Why is ozone bad?

In response to yesterday's post, I was asked why, exactly, ozone was bad.  I mean, aren't we supposed to be upset about the lack of ozone?  Well, ozone is good for blocking solar radiation, but bad for breathing.  As to the reasons why, I tried to answer this, but was actually entirely wrong in my explanation.  The actual answer, from the EPA link, is this:

The same chemical properties that allow high concentrations of ozone to react with organic material outside the body give it the ability to react with similar organic material that makes up the body, and potentially cause harmful health consequences. When inhaled, ozone can damage the lungs (see - "Ozone and Your Health" - www.epa.gov/airnow/brochure.html). Relatively low amounts can cause chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath, and, throat irritation. Ozone may also worsen chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and compromise the ability of the body to fight respiratory infections. People vary widely in their susceptibility to ozone. Healthy people, as well as those with respiratory difficulty, can experience breathing problems when exposed to ozone. Exercise during exposure to ozone causes a greater amount of ozone to be inhaled, and increases the risk of harmful respiratory effects. Recovery from the harmful effects can occur following short-term exposure to low levels of ozone, but health effects may become more damaging and recovery less certain at higher levels or from longer exposures (US EPA, 1996a, 1996b).

What's particularly devious about the air purification industry is that they've apparently been aware of the ozone emission.  But they put a spin on it:

Manufacturers and vendors of ozone devices often use misleading terms to describe ozone. Terms such as "energized oxygen" or "pure air" suggest that ozone is a healthy kind of oxygen. Ozone is a toxic gas with vastly different chemical and toxicological properties from oxygen.

This reminds me of a story.  In a previous job, we had a water cooler.  At some point we noticed that the water had turned an alarming shade of green, as it had begun to support a colony of algae.  When the guy came by to replace the green water, he told us that it meant the water was "healthy".  I asked that he replace it with unhealthy water.

Posted at 09:48AM May 12, 2006 by WILSON, JOSHUA in Bits of news  |  Comments[2]