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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Asthma / June 2006Ionic breeze controversy
we use hepa air filters in our kids' rooms and have thought of switching to these models but the research below is pretty damning. What's been your experience if you use these machines. Isn't it Ionic? Air Purifiers Make Smog Robert Roy Britt LiveScience Managing Editor LiveScience.com Tue May 9, 4:00 PM ET 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. Fill the room 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. Insidious machines 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." > we use hepa air filters in our kids' rooms and have thought of > switching to these models but the research below is pretty damning. > What's been your experience if you use these machines. I read something on the Sharp Canada website that the air purifiers with ionizers sold in the US are unsafe and that the Canadian versions are supposedly better. Something to do with ionizers being illegal in Canada, and ionizers must produce both positive and negative ions, which is how they allow a product to be called an ionizer in Canada. But who knows, I'm not an expert! I don't run the ionizer on mine all the time, it can be turned off and just let the HEPA filter do the work, and the carbon filter. I bought it for the air filtration anyway, and not the ionizer thingie. I breathe better at night because of it. ~Melanie Here's what I'm referring to: Question : There appears to be lots of netative press about ion generating filtration products. These products were banned in Canada. Why is your product different ? Answer : First, let me distinguish the difference between "Ionizers", and Plasmacluster Ion Technology. "Ionizers" produce ONLY NEGATIVE IONS, while Plasmacluster Ion Technology is the only technology in the world to use BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE IONS. With negative ions only, you do not inactivate any contaminants, but simply add weight to the particles so that they drop to the ground. The danger is that they are still ACTIVE and can still HARM you. However, with Plasmacluster Ion's POSITIVE and NEGATIVE ions, the contaminant is INACTIVATED, rendered harmless and therefore CANNOT HARM you. Consumer reports conquered that these "Ionizers" do not work, and moreover produce large amounts of Ozone. For the record, Plasmacluster Ion Air Purifiers generate less than 0.001 ppm of ozone. That is more than 50 times less than the legal limit. The bottom line, Plasmacluster Ion Air Purfiers work much better at cleaning the air than the competition, and do not produce dangerous amounts of ozone in the process. The reality is that there are a wide range of electrical appliances that give off ozone. Health Canada has established two basic guidelines in regards to ozone. #1 - You cannot use ozone as a means of air purification. #2 - Incidental production of ozone cannot exceed 0.05 ppm (parts per million). Again, our Plasmacluster Ion air purifiers generate less than 0.001 ppm, which is more than 50 times less than the legal limit. >From the website: http://www.sharp.ca/products/ion/faqs.asp The Real Truth About The Ionic Breeze Air Purifiers By Sharper Image This information, is brought to you by Absolute Air Cleaners and Purifiers Inc. Almost every week our company picks up a dozen or so NEW customers that have purchased and returned the Ionic Breeze air purifier from Sharper Image. The infomercial that Sharper Image puts out looks very nice and portrays the Ionic Breeze as a wonder machine! That infomercial sells thousands of them! The Real Truth About The Ionic Breeze Is Quite Different! The Ionic Breeze is quiet indeed. This is because the unit has no fan to exchange and filter the DIRTY air in the room through the machine in order to remove it from your indoor environment. The Ionic Breeze can only remove a very small amount of particles onto its thin-narrow collector plate that is attached to the unit. This collector plate can only attract particles from a distance of approximately 1/8 of an inch away! If the collector plate is dirty, the plate is not able to keep collecting particles onto it. Then its function ceases all together! The dust, smoke, pollen, dander, Dust-Mite allergen and other allergens that are just a very short distance away from the collector plate will continue to float airborne for you to breathe! Nor does the Ionic Breeze cause smoke and allergens to drop out of the air and away from your breathing environment! The Ionic Breeze Air Purifiers Produce Ozone! Ozone can be an irritant and a real problem for people with Asthma & other Lung Diseases! Smokers have complained over and over again that the Tar and Nicotine that does attach to the collector plate is very hard to remove! This report is for our customers benefit and not to bad mouth Sharper Image! Sharper Image has many quality and fun products! We just feel that The Ionic Breeze Air Purifier is not one of them! Please read the product information in this website and feel free to call us Toll Free anytime with your questions about our Top Quality Air Cleaners, Air Purifiers and allergy Products. > > we use hepa air filters in our kids' rooms and have thought of > > switching to these models but the research below is pretty damning. [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > ~Melanie Achoo, Where are you getting this material? Above I have posted links to professionals, MD's, and WEBMD.com, and other resources that prove your post to be inaccurate. The product is SAFE (as stated by a Harvard Professor, UC Irvine and WebMD.com - see above), however, proven to be ineffective. Allergy Relief > The Real Truth About The Ionic Breeze Air Purifiers By Sharper Image > This information, is brought to you by Absolute Air Cleaners and [quoted text clipped - 56 lines] > > > > ~Melanie > Achoo, > > Where are you getting this material? Above I have posted links to > professionals, MD's, and WEBMD.com, and other resources that prove your > post to be inaccurate. They don't prove anything; they're just opinions and anecdotal information. It's a matter of public record that