The companies selling the devices say they can destroy pathogens and clean the air. That guidance was widely overlooked. Some devices are marketed with advertising claims that they will kill viruses, bacteria, mold and other biological contaminants, and remove chemical contaminants and odors. The companys study is being debated in a proposed class-action suit. 
Back in Georgia, Shumaker was fined more than $9,000 and is on two years probation. The Air Scrubber Plus is really improving peoples lives.. He finds the company-by-company approach to be a game of whack-a-mole., A company goes away because they have regulatory scrutiny and reinvent themselves a few months later, he said. Companies that make the air purifiers say they emit charged ions, or activated oxygen, that are said to inactivate bacteria and viruses in the air. Stephen Matthew Shumaker counted on in-home, in-person demonstrations to drive his water filtration business, which serves the Atlanta area. The only solution I see to this problem is a government agency really takes ownership of this the information dissemination to consumers and the claims by manufacturers. However, when ozone concentrations are below the health standards, it does not effectively remove biological contaminants. 
Relief: Compensatory and punitive damages; restitution and disgorgement; and orders stopping the products sale and forcing corrective action. The district spent nearly $360,000 on the devices, an April board presentation shows. In August, he pleaded guilty to distributing a pesticide device that was misbranded in that the product label was missing an EPA establishment number. In other words, he failed to follow the letter of a little-known law. This fact sheet discusses these health risks and provides effective, alternative solutions to address indoor air quality problems. Boeing noted in its conclusion that air ionization has not shown significant disinfection effectiveness.. AAPCOs Jones said changes to federal oversight are needed to better deal with the flood of devices. As a result, a line of air purification systems utilizing the technology is now on the market that not only keeps food fresh in warehouses and markets but also helps decontaminate the air (Spinoff 2002, 2009). 
However, merely filing such a wide-reaching class action lawsuit (representing anyone in the U.S. who purchased one of the manufacturers named products from the suit) highlights the dangers of rushing to purchase equipment offering unproven technologies. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Instead, the air purifiers fall under the Environmental Protection Agencys authority as devices marketed to destroy pests, which include bacteria or viruses. clean frequently and thoroughly to prevent dust and mold build-up. Ozone is also known to deaden ones sense of smell. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice| Do Not Sell My Personal Information| Ad Choices 
The most effective method of controlling indoor air pollution is through prevention: eliminating pollution at its source. 25799 Jefferson Ave At the end of 30 minutes, the overall average decrease in active virus was more than 99 percent. While pesticide might evoke the idea of a roach killer, the EPA applies the term more broadly: A pesticide is any substance that claims to kill or mitigate pests. NASA is to thank for laying the foundation for a breakthrough product in indoor air quality, Lozano says. Global Plasma Solutions Inc. misleadingly touts its air ionization technology as capable of removing almost all Covid-19 virus from a room within an hour, a consumer alleges in a proposed nationwide class action. But as few independent authorities assess the effectiveness of the devices, school officials have been snapping them up. They include arcane terms like natural decay and test conditions that only an expert could spot as different from those that prevail in real life. On Super Bowl Sunday, shes hanging out at her daughters for four hours and says, Hey whats going on? he says. Thats one of the reasons these companies thrive, is that theres nobody, nobody checking every aspect of what they do, said Delphine Farmer, a Colorado State University associate professor who specializes in atmospheric and indoor chemistry. Rather than cleaning passing air, the companys family of air purification products does something unique: it takes the circulated air generated by a buildings heating and cooling ventilation (HVAC) system and produces molecules that disseminate into the environment, killing pathogens in the air and on surfaces. We call them friendly cleaners, says Air Scrubber Plus executive director Tom Lozano. A KHN investigation this spring found that over 2,000 schools across the country have bought such technology. I dont have a clue.. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions. dust and pollen) from the air, including the particles responsible for most allergies. All rights reserved. People are scared because of covid, and they capitalize on it., In filing a motion to dismiss the case, GPS told the court the lawsuit was an attempt to distort the facts and assert baseless claims, doing grave damage to GPSs business in the process., The GPS court document also says the disclaimers on its website make it unreasonable for any consumers to believe that the efficacy demonstrated in GPS studies will necessarily be the same for their particular application., It asserts that most of the GPS statements identified in the plaintiffs lawsuit such as safe to use and cleaner air amount to non-actionable puffery as they are vague generalities and statements of opinion..
