EPA has designated ozone one of six "criteria air pollutants" and therefore a pollutant that must be kept in check. Yet few state governments have enforced regulations designed to bring ozone air pollution under control. Tropospheric ozone levels in the more polluted regions of the Northern Hemisphere appear to be rising at about 1 percent per year (Turco 1997) The American Lung Association reports that scientists' estimates of the annual number of deaths in the United States associated with air pollution range from 50,000 to 100,000. (American Lung Association 2001) While another form of air pollution, particulate matter, is the one most prominently linked to premature death, ozone pollution plays an important role as well in this threat to human health and well-being. Source: NASA - Earth Observatory Air Purifiers that Produce Ozone May Be Hurting Your HealthWhat is Ozone?How Does "Bad" Ozone Affect Human Health and the Environment?Ozone's Effects on Human HealthProduction of harmful ozone plague ion-generating products sold as air cleanersOzone Generators that are Sold as Air Cleaners: An Assessment of Effectiveness and Health ConsequencesOzone: Nature and Sources of the PollutantsOzone Fact Sheet