Ecoquest and Alpine (same principals) have been prosecuted by the FTC for making false claims. You continue to do so, and I can assure you that you will be brought to their attention as well. Though I haven't read the claims against any of these companies, I can pretty much guess what is happening. Users and some distributors get excited about benefits they have experienced, and are eager to share. (This is the first problem, but I'll bet if you read between the lines, there are disclaimers). So end users buy these things with the expectation of improving health. (Consumers must be willing to admit and share the risk). Since these things are expensive, most of them have a substantial trial period so the consumer does not have to assume all the risk. This seems fair to me. I don't think it fair to blame distributors or manufactures when a product fails to meet rather high (even miraculous) expectations of the consumer. Perhaps it is time for air cleaner manufacturers to make all customers sign a waiver at the end of each transaction; "No health benefits are promised or guaranteed from usage of this product". This means most people buying air cleaners today would think twice or purchase with disposable income, similar to purchasing a luxury item; which everyone understands is not a necessity in life. > Though I haven't read the claims against any of these companies, I > can pretty much guess what is happening. Users and some distributors [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > manufactures when a product fails to meet rather high (even miraculous) > expectations of the consumer. Yep, it's those consumers. They're just cheating themselves with false claims about air cleaners. The FTC should leave those poor manufacturers and distributors alone, and just sue the consumers for their expectations that the products will perform as promised. Better yet, put the consumers in jail (but allow visitations from air cleaner salesmen). What better way to have a captive down-line? Of course, your view on this wouldn't be shaded at all by the fact that you sell these units... Nope, I don't sell product. Never did, probably never will. I have an interest in air cleaners, and you can rightfully say I am a "clean air enthusiast", if such a category exists. I do have a severe allergy, once diagnosed as asthma from a doctor in another country, but no doctor in California will call it that, since so many people here have allergies. BTW, still have my Zyrtec D just in case my air cleaners fail me:) I'm just trying to find the truth, like everyone else here. Hi CleanAirMan, I agree. Let's let the consumers do the talking: https://www.secure-session.com/files/15/916650/452813680/1A33141442/i/Testimonia l_Letters.pdf (PDF File) I think you'll find these testimonials a bit unbelievable! Regards > Nope, I don't sell product. Never did, probably never will. I have an > interest in air cleaners, and you can rightfully say I am a "clean [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > I'm just trying to find the truth, like everyone else here. > we use hepa air filters in our kids' rooms and have thought of > switching to these models but the research below is pretty damning. > What's been your experience if you use these machines. There really isn't any controversy if you exclude the opinions of ionic and ozone device salespeople: HEPA filters - good. Ionic filters - mostly useless - sometimes bad. Ozone generators - bad.  Signature00doc Thanks for the comments. The energy savings touted by Sharper Image was attractive if it achieved the same filtering results. On TV infomercials, they certainly hide this info about creating a stage 2 equivalent smog alert in the rooms. They need to be up front about it especially for people with asthma. I'll stick with the Hepa filters for my kids' rooms.. I've got the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze Professional GP at home. It is expensive as compared to other cleaners, and I do not recommend it. I believe the air is being cleansed, but at a very slow rate. Here in the US, they are offering Ozone Guard, although they claim to filter out Ozone from "outdoor pollution". They never admit their units produce harmful Ozone. My biggest criticism with these units is the fanless design. Electrostatic precipitation cleaners using corna discharge have been used in industry to filter pollutants. 100 percent of air rising upwards in a smokestack gets a chance to be "scrubbed". Household units simply stand "tall and handsome", as if air will magically pass through the collector plates. Sure, there is some air exchange, but at a very slow rate. There is a rather miniscule output of clean air, with some ozone. Ozone is a byproduct because of high current. Trying to remove any of the front or back grills or removing the collection blades while ON results in the unit automatically turning itself off. If the operating current were harmless and safe, there would be no need for this consumer protection. (Wonder if Sharper Image is going to sue me) I do believe the GP Hybrid is a more effective cleaner, but there aren't many reviews out there yet. I own that one too. Electrostatic Precipitation is one way to clean air, but there are others. I do own a few high-density Negative Air Ionizers; the Wein VI 2500 and several ComTech Reasearch 133 DG units. The sole job of these machines is to emit large quantities of Negative Ions. There is very little Ozone byproduct, because currents are so low. They are proven to clear out breathable air of micron sized particles, but you still need to clean your room. I have seen great improvement with my congestion, and believe it or not, helps with muscle pain in my shoulder. I never saw any of these benefits with the Sharper image products. I do believe negative ion machines are better then electrostatic precipitation units, but newer technologies, offering various types of ion output such as Sharp's PlasmaCluster or Oasis Air might be even better and more reliable. If you stay with HEPAs, keep the filters clean. Just my 2 cents... First off all, to address your question. Sharper Image products are 100% safe. But they are ineffective. I didn't say that, Consumer Reports did: https://www.secure-session.com/files/9/916650/453139750/D3D1A21102/i/Sharper%20I mage%20Review.pdf I will like to address this OZONE topic. For starters, Robert Britt article was incorrect. There has been a correction made to his article. