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Remember my favorite woo "medicine," Airborne?
posted by GJ on March 5, 2008 @ 11:47AM
Payback time for the makers of Airborne. Literally. Such a shame to see charlatans held accountable for their lies. Thankfully this product is pretty much harmless. The same can't be said for a whole of of other "natural" cures out there. Update: The Sharper Image has gone bankrupt. Want to know why? 60% of their sales were attributed to their woo product "Ionic Breeze" in their not-so-distant boom times. Consumer Reports laid the smackdown on them in 2005, alleging that the product did not clean the air much at all, and worse it emitted dangerous levels of ozone. So, with their flagship product sales dropping catastrophically, it's no surprise they went under financially. Ozone is a poison, for those who don't know. Chemically, the oxygen you need it O2 while ozone is O3. The "ions" used in these "ionic" air purifiers are ozone molecules, which are supposed to attract dust. They also emit that "right after the lightning storm" smell, which some people like. That smell is ozone--lightning changes oxygen to ozone as it burns through the atmosphere. Now, does electrically charged ozone collect dust? A little. However, that ozone is a big problem for some. Now, you ask--who was the Ionic Breeze specifically marketed to? Why, allergy and asmtha sufferers, of course--to better purify the air they breathe. Who is most susceptible to ozone poisoning? Same group of people. So, this product was sold as a health benefit to people, and instead it would exacerbate the very problems it claimed to mollify. Aww, they're going out of business as a result of their poor business ethics. What a shame. Now you know why I hate this crap, and don't tolerate even the stuff that appears harmless. Unless you test and vet your products, how do you really know if you'll harm someone, let alone know if the product does what it's supposed to?
| Tags: woo, science
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