INDOOR POLLUTION SHORTENS LIVES A MESSAGE TO ONTARIO PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS AND CONCERNED PARENTS EVERYWHERE

Transcription

1 INDOOR POLLUTION SHORTENS LIVES November 15, 2016 A MESSAGE TO ONTARIO PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS AND CONCERNED PARENTS EVERYWHERE

2 BUT WHAT IS POLLUTION? Three pollutants were chosen as indicators* of Relative Risks 1. Ground level ozone (O 3 ) 2. Fine Particulate (PM 2.5 ) 3. Nitrogen Dioxide (NO 2 ) *Ontario s Air Quality Health Index - June 24/2015 2

3 BUT WHERE DO THESE 3 COME FROM? COAL NO 2 & Fine Particulates CARS NO 2 & Fine Particulates COPIERS Ozone & Fine Particulates (old technology copiers) 3

4 AND WHY IS OZONE (O 3 ) A PROBLEM? Ozone kills lung cells Which Emit enzymes as they die Which Trigger histamine production Which Raises blood pressure RESULTING IN: ASTHMA HEART ATTACKS LUNG CANCERS* *To be explained 4

5 AND WHY IS NO 2 A PROBLEM? NO 2 in the presence of sunlight forms Ozone which reacts with fine particulates to form highly reactive elements (carcinogens) which cause lung cancer. 5

6 AND WHY ARE COPIERS A PROBLEM? O 3 O 2 O 2O2 O 3 DRUM PAPER O 3 O 3 High Voltage volts Highly charged wires charge the drum Which Ionizes the air Which Creates Ozone On Old technology copiers Ozone reacts with paper dust (wood) to form highly reactive (carcinogenic) particles that are linked to lung cancer. 6

7 AND WHY ARE WE ALL MORE AT RISK INDOORS? When we spend 90%* of our time indoors, even small amounts of ozone will steal lung capacity over time. * A low exposure to gas over a long period will have the same result as a high exposure over a short period. -Haber s Law 7

8 AND WHY ARE CHILDREN AT RISK INDOORS? Resistance lowered indoors results in higher reaction rates outdoors. "Exposure to extremely low (ozone) concentrations indoors, increases the reactivity of airways to other substances". - Canadian Centre for Health and Safety There are 570,000 kids with Asthma in Ontario schools - Geo. Habib Pres/CEO Ontario Lung Assoc. 8

9 AND WHY ARE MID/OLDER ADULTS AT RISK? Loss of lung capacity Equals Less activity Equals Higher risks overall Science now believes: Indoor Pollution takes an average of 10 years off everyone s life. 9

10 BUT OZONE DISAPPEARS IN MINUTES DOESN T IT? Maximum reading allowable in a 10 minute test 1.5 mg/hr. Sorry Ozone s half life is 3 days at 20 C. To trick you our industry created a false definition based on... ventilation. Industry Promoted Half Life Fallacy * *The time for levels to drop 50% while fresh (ozone free) air is being pumped into a test (Blue Angel test) chamber. 10

11 AND TO TRICK YOU EVEN MORE WARNING Emissions are still 10 minutes (in Blue Angel tests). They only test new copiers based on these other false assumptions: Copiers never run longer than 10 minutes. Office and schools all have good ventilation. RAL.UZ.122 Blue Angel * test graph *An independent for profit testing company 11

12 AND BECAUSE OZONE FILTERS FILL WITH PAPER DUST EPA test show: Ozone emissions can be 33 times higher than tested and When higher levels return in a few short weeks (after service) staff are again at risk. As Noted: Ozone is not only killing people, it s causing tens of millions of people to get sick each day. From: Obama to introduce sweeping new controls aimed at ozone New York Times Coral Davenport Nov. 25/

13 BUT XEROX SAYS WE RE SAFE AT 200µg/m3 0.1PPM = 100PPB = 200µg/m3 SORRY! The World Health notes significant increases in mortality at Canada s Dept. of Health warns us to keep indoors below 50µg/m3 40µg/m3 The American Lung Assoc. sued the EPA citing increased mortality at 30µg/m3 ASHRAE a real association keep indoors below David Suzuki says There is no safe level 20µg/m3 0µg/m3 BAD AIR IS LIKE SMOKING 300 CIGARETTES A DAY - PM City News.ca 08/18/

14 AND HOW ELSE MIGHT XEROX HAVE MISLED US? A. Stating that it (ozone) rapidly reverts back to oxygen * B. Implying that the half life of ozone is 5 minutes or less * C. Implying that we can smell it at low concentrations* D. Implying that its remanufactured products are new models *Google: Facts About Ozone by Xerox - FALSE - FALSE - FALSE - FALSE The true half life of Ozone is 3 days at 20 C Which means it builds up in an office or the small work rooms in Ontario schools where most high volume copiers operate. Which also means that staff who sit near these devices all day could end up with lung cancer when they never smoked! 14

15 BUT THE EPA OUTDOOR STANDARD IS 150µg/m3* *Lowered in 2015 to 140µg/m3 True, but they also caution that the administration set outdoor standard (150µg/m3) equates to the 4 Imagine this plant s emissions on the 4 th worst th highest annual reading day recorded in a year. taken from across the entire U.S.A. Any safe threshold, if one exists, would be far below the levels set in current global standards. - World Health 15

