It's not ozone coming out of those smokestacks and from the exhaust of millions of cars. 
Smog is a combination of hydrocarbons and VOC's known as volatile organic compounds.

Ozone is simply O3, three atoms of oxygen linked together, rather than the two atoms of oxygen, O2, we normally breath. 

True O3 Ozone is a natural colorless gas made up entirely of Oxygen.
Ozone is NOT smog. Ozone is a compound that naturally occurs in nature. 

While ozone is sometimes mistakenly referred to as smog, SMOG is actually a combination of hydrocarbons, among them being CO², CO, and SO².

Ozone is present in smog, partly because the processes that create pollution also creates ozone. 

When sunlight strikes industrial or automotive pollution, oxygen atoms are stripped from the pollutant molecules and form peroxy radicals like nitrous oxide, nitric acid, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. 

At the same time the freed oxygen atoms bond with the free oxygen in the air and form ozone. The more pollution, the more ozone.

While ozone may be present in smog it is there to help clean the pollution.
Demonizing ozone is like blaming the fireman for the fire. 
Without ozone, pollution would render our cities uninhabitable.

It is unfortunate that smog and ozone have been interchanged in the discussion of air pollution because it has masked the positive characteristics of ozone as the natural way of dealing with air quality problems. 

One of the reasons that Ozone has commonly been used as a yardstick for the severity or presence of smog and pollution is because it is easy to measure. 

Conveniently, placing the emphasis on ozone takes some of the pressure off of true polluters, who are releasing millions of pounds of toxins into the air every year.
Government agencies also allow this to happen because it is much easier to identify ozone rather than the VOC's, the TRUE smog.

They use the argument that too much ozone is bad for you and can cause respiratory distress.
Too much of anything, including water is bad for you.
For unoccupied room high ozone shock treatments to kill mold this point is meaningless because no one is in the room.

For air purification we recommend to only use very low levels of ozone, which has even be declared safe by many sources, and we build in special times into our units to specifically limit their ozone outputs.

Think about it, isn't it better to kill the mold, bacteria, viruses, and the pollutants of cigarette smoke with ozone than to let them remain in your home?

What is commonly called "ozone" in referring to the ground level air quality are really a mixture of these various toxic hydrocarbons, NOT O3 ozone. O3 Ozone is made up entirely, and nothing more than pure Oxygen.

We know that Ozone is a colorless gas but when we look at SMOG we can see that it is certainly not colorless.

In fact without Ozone we the Earth could not clean itself of the true SMOG which is the hydrocarbons.

Ozone has the beneficial role in smog reduction which is its ability to break down and oxidize hydrocarbons and particulates in the air. 

When it is said that the ozone level is high and that there is more SMOG it really means that while the ozone level it is higher than normal at surface levels the real danger is not the O3 ozone, it is the hydrocarbons the heavier than air ozone is trying to clean.

Without natural O3 Ozone our planets air would be a polluted mess that could never be cleaned.

When excessive amounts of man-made hydrocarbons are produced, there will be higher concentrations of ozone as a natural reaction to an unnatural situation. 

While very high levels of ozone are not good to breathe, the levels we find in the outside air fall within acceptable breathing limits.  We never recommend breathing in very high levels of ozone.  That's why we build in special ozone burst timers into our air purification ozone generators.

Our ozone generators can be operated at low levels for safe air purification, and high levels for killing mold and bacteria.

Ozone is a natural purifier, in fact ozone is used to purify the city of Los Angeles water supply.
If ozone was a pollutant would they pump it into the water supply?

Why is ozone called smog? Bad science. When there are more hydrocarbons in the air the ozone level NATURALLY increases to help break apart the real pollution which are the hydrocarbons.

It is said by certain sources that "Smog is formed when volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted from a variety of sources combine to form ozone."

How can that POSSIBLY be if ozone, which by definition is O3, and is ONLY made up of Oxygen?
But this misrepresentation of ozone is repeated over and over again in the media until it is finally accepted as the truth.

The dictionary defines ozone as: "Ozone (O3) is an allotrope of oxygen, the molecule consisting of three oxygen atoms instead of the more stable diatomic O2. Ozone is a colorless gas at standard temperature and pressure."

One reason that ozone gets labeled as smog is that while man-made hydrocarbons are very complex and quite difficult to measure, ozone is very easy to measure. Consequently, ozone has long been used as an indicator for the severity or presence of smog because as the levels of the true components of smog rise, the hydrocarbons, so does the level of ozone which actually eliminate the pollutants.

Without ozone the hydrocarbons could not be broken back down to their basic elements. 
In other words without ozone there would be so much pollution in the air, we might suffocate from the lack of oxygen.

Ozone is not a pollutant, it is a naturally occurring compound in nature.  Pollutants cannot destroy ozone but ozone can destroy the pollutants. 

Scientists are now discovering that the claimed danger of ozone may have been overblown.
One government agency cannot come to a conclusion as to what a proper ozone exposure standard should be.

According to the study: "Activists, journalists should “check the facts” on air quality.
There is no foundation for a widely suggested link between ground level ozone, or “smog,” and asthma among children".

The well respected Heartland Institute has an interesting take on clean air: 

Imitating the way nature cleans the air is the right way, and it works. Ozone is an incredible tool for manufacturing more healthy indoor air because it will have less pathogens in it.  But because of its strong oxidizing action, Ozone only needs to be used in slightly elevated concentrations for air purification.
Just like any strong cleaner you must always follow the manufacturer's instructions carefully. 
We NEVER recommend overusing ozone for air purification.  There is no need to do so.

