LAT: Air Purifier Gets Another Critical Blow (may release unhealthy ozone) [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

Air Purifier Gets Another Critical Blow
Consumer Reports pans a Sharper Image device. The firm accuses the magazine of 'a vendetta.'

By Roger Vincent, Times Staff Writer


Neither the lawsuit nor, it appears, the new model cleared the air.

Shares of Sharper Image Corp. sank 9% on Tuesday after the new issue of Consumer Reports panned the latest version of the company's bestselling air purifier.

Not only does it fail to sufficiently clean indoor air, but the heavily advertised Ionic Breeze Quadra Silent Air Purifier and four similar machines by other manufacturers might even release potentially unhealthy levels of ozone, the magazine said in editions that hit newsstands Tuesday....

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Ozone is an irritant that can aggravate asthma and deaden the sense of smell and may cause permanent lung damage.

Sharper Image attorney E. Robert Wallach blasted the report as "a vendetta" by Yonkers, N.Y.-based Consumers Union, the magazine's publisher, for the purpose of making money. The San Francisco-based retailer unsuccessfully sued Consumer Reports for libel for earlier articles critical of the machines....


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sharper6apr06,0,4809476.story?coll=la-home-business