Ozone is released through the charging process, although these devices typically emit much less ozone than ozone generators. Trying to fill the gaps, California bans the sale of air purifiers that emit more than a certain level of the toxic ozone gas. The Boeing study cites a GPS white paper that says its device killed 99.68 percent of E. coli bacteria in one test in 15 minutes. On May 7, law firms representing a man who spent over $750 on a GPS air cleaner in Texas filed the fraudulent concealment lawsuit against GPS in U.S. District Court in Delaware. GPS pointed to another study, one conducted in the weeks before Boeing began its study in September, by a third-party lab. Districts from Berkeley to Fontana to Culver City bought ionization systems. But EPAs resources were not the same as they were many years ago, Neuschafer said, as the agency is working with smaller staffing and budgets. The culprit is ethylenea naturally occurring gas emitted from plants that hastens ripening. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, which regulates pesticide devices, was written decades ago and applied to things such as flypaper, long before anyone anticipated machines that would blast ions to clean the air. His solution: If a pesticide device makes a public health claim, it should be evaluated with the same rigor used for pesticides like ant spray. The controversy is getting the attention of school officials from coast to coast. Because ozone reacts with some other molecules, manufacturers claim that the ozone produced by these devices can purify the air and remove airborne particles, chemicals, mold, viruses, bacteria, and odors. There are many experimental studies on animals, including dogs, cats, hamsters and guinea pigs, that show respiratory effects from exposure to ozone. So Shumaker told KHN he was baffled as to why he was targeted instead of the corporate level, which in this case would be the company, Aerus, which is now ActivePure Technologies. Testing in independent labs and feedback from thousands of installations demonstrate that GPS technology works and can play an important role in making comprehensive air cleaning and filtration systems even more effective.. Its like trying to get license plates for your car.. During a test in an empty classroom, they found that levels of harmful ozone gas and ultrafine particles that can cause cardiovascular problems were elevated, indicating worse indoor air quality when the AtmosAir Bipolar ionization unit is operating, the 2013 state Bureau of Toxic Substance Assessment report said. In 2001, a judge fined Alpine $1.49 million for failing to stop making unsubstantiated claims about its devices, which it had said relieved allergies and removed indoor pollutants. Murrieta, CA 92562 Ozone generators can produce indoor ozone levels several times higher than the State'soutdoor 1-hr and 8-hr health standards of 90 parts per billion (ppb) and70 ppb respectively. EPA spokesperson Tim Carroll said in an email that the agency is developing more outreach materials for schools on air purifiers. The study also demonstrated similar effectiveness in neutralizing black mold and other potentially dangerous pathogens. This translates to savings on your utility bills and reduces the chances of needing expensive repairs, Lozano says. Many schools used federal funds to purchase the products. These devices are designed to electrically charge particles in the air and cause them to attach to surfaces in the room, such as walls or floors. But its one thing to grow plants; its another to keep them from aging prematurely. Another company, Electrolux (now Dallas-based Aerus Holdings), of vacuum cleaner fame, also furthered the technology but took it in a slightly different direction. Whats more, these friendly cleaners are also mostly negatively charged ions. As we have stated previously, this is an unproven technology for dealing with COVID-19. Before astronauts are able to undertake long-term missions into the solar system, theyll need technologies that allow them to grow their own fruits and vegetables. Urso said in a statement that his companys devices do have establishment numbers, and that he supports the ruling against Shumaker. Attorneys: Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith LLP; Reich & Binstock LLP; the Mills Law Firm; and the Keeton Firm LLC represent Garner and the proposed class. One day, her husband installed an Air Scrubber Plus without her knowing. New York City begins vaccinating students at schools. Weeks later, as Shumaker was heading out the door to his daughters tennis tournament, eight law enforcement officers detained him. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not regulate the devices but, like academic air quality experts, recommends time-tested portable HEPA filters to clean the air in rooms. Aerospace giant Boeing tested two kinds of ionization technologies like those widely adopted in schools hoping to combat Covid-19 to determine how well each killed germs on surfaces and decided that neither was effective enough to install on its commercial planes. above stoves while cooking), and increasing airflow through the use of mechanical ventilation systems. It also used a surrogate for the virus that causes Covid-19. They include one California superintendent who cited the lawsuit and switched off that districts more than 400 GPS devices. 1:21-cv-00665, complaint 5/7/21. And a majority of EcoQuest International assets were bought in 2009 by ActivePure Technologies, according to its 2021 press kit. Air cleaners that utilize ionizers and electrostatic precipitators are other types of devices thatemit ozone, but do so as a by-product of their design and function. Ozone generated by air purifiers does little to remove chemical pollutants. Jeffrey Siegel, a University of Toronto civil engineering professor who studies indoor air quality, said more meaningful national regulation might clarify for consumers how the devices would work in an actual room. Many commercial ozone generators emit more than 5,000 mg of ozone per hour of operation, which could result in unhealthy levels of ozone in indoor air. Given the specific environment this was tested in, the quality of the materials, and the method in which the virus was dispersed, it is safe to say that the bipolar ionization system used in this experiment has the ability to deactivate SARS-CoV-2 with the given ion counts, the Aug. 7 report from the third-party lab says. The roughly 5,500-student district bought GPS units for every school HVAC system, Triplett said in a March school board meeting in which he noted the technology arguably is much better than any filter. By May, he said in the memo the district had become aware of the lawsuit alleging the misrepresentation of the devices and would continue to monitor the situation. However, ozone is only partially effective at cleaning the air when it is used at extremely high, unsafe levels that pose a serious health risk. Subscribe to Fortune Dailyto get essential business stories straight to your inbox each morning. Not only are ozone generators ineffective at cleaning indoor air, but inhaling ozone poses serious health risks for humans and animals. The EPA can prosecute pesticide device companies and sellers under existing laws if a product makes misleading or false claimsand fines can reach into the millions, according to Brandon Neuschafer, a lawyer who specializes in agricultural regulations at the St. Louis-based firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. And while the agency requires proof that pesticides such as some types of Clorox wipes are safe and work in its premarket review, it has no such requirement for so-called pesticide devicessuch as electronic air cleaners that deploy ions or reactive oxygen to purify the air. IE 11 is not supported. Subsequent missions used and improved the technology. She was surprised by how well she was feeling.. The proposed class-action lawsuit says GPS makes deceptive, misleading, and false claims about its products based on company-funded studies that are not applicable to real world conditions., A GPS spokesperson said the lawsuit is baseless and misleading and that the company will aggressively defend against it.
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