Notice that those who choose to attack the use of ozone say that air purification levels of ozone are not effective in killing substantial amounts of mold. They then conclude that ozone is either useless or dangerous.  That's ridiculous. That's like saying since we add low levels of chlorine to our drinking water to make it free from bacteria that full strength chlorine is safe to drink.

Then they confuse the difference between air purification levels of ozone and UNOCCUPIED ROOM High Ozone Shock Treatments which will indeed kill mold and bacteria.

It has been proven that very high levels of ozone can kill mold.

We never confuse this issue and are very clear about the facts concerning the use of ozone.

If there is a serious infection of mold or bacteria that's when high levels of ozone are to be used in the form of High Ozone Shock Treatments which are ONLY performed in UNOCCUPIED rooms.

We are intelligent human beings and we can choose the proper amount of ozone for the given situation.
 

Some state that breathing in ANY amount of ozone is harmful. This again, is ridiculous. As soon as you step outside you are breathing in the fresh clean air that is full of ozone. The ozone is exactly why the air is fresh and clean and smells so good. Go stand next to a waterfall, or into a forest. These areas are FULL of ozone. If the air does not smell good when you go outside it is the pollutants, the hydrocarbons that are fouling it, and it is the ozone that is cleaning it.

If the air does not smell good when you go outside it is the pollutants, the hydrocarbons that are fouling it, and it is the ozone that is cleaning it.

It is important to understand that even when outside levels of ozone are high the levels inside are very low. That's because ozone breaks down very quickly back down into oxygen. In a closed environment there is not going to be a substantial amount of ozone unless it is being generated.
 

Many attack ozone because it is a threat to the many ineffective, but high profit air purification products being sold today such as ionizers. Ionizers produce high profits for the sellers, sometimes well over 1000%, but they do not produce clean environments. Ionization can't kill mold or bacteria, and it can't break apart hydrocarbons. Some ionizers now say they have a device on them that converts SMOG into oxygen.  They are under mistaken assumption that ozone is the SMOG. What it REALLY does is convert natural ozone into oxygen, thereby PREVENTING the natural ozone to clean the real SMOG which are the toxic hydrocarbons.

Some ionizers claim to turn pollution into oxygen.  REAL pollution such as hydrocarbons can't be turned into oxygen. Dust or pollen can't be turned into oxygen. Ozone can be turned into oxygen, but ozone is NOT pollution.

Some ionizers have special collection plates that supposedly captures all the dust. 
The TRUTH is that the collection plates only capture about 10% of the dust and the other 90% gets electronically glued to your walls floor and ceiling.

In the future ozone will replace many ineffective forms of air purification, including ionization, once the public becomes educated to the real benefits of ozone. 
 
 

You may have read a report by a federal or state agency warning to be careful of the danger of too much ozone.   It is extremely important to understand what these warnings mean.

The distinction must be made of what the application of the ozone is for.
To remove serious odors, kill bacteria, and destroy mold it is important to perform 
High Ozone Shock Treatments in UNOCCUPIED ROOMS ONLY!

One must make the distinction that a high ozone level in an UNOCCUPIED ROOM has
absolutely nothing to do with any of the warnings issued for ozone use concerning air purification. . 

When you are NOT in the room at the time,  it is completely safe to use ozone at any level, as long as you wait until the ozone reverts back to oxygen to re-enter the room, which takes only about an hour or two. 
Since ozone is made up entirely of oxygen it can only revert back to natural oxygen once the ozanation process is completed. Therefore while high levels of ozone are toxic, within a short time ozone reverts back to non-toxic oxygen.

Our machines are designed to produce high levels of ozone when needed to perform 
High Ozone Shock Treatments  in UNOCCUPIED ROOMS. 

High ozone levels are an absolute MUST to kill bacteria, mold, and have the ability remove strong odors. 
Remember unless you can achieve toxicity, in an UNOCCUPIED ROOM, you will NEVER be able to sanitize that room of mold and bacteria.  The definition of toxicity means to kill. Without toxicity you cannot kill bacteria and mold.

Ozone concentrations of 0.05ppm are within most recommended safe exposure levels for air purification levels.

It is important to remember that when using ozone for air purification, control over the ozone level is THE most important feature. 
We've designed our machines to have the most control over the ozone output as compared to any other ozone machine made.

The "burst timer" built right into our smaller machines is designed to limit the amount of ozone to very low levels for use as an air purification device. 

Our smaller machines XT-120 - XT-800 can regulate the generator to only produce ozone for as little as 2 seconds out of a minute. This allows only very low levels of ozone to be present in a room.  That fact alone makes our units some of the safest on the market. 

Our smaller machines XT-120 - XT-800 have burst timers to limit the ozone production so that they can be used as low ozone level air purifiers that operate within "safe" levels. 
Yet these same machines can also perform high ozone treatments in small to medium sized rooms.

Ozone is basically self limiting. When the ozone level reaches to high a level it begins to irritate sinus passages, give you a sore throat, and possibly even a headache. 

Many people are worried about using an ozone generator because it can produce higher than the recommended exposure levels.

If you have ANY question about ozone safety you can simply use ozone when you are not in the room, and set the timer to turn the unit off before you re-enter the room.
You can sanitize the room before you enter it. 

That way you will have NO exposure to ozone. No other air purifier or ionizer can do that.

By the way, we can PROVE that ozone kills bacteria, viruses, and mold. 
Please click on our Ozone Bacterial and Mold Killing Studies page to read about how ozone kills mold, and bacteria.