Do Ozone Air Purifier Products Work- More Importantly, Are They Safe?

The Environmental Protection Agency had done an in-depth report on ozone air purifier products, or rather ozone generating machines sold as air purification devices.

Here is a summary of their concluding remarks, for the full report, please visit http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html

- Regardless of whether the ozone is in pure or mixed form with other chemicals, ozone can be harmful to one’s health. If ozone is inhaled it can damage your lungs. With relatively modest amounts, ozone can cause one to suffer from chest pain, throat irritation, shortness of breath, and coughing. Ozone air can also exacerbate existing respiratory conditions such as asthma and reduce the body’s ability to fight infections of the respiratory system.

- Several studies have shown that even if the buyer of an ozone air cleaning or air purifying device follows the manual carefully, it can still result in ozone levels that are out of bounds of health standards. Factors that contribute to ozone concentration levels in the air are the size of the indoor spaces, the amount of materials from which ozone can react, outdoor concentrations, and ventilation levels. It is difficult to control all of these factors.

- Based on available scientific testing, at levels that do not exceed public health standards, ozone is considered generally ineffective and lack concrete results at controlling airborne pollution (odors, mold, germicidal, cigarette, chemicals, etc) and increasing air purity indoors. In other words, the ozone levels have to surpass public health standards in order for it to be useful for removing most air contaminants, however as a result of reacting to other indoor chemicals, ozone can create other chemicals that can be corrosive and irritating.

- The recommendation by the EPA study is that the public should use proven methods for mitigating/maintaining air purity free of indoor air pollution such as eliminating the sources of the pollutants, improving air ventilation from outdoors, and to use proven methods of cleaning/purifying the air.