The Difference Between Atmospheric and Medical Ozone and How the FDA Used Falty Science Against Ozone
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 07:37:47 +0000
From: "Saul Pressman"
Subject: Atmospheric O3 vs. generated O3
Can someone please explain how ozone from a generator benefits those with
allergies and asthma when atmospheric ozone is a severe irritant?
Also, concerning generators, is cold plasma the most reliable, what
concentration concentration is best for medical ozone inhalation, and
finally, is pure oxygen necessary as an input to acheive medical
concentrations?
thx...mike
Dear Mike,
Here's a long answer to a short question.....
For medical use, ozone must be made from pure oxygen source gas.
If it is made from air, it will be contaminated with other gases, notably
nitric oxide, and hydrocarbons.
Ozone in the atmosphere exists in a 'soup', mixed with hundreds of other
gases. It has never been proven that ozone alone causes respiratory distress
associated with asthma, etc., contrary to what EPA has been harping on for
the last 30 years.
In 1999, EPA scientists were invited to the World Congress on Ozone in
Verona, Italy to make presentations of their scientific studies on the
effects of ozone on human lung tissue. They presented four papers and then answered questions
from the assembled doctors, many of whom had been using ozone in their practice for over 30
years.
The most important questions were:
1) Was the ozone used in the studies produced from pure oxygen source gas?
2) Was the tissue examined below the surface for evidence of positive
reaction, or was just the surface observed for negative reaction?
The answers were:
1) Air was the source gas for corona discharge generators
2) Only the surface tissue was examined
So, the conclusions of their studies, that ozone damaged lung tissue, were
invalidated by their failure to know if it actually WAS the ozone causing
the damage observed, or some other uncontrolled gas. The failure to control this crucial
parameter is sloppy science.
When even small amounts of nitric oxide contact a moist surface, such as lung tissue, it
immediately converts to NITRIC ACID. That is what they are seeing the damaged tissue from.
Further, they admitted they had not examined the underside of the tissue.
The scientists in the audience well knew that if they had looked, they would have seen that the
living tissue produces prodigious amount of the protective enzymes : glutathione peroxidase,
superoxide dismutase, reductase and catalase.
So, the EPA scientists not only failed to control the substance being
tested, they failed to control substances NOT being tested, and they also fail to observe all
aspects of the results.
As I have said many times on this and other lists, if it were true that
ozone damages lung tissue, I WOULD HAVE NO LUNGS LEFT, because I regularly am exposed to massive
amounts of ozone when I check my oil shed, where I am in continuous production of ozonated olive oil.
( And a great deal of it is RAW ozone, because the oil does not lower much
of the concetration as it becomes a solid. Tiny holes lead upward from the bottom of the solid
block as the concentrators push through the thickening oil. At the end, it looks like tiny
volcanoes, with a humped up area surrounding the tiny hole. )
Over the last decade, we have treated and advised many thousands of people
to breathe ozone bubbled through olive oil for asthma. The vast majority improved tremendously,
and most have had complete cessation of their symptoms, with no recurrence. People with a
lifetime of spring hayfever agony have found permanent relief. Babies as young as six months
old, choking with asthma, have breathed it daily for months, and now are entering junior high,
with the asthma of their babyhood forgotten. So don't be scared off from getting safe and permanent
lief from a debilitating condition.
The concentration of ozone coming through the oil is controlled by the depth
of the oil and the 'freshness' of it. If it has been used for some time, the oil bleaches out,
then foams, and then thickens. As it goes through this process, it loses its ability to modify
the ozone. After a while, the ozone coming through will be too strong. It should be replaced
with fresh, extra virgin olive oil. (The greenest oil is the best -- first pressing). The
thickened oil should be kept, stored in the refrigerator, and used for any skin problem, such as
sunburn, eczema, cuts, scrapes, burns, etc. It is
also the perfect lubricant for sex, providing a swift death for any virus or
bacteria you would care to name. (NOTE: it will NOT prevent conception. Just
the opposite, in fact!)
Since the oil controls the concentration of ozone coming through, it is less
important the concentration of ozone going in. However, the higher the concentration, the
quicker the oil will thicken up and need replacing. So, in practical terms, 50 or 60 ug/ml is
probably the maximum desirable. The minimum is probably about 30 ug/ml.
Length of time of breathing is a very important control on the therapy as
well. Start off at five minutes and work your way up from there. Thirty minutes would be the
maximum. Remember the bell curve idea. 60 minutes is not what you want. It would be better to do
30 minutes twice a day than 60 minutes all at once.
Finally, concerning ozone generators, 99% of the world's production is
corona discharge, characterized by a metal anode, producing a current draw. (For nontechnical
people, the cathode sends electrons to the anode; like a baseball pitcher to the catcher). These
generators are cheap to make, and can attain very high concentrations, even ridiculously high
levels such as 150 ug/ml ! Since the therapeutic window is reliably established as 20 - 70 ug/ml
through 50 years of research, Lord only knows why people would want one.
