The Ionic Air Purifier Blog

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First it was 4, now it’s the 5-Key Factors Model. Further to our most recent post, we have now included Scientific Peer Review as the fifth key factor in our air purifier review model.

Our research indicates that the lack of scientific peer reviews is a major stumbling block to all the interested parties in accepting the claims of air purifier manufacturers, no matter how reputable the latter may be. These interested parties include the scientific community such as indoor air quality specialists, environmentalists (both academics and activists), government agencies like the US EPA and NIOSH, the medical community who deal with allergy issues etc.

Millions of dollars change hands every year in the ionic air purifier industry. An essential tool to improve indoor air quality, the ionic air purifier inactivates airborne microscopic viral and bacterial organisms, animate and inanimate allergens, gaseous chemicals and possibly radioactive radon.

Unofficial Endorsement

Manufacturers in the ionic air purifier industry pour millions into R&D to prove their claims. Institutes and universities are tasked to conduct multi-faceted studies. Well-known virologists and air quality experts are commissioned to conduct various experiments to verify manufacturers’ claims.

Air purifiers, more specifically the right ionic air purifier, will be an essential tool in protecting you from the much feared bird flu pandemic, we say.

Relax, bird flu pandemic is nothing more than an urban legend, says Professor Philip Alcabes, professor of urban public health at the University of New York. In a Washington Post press article on 15 Mar 2009, he debunks as 5 myths the 5 major thoughts motivating health authorities, namely:

(1) Infectious diseases are spreading faster than ever

(2) To learn how to prevent a pandemic, look to the past

User safety must be top priority in the selection of an ionic air purifier for use in the home, office, factory or school.

Existing ionic air purifier technology, regardless of whether they originate in North America, Europe, Japan or China produce a primary beneficial reactive agent. These reactive agents may be negative ions, bipolar ions, plasmacluster ions and so on. Their prime objective is to eliminate contaminants in the air we breathe. There is much research on the efficacy of these reactive agents in destroying contaminants. What we do not know is whether these same potent reactive agents also cause harm to fragile human tissues such as those that line our breathing passages from the trachea to the lungs.   

Something not commonly noticed and commented upon on this blog happened today, 16 Mar 2009. On the Korean Stock Exchange, two stocks spiked up more than 5% at the opening bell. What do the surging share prices of Seung Chang Airtek Co Ltd and Clean Air & Science Ltd have to do with this blog?

Air purifiers. The two Korean companies sell them by the thousands come springtime. Why spring? Isn’t spring the season of fresh air, flowers and birds?

Strange but true. The global ionic air purifier market is of multimillion dollar magnitude. Yet it is extremely difficult to find a well-organized and properly documented website that sets out objectively the guidelines to help a potential user decide on the ideal ionic air purifier for his or her specific needs.

Logical Selection Criteria

My personal search is turning out to be one that points me in the direction of setting up such a blog. It is a daunting task but I intend to press on along these logical selection criteria:

Introduction

Ionic air purifiers hold the promise of clean air, purified of all known harmful contaminants that threaten our health.  Air is made impure by substances unseen by our naked eye. The weapons against such are very likely to be invisible to our eyes as well. I am drawn to this intuitive logic.  Yet, even before an hour of internet research has lapsed, a whole deluge of controversy is thrown up by google.  Obviously, I must resist the urge to go by intuition and grab the first ionic air purifier that I lay hands on.  The search for an ionic air purifier must focus on its safety aspects as much, if not more, than its effectiveness against contaminants.

In a dramatic press update on 27 August 2008, Sharp Corporation unveiled its latest technological weapon against bird flu! Incorporated in its ionic air purifier, the Plasmacluster Technology (more on this in a later post) has just been scientifically proven to be 99.9% effective in destroying the bird flu virus known as H5N1.

As we have been constantly reminded by the press, bird flu is the prime suspect to cause mankind’s next pandemic. Pandemic sounds terrifying. It is. That’s when a highly contagious virus goes global, in a very negative sense. The worst pandemic on record was the Spanish flu in 1918 which is believed to have killed 50 million people worldwide! That was blamed on the H1N1 virus which was only recently confirmed on 5 October 2005 by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be a bird flu virus.