Thread by @LaurenWeberHP

Dr. Deborah Birx has joined an air-cleaning company that built its business, in part, on technology that is now banned in California due to health hazards.

At stake? Some of the $193 billion in federal funding to schools.

From @By_CJewett and me:

khn.org/news/article/f…

The company’s own studies show that, in its effort to create the “healthiest indoor environments in North America,” it leveraged something less impressive: the disinfecting power of ozone — a molecule considered hazardous and linked to the onset and worsening of asthma.

In an interview with @KHNews , CEO Joe Urso acknowledged that ActivePure's air cleaners that emit ozone account for 5% of sales, even though its marketing repeatedly claims “no chemicals or ozone.”

"It is very confusing,” he said.

Conflicts between the science and marketing claims of an air purification company are nothing new to academic air quality experts. They warn that the industry is laser-focused on school officials, who are desperate to convince parents and teachers their buildings are safe.

But children can be particularly susceptible to the chemical exposure some of these devices potentially create, experts say.

“The concerns you have raised are legitimate” when it comes to other companies’ products, Birx said, noting that as a grandmother she shares concerns about health.

She has full confidence in ActivePure after reviewing records for the FDA’s clearance of a company device.

Schools are getting an infusion of roughly $180 billion in federal money to spend on personal protective equipment, physical barriers, air-cleaning systems and other infrastructure improvements.

Previously, they could have used $13 billion of CARES Act funding.

School boards are often lured by aggressive claims of 99.9% efficiency — based on a test of a filter inside a small cabinet and not a classroom — instead of investing in the basics like HEPA filters or MERV 13 filters.

Putting unregulated devices in classrooms is “a giant uncontrolled experiment,” said @IAQinGWN , a civil engineering professor at the University of Toronto and a member of its Building Engineering Research Group.

So far, @marwa_zaatari says she has counted more than 125 schools or districts that have already bought air cleaner models the EPA has linked to “potentially harmful byproducts” such as ozone or formaldehyde. She estimated at least $60 million was spent.

Birx told @By_CJewett she uses a hospital-grade HEPA filter in her home but noted that’s only because she wasn’t aware of the ActivePure technology when she bought it.

@KHNews

khn.org/news/article/f…