The reason why these overpowered generators are produced lies in one of the
drawbacks of corona discharge: short path length. Typically they use a 5"
tube. This means they can achieve high concentrations at low flow rates
(1/32 , 1/16 l/m) by cranking up the current, but when it comes to the high
flow rates needed to fill the ozone sauna (1/2 l/m) their output falls
dramatically, because there just isn't enough time for the oxygen to get
charged with a quick pass in such a short tube.
A further fault is the heat generated by cranking up the current. A corona
discharge generator can be spotted across the room by the big cooling fan
needed to dissipate the heat generated by all that current.
And one more, for good measure: the current draw makes the corona discharge
generator prone to burnout, especially if there is water drawn back into the
tube. Even water VAPOR will cause them to arc out. We just fixed a corona
discharge generator for a lady in Louisiana last week that had inadvertently
gotten some moisture into it. It was a mess. The manufacturer would not
speak to her...
BY CONTRAST, cold plasma generators, which make up 1% of the world's
production (conservatively estimated!) are produced by one company only.
They are the result of original invention by Nikola Tesla, the greatest
inventor the world has ever seen. Others disparage his magnificent creation
as 'ancient history', yet they continue to quietly use Tesla coils to power
their corona discharge generators! It is the simplest and cheapest way to get high voltage.
However, Tesla abandoned corona discharge generators
before the turn of the last century, when he saw that they were prone to
burnout, and invented cold plasma to replace it.
Cold plasma is an electrostatic approach, using almost NO current. Instead,
voltage is jumped between glass rods charged with inert gases, producing a
plasma field without heat. This field takes time to become established after
turn on, so there is a period of up to 3 minutes while the concentration is
slowly increasing. After that time, the field is fully formed, and the
concentration is stable. Heat destroys ozone, and so one of the great
advantages of this approach is that no heat is generated. Of course, all
electrical components are degraded by heat, so this cold approach is doubly
useful. Since there is no heat generated by the tubes, no fan is necessary.
Many companies try to ride the coattails of cold plasma, as the advantages
are obvious, but the Tesla design is produced only by our company.
Tesla's cold plasma is limited by the laws of physics to a maximum
concentration of about 70 ug/ml. Coincidentally, the concentration level of absolute safety is
around this area, too. Studies done by Sweet, et al, in the US and published in the prestigious
magazine SCIENCE in 1980, show no detrimental effect on living tissue in vitro up to a level of
70 ug/ml, while cancerous tissue was destroyed from 20 ug/ml on up.
Laboratory studies on human blood done by Greenburg in Germany in 1996
showed crimping of red blood cells at 80 ug/ml, establishing a top limit.
To achieve its highest concentration, cold plasma dictates that the path
length be very long. Our Alpha generator has four 14" tubes, for a path
length of 56". This has another benefit, in that when the flow rate is
higher for the ozone sauna, it will still generate 40 ug/ml at 1/2 l/m. This
is twice the concentration at 1/2 l/m of typical corona discharge generators
that put out 90 ug/ml at 1/32 l/m.
So at both ends of the scale, cold plasma is superior. You get lots of ozone
at high flow rates for your sauna, and at low flow rates, you can't screw up
and hurt yourself. Corona discharge manufacturers crow about their
attenuator control, allowing the overly high output to be turned down, but
the most frequent question I get from their owners is "WHERE DO I SET THIS
THING?"
Not only that, the use of an electrostatic approach means that if water
should inadvertently enter the tubes, it does not short it out. The output
will drop in half, but the electricity still flows through this incredible
adversity. Passing oxygen through the tubes for a couple of hours with the
power off will dry them out.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for oil, as the organic material
draws current and then the tubes will short out. This is why we use a safety
container in our asthma kit setup, to prevent oil from being drawn back into
the generator. (Now if only people looked at the diagram or the labels when
they were hooking it up.....! )
So because of the inherent strength and stability of the cold plasma
approach, we confidently offer a Lifetime warranty on all components of our
generators. This warranty is transferrable to a new owner, ad infintum. I
have seen generators resold four times, and the warranty transfers to each
person in turn. I ask that the machine be returned to me for retesting and
upgrading, free of charge, at each sale, but that is up to the new owner,
who pays shipping. Any faults will be rectified, and all upgrades applied.
We are in a constant program of upgrading our generators, to make them as
reliable as humanly possible, and as easy to build as possible. The
components are much more expensive than competitors', (our transformers
alone cost more than all the parts of a typical corona discharge generator!)
so we are always trying to devise ways to lower our costs. The recent
rise in the value of the Canadian dollar has been painful, but we are
determined to hold the line on prices to our American customers.
Best of health!
Dr. Saul Pressman
http://www.plasmafire.com
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