16 IN EUROPE IN ENGLAND They erected 1800 permanent Ozone testing sites in a 10 year study to determine what part of pollution was really killing people. Their findings Ozone! Google: Health risks of ozone from long-range transboundary air pollution. In England they give children ozone strips so they can see pollution. IN CANADA WE ENJOY SOME OF THE CLEANEST OUTDOOR AIR IN THE WORLD BUT DO NOT YET UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE MORE AT RISK INDOORS. 16

17 AND ARE OUR SCHOOLS SAFE? Apparently Not! After a summer of playing outdoors: 20 25% of all children s asthma attacks happen in the first weeks of September, when children go back to school! - Dr. Robert Oliphant, Pres. & CEO - Asthma Society of Canada Sept. 24/

18 AND WHY CAN SCHOOL BOARD COPIERS BE A SERIOUS PROBLEM*? * If they still release ozone Emission test assume copiers run less than 10 minutes. School board copiers can run volumes sometimes 2 hours non-stop* not 10 minutes! *80,000 prints/copies/month is not uncommon High Volumes Small Work Rooms Poor Ventilation As David Suzuki advises There are no safe levels 18

19 SO ADD (DIRECT TO OUTSIDE) VENTILATION! SORRY IT S NOT THAT SIMPLE! Older schools have asbestos that cannot be disturbed. Newer schools with false ceilings pump air from one room to the next. 19

20 AND WHY IS IT TAKING CANADIANS SO LONG TO UNDERSTAND ALL THIS? A. Ozone s effects are not immediate i.e. we often leave the source before a reaction sets in. Heart attacks can happen 3 days later. B. Incremental losses in lung capacity may not be noticed for years. Cancer for decades. C. Like with the recent VW emission scandal, only a few in marketing know about the problem*. (*We learned about it in 2012) 20

21 AND WHY IS OUR INDUSTRY CHALLENGED TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM? Ink roller PAPER DRUM Charge roller Transfer roller The solution to the copier ozone problem lies with direct contact (low voltage) charge and transfer technologies. The problem for most manufacturers is drums wear out faster so if you don t hold patents on long life drums you are in big trouble. See slide 6 for schematic of old technologies. 21

22 AND HOW IS OUR INDUSTRY COPING GENERALLY? HP split in two in November/2015. Toshiba announced $4.5B loss in December of Xerox has taken a 364 day $1 billion dollar loan in January/2016 to tie them over until they split the current corporation into two in late Sharp sold their company to Foxconn in Taiwan in March/2016. Lexmark sold their company to a Chinese consortium in April/2016. Samsung sold off the whole division in August/2016. Ricoh announced huge losses in September/2016. And Kyocera (our line) Sales for the combined corp. are down, but the office equipment division (holder of the long life drum technology that they license to some) are doing just fine. 22

23 AND WHEN, SHOULD SCHOOLS BE CONCERNED? If a product s ozone test readings were even a fraction of the industry s recommended maximum of 1.5 mg/hr. emissions, be concerned if volumes are high ventilation directly outside is not in place children or the infirm (schools & hospitals) are exposed As a general rule (assuming your copiers still release ozone) Most likely safe Use with caution Dangerous Small or personal printers with low usage are likely safe Medium usage copiers in open concept offices with good ventilation High speed/high volume copiers in high risk areas i.e. schools/hospitals or in small work rooms with no direct to outdoor ventilation put staff at risk 23

24 OUR MESSAGE OZONE STEALS LUNG CAPACITY, SHORTENS LIFE SPANS AND TRIGGERS CHILDREN S ASTHMA AND ADULT HEART ATTACKS UP TO THREE DAYS LATER. OZONE IS OUR #1 KILLER WE RE MORE AT RISK INDOORS* * Haber s Law OLD TECHNOLOGY CORONA WIRE TECHNOLOGIES - Release ozone NEW TECHNOLOGY DIRECT CONTACT TECHNOLOGIES - Eliminate ozone volts O 3 O 2 O 2 O 3 O 2 PAPER O 3 O 3 Highly charged wires ionize air and releases ozone O volts O 2 O 2 Low 250 volt charges Ink roller O 2 O 2 PAPER Charge roller Transfer roller O 2 O 2 Eliminating products that kill lung cells won t solve all our problems but when we know that it will lessen the damage, we d be fools to ignore the facts. 24

25 ABOUT 4OFFICE AUTOMATION LTD. 4 Office Automation Ltd. is a 100% independent (OECM approved) Canadian reseller with numerous colleges, universities, school boards and governments (provincial/federal/municipal) under contract. For 40 plus years we have known copiers smell when in need of service but only learned (by accident) that the smell could indicate a dangerous level of ozone in In 2013, we launched a web site on the dangers of indoor ozone which we have defended against threats of lawsuits from Xerox of Canada. Being the only whistle blower about the dangers of ozone emissions from copiers has not been fun this being said, - we know history will prove us correct. Call us at office ( our name is our number) if you share our concern. SPEEDS OFFICE S OECM APPROVED MODELS 4Office OECM approved models are virtually ozone free to 80 pages/minute 25