What is Ozone?

Ozone or trivalent oxygen is perhaps the most misunderstood, hated and loved element in the air we breathe. On one hand we are told that it is a harmful, poisonous gas capable of doing great harm to our lungs.  On the other hand we are told that it has the potential of being   the greatest natural purification element we have available to deal with man-made pollutants The truth lies in the understanding of the nature of ozone itself, the mechanisms of ozone formation, the nature of the pollution problem that requires a solution and finally any adverse health effects involved with ozone as compared with other health risks encountered in our modern indoor environments. ozone is commonly accepted to be a pollutant associated with large urban areas typified by Los Angles. it is true that ozone is a part of smog, but it is also true that ozone exists outside of the smog environments in even the purest of outdoor environments.

How the Ozone is created?

In unpolluted areas ozone is created by the action of nitrogen oxides and ultraviolet light from the sun with the natural agricultural and animal husbandry sources of methane and even the hydrocarbon compounds of isoprene and terpene emitted from trees of the forest. In fact, anywhere in nature that hydrocarbons exist with strong sunlight and moisture, ozone will occur in some quantities. Areas that are considered the most healthy vacation spots in the country have some of the highest levels of naturally occurring ozone. Ozone is also created electrically in nature during active thunderstorms. The electrical discharge creates that positive sweet smell that we understand as clean fresh air and that we can recall as the fresh smell of laundry hung outside in the sun to dry. Who can deny the positive values associated with sleeping on sheets exposed to and purified by sunlight? In urban areas ozone is also created in two other important ways. First there is the direct breakdown of chemicals that are spewed into the environment in industrial processes. Formaldehyde, xylem, and olefin also combine with nitrogen oxides and ultraviolet light to create ozone while at the same time reducing the feed stock of these harmful industrial chemicals. The second is related to the photochemical production of ozone from automobile emissions and mass burners. It can be seen that in the last case ozone is being created by the breakdown of the hydrocarbons but that it is also aiding in the breakdown of these same chemicals. It is, therefore, natural that the highest concentrations of ozone will be found in areas with the highest concentration of un-oxidized or unburned hydrocarbons. it is this confusion with cause and effect that have given rise to the notion that ozone itself is the source of the problems related to smog rather than just one of the chemicals present in the process. The additional problem in the air quality of urban areas is related to the magnitude of the feed stocks of unburned hydrocarbons. With heavy industries and the associated heavy automobile traffic, the amount of chemical involved with this process is immense. While the ozone and the hydrocarbons are eliminating each other there are enough of both in the air to be a problem. As the noted toxicologist Dr. Robert Olcerst wrote in his paper Ozone Monograph: Toxicity and Evaluation, "Toxicology is the science of poisons. Every chemical substance has a range of effects on biological systems that range from no effect to levels of lethality."   In effect, every chemical has the capacity to be toxic, and it is dosage that becomes significant. Too much of any substance will upset and become harmful to a biological system. ozone is no exception. At extremely high concentrations there are indications that ozone itself is harmful. However, in the case of smog, studies show that its other ingredients, the nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, suspended sulfuric acid, nitric acid particles and suspended hydrocarbons are the real health risks. It is unfortunate that smog and ozone have been interchanged in the discussion of air pollution because it has masked the positive characteristics of ozone as the natural way of dealing with air quality problems. The focus on smog as "air pollution" has prevented us from seeing the even greater problem of indoor air quality problems. The same chemical soup exists in our indoor environment as exists in smog. The only variant is the concentration of the pollutant and the total lack of any means of reconditioning that air to natural standards.

What are the sources of indoor air pollution? 

The most common sources are: a) The building itself and the furnishings in the building emit hazardous chemicals such as formaldehyde and styrene. Sources range from particle board to ceiling tile to carpets and furniture to paints and finishes. b) Chemicals inadvertently brought into the home such as the residue in dry cleaned clothing, the hydrocarbons collected on our clothing while driving home, the small amount of chemical residue on the food from the grocer. c) Cleaning products of all types d) Tobacco smoke and the 3600 chemicals resulting from smoke e) organic residue from insects, rodents, roaches, pets, f) Mold, mildew and fungus that etc. It is interesting to note that most of the pollutants are organic in nature and that the chemicals which we consider to be problems exist all around us in nature where they are not considered problems. To become a problem, as noted earlier, the dosage must be such that adverse effects result. Dosage is, of course, a function of both concentration and time of exposure. Even small amounts of pollutants will cause adverse effects if the time of exposure is long enough. These adverse effects occur so gradually that they are not associated with their true cause. The gradually increasing frequency of headaches may never be associated with the move to a new home or the acquisition of new furniture, or a child's allergy problem may not be associated with an exposure to pollutants in the bedroom that began at birth, or the hyperactivity of a child may not be connected to the fact that it began with a subtle change in the environment. These changes have accelerated since the date of the first oil embargoes when the cost of energy for heating and cooling our environments. soared. From that date we have attempted to eliminate all outdoor air from our indoor environment. By doing so we have also trapped all of the pollutants indoors and have eliminated the one chemical that has the capacity to restore the air to its pure state-ozone.