ARE Ozone Air Cleaners EFFECTIVE IN CONTROLLING INDOOR AIR POLLUTION?
Available scientific evidence shows that at concentrations that do not exceed public health standards, ozone air purification has little potential to remove indoor air contaminants. Some manufacturers or vendors suggest that ozone air purification 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. • First, a review of scientific research shows that, for many of the chemicals commonly found in indoor environments, the reaction process with ozone may take months or years (Boeniger, 1995). For all practical purposes, ozone does not react at all with such chemicals. And contrary to specific claims by some vendors, Ozone Air Cleaners are not effective in removing carbon monoxide (Salls, 1927; Shaughnessy et al., 1994) or formaldehyde (Esswein and Boeniger, 1994). • Second, for many of the chemicals with which ozone does readily react, the reaction can form a variety of harmf
