Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Ozone Air Purifiers Are Evil

Ozone is not good for us. We might already know this but for some reason the manufacturers of a large portion of air purifiers have been putting these insidious little ozone producing gadgets in their machines and claiming it kills mold and bacteria. They claim this as if it is safe and scientific but the fact is ozone is not meant to be in your house or in your lungs because the real science behind it shows clearly it will destroy your health & pollute your home.

When the EPA did studies on ozone air purifiers what they found was surprising - the molecules were breaking down and adhering themselves to any other molecule in the room creating new and unstable chemicals in amounts they could not even measure. They tested the claim that ozone would "neutralize" chems in things like brand new carpet and found it made even worse chems then they started with...many of which were a string of varied aldehyde's. The next shocking find was the ozone machine's main "hook" about killing mold was totally bunk, the amount needed to blast mold into death was just not possible with any household machine and the true amount needed would kill a human dead if they tried to breathe it. This is the amount they use on your bottled spring water.

Did you ever wonder why some spring water tastes terrible, even worse then the plastic bottle taste? Most bottled water companies use UV light to kill bacteria before bottling their product - if you read the label you will see it on nearly every brand, except Fiji & Volvic. That UV light produces ozone and tons of it. The problem is when water researchers tested for contaminants in bottled water they found the same string of aldehyde's as the EPA did, but could not link it to the plastic bottle or to the actual water source leaving the researchers baffled as to how these chems ever got in the water. Any guesses? The ozone blast from the UV filtration altered the chemistry of the water and basically we are being sold bottles of dangerous chemicals to drink. Ozone has some other code names like ionization and UV filtration, which should always be investigated if you are buying a product claiming to use these methods of "filtering" in your home or water.

After a bad run in with ozonating my house (story below) I called a few experts to get the scoop. First I phoned some Mold Specialists who were familiar with ozonation as a method of mold removal - I asked them if they knew of any problems using ozone to kill mold and what they told me was originally it was thought to be a "miracle machine" and everyone was using it, until they found out it was actually "deadly" to human health and not killing the mildew. So, I looked up a Harvard Chemist to find out why ozone could give a bad reaction - what he said was the ozone molecule breaks down very quickly and is completely unstable, therefore adhering itself to any molecule it comes in contact with (ozone is a total molecular slut!), then you are set up for any disaster to chemically take place- he stressed the point the ozone level (ex. 3 or 9) all broke down and that ANYTHING could happen and there was no way to clean up the mess unless you could test the air for every chem possible in the universe.

The reason I was so interested in what all these people had to say was because following a doctor's order to ozonate my house for mold I lost my home and all my belongings to an insane chemical breakdown that would not air out, clean up, or was possible to test. I ran the ozone machine to kill mold, which it did not even do - but quickly realized something else terrible had happened in there when I couldn't breathe, got vertigo, nausea, and my cat and I both had a seizure in the house. Almost everyone who came in the house began coughing, getting dizzy, or suddenly got "flu" like symptoms that could last up to two weeks. The more I tried to air out my belongings in the sun, or wash and dry them the worse they got - so after a few months of this I had to walk away from my home and everything I had, taking only the clothes on my back and my cat. Neighbors bought the house and tore it to the ground, building a new house where my once beloved home had been. I embraced a more zen lifestyle yet was left with heightened MCS symptoms.
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Read more about Ozone Air Machines HERE.
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PS - Thanks to Susie over at the Canary Report for her post on Ozone Air Filters and inspiring me to write this post!!!

7 comments:

Jeanne said...

The Oko Box,

I found you on The Canary Report.

Wow!!! I'm so, so sorry you went through all that! I feel very fortunate things did not escalate to that point for me but feel terribly for you!!!!

Jeanne

Miss Voodoo said...

Hey Jeanne!
Thanks so much, luckily it happened a few years back (4?), but I did love that place and was sad to leave it! When shitty stuff happens, it's the time to pull out the ole' "there's a reason for everything" and "ya never know where your life is taking you". :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the info on those nasty machines and the extra info on treated water. I do not understand why, when the EPA has issued health warnings about ozone machines, why on Earth does the government still allow them on the market? They should be taken off the market NOW.

Every time I read about your experience with the ozone treatment, my heart breaks for you. You were incredibly smart to cut and run. I just can't even imagine what you went through. What a survivor you are! Kudos to you for analyzing a horrific obstacle thrown in your way,and then figuring out a way to SURVIVE. You are an inspiration to all of us who have been chemically injured.

{{Aloha hugs}}

Miss Voodoo said...

Thanks Susie!
You know I reported the machine i used to a consumer protection agency, but really why the hell are these machines still being sold if the EPA warns about them. Why do they do the research and then fail to follow through with repremanding the companies?

Colleen said...

Yikes. So stick to Fiji and Volvic if you have to buy bottled water, then? Of course that would be only when you don't leave the house without your aluminum bottle and you get really thirsty...

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