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12707280/ EPA uses data that is old that is unreliable. In fact, on the website they even reference a source that goes back to 1913! On top of that, the data that is used is based off of older data. The most recent year of "study" was over a decade ago. A lot has happened since then! http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html#bibliography I am sure you may not know this, but Ozone is NOT bad. There is always ozone around us. Without it, we would all be dead. Dr. James Marsden (Bio: http://tinyurl.com/mvzon) a Regents Distinguished Professor at Kansas State University is an expert in this field. He is even briefs congress on his research. (Marsen addresses congress: http://tinyurl.com/jcknc) Marsden is a member of the Food Safety Consortium (http://www.uark.edu/depts/fsc/). When he talks, people listen. Dr. Marsden has addressed this topic in a piece called, "Ozone Used For Air Purification", you can read it by clicking here: https://www.secure-session.com/files/16/916650/606591502/A99A0781A3/i/OzoneUsedF orAirPurification.pdf Further, Dr. Marsden was interviewed on this topic. This is a very interesting interview as he addresses this topic head on. Dr. Marsden answers the question, "Is Ozone Bad for you?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33dU4zPzpFo The Unknown Truth Regarding Ozone! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydb2_pyZeJk Dr. Marsden on the safety of the Purifiers! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3noyHesbeTA Kansas State University Studies Support Purifiers! (This contradicts what the outdated EPA has to say, "ozone has little potential to remove indoor air contaminants".) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKZx_RWjlDI CBS News Features Air Purification Technology http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHLkfdWH7Ec Last but not least, Harvard Senior Lecturer, Dr. Harriet A. Burge, Ph.D. is also quoted as stating that she "no hesitation about using them in my own home". Read it for yourself: http://www.sharperimage.com/SharperImageIonicResponse.html#harriet Doesn't stop there, UC Irvine was upset with Robert Britt. They are quoted as saying, "I am just as disappointed as you are about the inaccuracies in Mr. Britt's article." (Full statement here: http://www.sharperimage.com/SharperImageIonicResponse.html#letter) If these types of purifiers are good enough for UC Irvine, a Harvard Ph.D and a Regents Distinguished Professor who is counsel to the Unites States congress, I guess they are safe for my home as well. PS: Not to mention all of talk about "bad ozone" comes strictly from the EPA. This is NOT the first time the EPA has mislead us. Remember this? http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/09/national/main567489.shtml Judge Blasts EPA! http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/02/health/main1276366.shtml Even if they're 100% safe, the efficacy of them is questionable. Testing in the industry is not what it should be and industry leaders are attempting to rectify that so units that don't do what the manufacturer says they do, won't pass inspection. > First off all, to address your question. Sharper Image products > are [quoted text clipped - 91 lines] > Judge Blasts EPA! > http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/02/health/main1276366.shtml The main issue surrounding the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze models is efficacy per dollar spent. If Sharper Image priced their ESP air cleaner products 40 to 50% lower than current market prices, this IMHO would present a good value for the consumer. This is based on having learned things the hard way; I never got a chance to read Consumer Reports. (Although I believe the GP Hybrid is promising.) . Having said that, I still have those units up and running in the house, and believe they are doing something helpful, but at high cost, and low effectiveness. If I could recoup my money, and buy more effective air cleaners, I would. Testing agencies only know about the products they test, and ultimately what the consumer finds out from advertising. Smaller companies cannot advertise. For example, I don't see much commercial interest in high-density negative ion machines, but my experience indicates there are benefits that electrostatic air filters cannot provide. But they are not "hip" in the eyes of marketers or the general public right now. They are physically unimpressive units, unlike larger more complicated air cleaners, and people might tend to question how or why they could work. We will see how newer technologies from Sharp and Air Oasis changes attitudes about using ionization for air purification. The Sharper Image "Ionic" Breeze units are technically not "ionizers". Even their personal and auto air cleaners are ESP filters, and do not emit negative ions. Product naming using "IONic" is hugely misleading if the intent was to claim their products emit negative ions (Even the Green "Happy Ions" button doesn't do much in the way of measurable negative ion output). If Sharper Image were to sell negative ion machines, but then again they would be marked up double what a reasonable price should be. Again, this is not to say their "breeze" units don't work, as they do clean air at a very slow rate. On the plus side, they are inexpensive to operate because they do not consume much power. In my experience with air cleaners, distributing negative ions into a room is more effective for air cleaning and health than fanless electrostatic precipitation filters. The next best thing would be a fan driven ESP unit (GP Hybrid), possibly combined with distribution of air ions. Got the Sharp PlasamaCluster on order for my parents. Downside with this one is energy consumption on max setting, but the technology looks to good to pass up. |
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