Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Ozone, what do folks know?

Okay, so the most common thing that everyone says first is "It's that layer with the hole in it, right?" Some other things I got were "We're wrecking it with pollution" "There's a hole from CFC's" and a whole string of thoughts revolving around that same concept. There's holes, holes that are getting bigger. It protects us from the sun's rays, but not if there are big holes in it. It doesn't seem as though there are a lot of people who think about ozone outside of the stratosphere, or in our troposphere.
Only one person talked about ozone outside of the stratosphere, and that was to discuss the strange sounding "ozone therapy". With a little investigation, I found that ozone therapy is being used in many different ways to handle many different ills. It is used to inject and infuse into people because it apparently increases the amount of antioxidants a person produces, it is also used as an antibacterial and anti fungal, an anti-a-lotta-stuff I guess. They are even selling ozone producing machines to have in your home so you can combat your many ills. That seems like a bad idea to me, people adding this unstable ozone, which we know to be toxic, into their homes for . . . ? It isn't clear EXACTLY what people are doing with all this ozone that they can make at home. Adding to the smog problem? Exposing themselves to a toxic gas? This whole idea is a little unsettling. None of the ads I saw said anything about ozone being toxic. It this incredibly irresponsible of the people creating and distributing these products?

3 comments:

Emmendo said...

Oh goodie, goodie. I want to be the first person on my block to own a ozone machine. Have ozone parties.... People getting high on mega doses of 'o' ( short for ozone ). If it's new it must be good. Given most people understanding of what the ozone does, im sure the product will do well. Hmm, maybe i could become a distributor. ''' i could be the ozone man of the year ... ' Perhaps they will give me sticker for the back of my car and a colorfull hazmat suit to match.

symbolic said...

actually ozone therapy is not terribly new. i heard about it 15 years ago and the studies date back at least 50 years. it is certainly controversial, but many studies suggest that it is safe and effective.

symbolic said...

actually ozone therapy is not terribly new. i heard about it 15 years ago and the studies date back at least 50 years. it is certainly controversial, but many studies suggest that it is safe and effective.