LAT: Air Purifier Gets Another Critical Blow (may release unhealthy ozone)

[DeepModem Mom]

Air Purifier Gets Another Critical Blow
Consumer Reports pans a Sharper Image device. The firm accuses the magazine of 'a vendetta.'

By Roger Vincent, Times Staff Writer


Neither the lawsuit nor, it appears, the new model cleared the air.

Shares of Sharper Image Corp. sank 9% on Tuesday after the new issue of Consumer Reports panned the latest version of the company's bestselling air purifier.

Not only does it fail to sufficiently clean indoor air, but the heavily advertised Ionic Breeze Quadra Silent Air Purifier and four similar machines by other manufacturers might even release potentially unhealthy levels of ozone, the magazine said in editions that hit newsstands Tuesday....

***

Ozone is an irritant that can aggravate asthma and deaden the sense of smell and may cause permanent lung damage.

Sharper Image attorney E. Robert Wallach blasted the report as "a vendetta" by Yonkers, N.Y.-based Consumers Union, the magazine's publisher, for the purpose of making money. The San Francisco-based retailer unsuccessfully sued Consumer Reports for libel for earlier articles critical of the machines....


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sharper6apr06,0,4809476.story?coll=la-home-business

[Mnemosyne]

1. All that for just $300-$350? LOL Thanks mom! n/t

[donco6]

2. Ozone also,

kills indoor houseplants
causes premature aging of skin
destroys anything made of rubber in seconds.

[FormerOstrich]

3. I have two of these.......

(yes, from my previous life.....hard to imagine today)..

at any rate I think they are great. They seem to make a huge difference. I can really tell when I have them running and when I don't. Plus, I get incredible amounts of dust (you'd think I lived in a damn desert). They do help a little with the dust (which is actually why I bought them) but not as much as I had hoped.

I hope the report is wrong because I think I'll keep using mine.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Someone in my family thinks they are a lifesaver; another...

family member who had lung disease was convinced they made things worse. Could be it's an individual thing --

[NYC]

9. Maybe the older models are okay.

...Shares of Sharper Image Corp. sank 9% on Tuesday after the new issue of Consumer Reports panned the latest version of the company's bestselling air purifier...

[OnionPatch]

5. We have two of them

and I think they totally suck. Sure, they pick up a little dust but it's nothing compared to what's floating around in the air here. The movement of the air through the thing doesn't seem like enough to clean squat. They can run for weeks and if the sun shines a bean into the room you can see how the air is still full of dust. I haven't noticed a difference at all. This study just confirms what I already suspected about them not working. And, geez...like I really need something that's going to accelerate the aging of my skin. What a total waste of money. I bought them because there was some seal of approval from what sounded like an official allergy association, but knowing the Bush admin. and their lax consumer protections, I wouldn't surprised if that group were aligned with them somehow, or were paid to endorse them.

Ok, end of rant.

[oscar111]

6. Ozone is a poison, say it flat out: Sharper Image sells luxury items - no

no good.

what sort of owner wants a company to cater to the rich only? Sharper Image is oriented to the rich only -- beware a mind that likes to do that.

all my life i heard ozone is a poison. Not just sme irritant.

the oldtimers who went to the ozone belt were total fools.

Consumer reports, after the fall of AARP, is the only nonpolitical large group out there to be trusted, it seems. CU owns it. Seems to be run by the eastern european immigrants to NYC mostly. A good group, mostly.

beware ripoff imitations like Consumer Magazine etc etc etc.

[CreekDog]

7. Ozone: Good Up High, Bad Nearby

If it produces ozone you don't want it in your house. Long-term health studies are showing that long term exposure to even fairly low levels of ozone may be harmful.

The other limitation of the Sharper Image product is that it has no fan, and thus cannot move enough air to clean it faster than it gets contaminated.

Any air cleaner that works moves air and filters it more quickly than that air gets contaminated and laden with particulates and it takes a fan to do that. Using a charged element will attract some dust particles, but it will not move enough air in a room to make its air cleaner.

Finally, in regards to the Shaper Image exec's claim that nobody had complained of an ozone problem --well, if you had an indoor ozone problem, just how would you know, short of an advanced air pollution monitor?! Ozone is a colorless, odorless pollutant --you can have the problem and not realize it and most people wouldn't.

[IMayBeWrongBut]

8. Wha wha what!

You mean "patented zenion technology" is just marketing!?!

[truthisfreedom]

10. i've been telling people for years that these things are putting out ozone

i know ozone when i smell it. i bought one about 6 years ago and returned it the same day... and informed the shop that it was producing ozone and should be pulled off the shelf... and i've been amazed to see them selling like hotcakes ever since. people just don't notice that intense burning odor, i guess. 8^|

[RebelOne]

11. I wonder what other brands they tested.

I just bought 2 Hunter air purifers from HSN.

[DemonFighterLives]

12. I was working at this guys house that had them going

Everytime I go into the house, you can smell the ozone very heavy in the air. I was going to ask him if he thinks it is good. Now This!
I could hardly stand the smell and for these good clean people, I would have thought they could smell the crap.
I felt like I was getting a headache, but it may have been in my head.
:freak:

[DemonFighterLives]

13. Here are some details

http://hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/98/981110.html

Clip...
Ozone can attack human lung tissue in the same way it attacks other organisms. The American Lung Association (ALA) says that long-term exposure to ozone can cause decreased lung function, lung tissue inflammation, and greater susceptibility to infection. The ALA and other agencies say it is essential that humans minimize their exposure to ozone.