Ozone-Free Air Cleaner Certification Program
Sponsored by the International Association of Air Cleaner Manufacturers
Foreword
The International Association of Air Cleaner Manufacturers (IAACM) sponsors the “Ozone-Free Air Cleaner Certification Program (“Program”). The Program provides a uniform and impartial verification of air cleaners that produce no ozone. Participation in the Program is voluntary and open to all air cleaner manufacturers and distributors. An independent laboratory under contract to IAACM provides verification. Participants’ models must be certified and listed with IAACM. The “CERTIFIED OZONE-FREE” certification seal that appears on the packaging of each unit is the public representation that the air cleaner has been verified through the program not to produce ozone.
Background
According to U.S. Food and Drug Administration ozone is a lung irritant, "with no known useful medical applications". While the legal limit for ozone emission in homes lies at 50 ppb, the Code of Federal Regulations makes it illegal to generate ozone and release it into the atmosphere in "hospitals or other establishments occupied by the ill or infirm" (21CFR801.415). Since many consumers that purchase air cleaners do so because of medical conditions such as asthma, other lung diseases, the American Lung Association recommends that air cleaners should produce absolutely no ozone. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined that ozone is generally ineffective in controlling indoor air pollution and that operation of these devices in the presence of common household chemicals produces even more aggressive indoor air pollutants. While the dangers of ozone generating air cleaners are well documented, hundreds of thousands of ozone producing air cleaners are sold in United States every year. Independent research commissioned by the IAACM in 2004 has shown that many popular room air cleaners produce ozone levels that are over the legal limit of 50 ppb. Despite the legal labeling requirement, most of these air cleaners manufacturers do not disclose the fact that they produce ozone to the consumer. Against this background of uncertainty, the IAACM certification program provides an affordable and impartial verification to consumers. The IAACM ozone-free air cleaner certification program is the world's first such certification program that actively allows consumers to identify air cleaners, which have been independently verified to emit no ozone.
The IAACM “Ozone-Free Air Cleaner Certification Program" bases the verification upon testing procedures derived from UL Standard 867, section 37. It improves upon this standard in that it specifies in detail instrumentation and testing procedures to ensure that ozone emissions down to 5 ppb can be verified.
