Ozone In Medicine Essay, Research Paper

Klyment TanMarch 2, 1998

Ozone in Medicine: Modern Magic

Bullet or Fatal Deception?

Ozone may be one of the most misunderstood medical achievements of this century. In this essay, facts will be filtered from politics to find the answer to this question: Ozone-the modern magic bullet or fatal deception?

First of all, what is ozone? As defined in the Encarta Encyclopedia: Ozone (Greek ozein, “to smell”), allotropic form of oxygen having three atoms in each molecule, formula O3. It is a pale blue, highly poisonous gas with a strong odor. Ozone boils at -111.9? C (-169.52? F), melts at -192.5? C (-314.5? F), and has a specific gravity of 2.144. Liquid ozone is a deep blue, strongly magnetic liquid. Ozone is formed when an electric spark is passed through oxygen, and causes a detectable odor near electrical machinery. The commercial method of preparation con-sists of passing cold, dry oxygen through a silent electrical discharge. Ozone is much more ac-tive chemically than ordinary oxygen and is a better oxidizing agent. It is used in purifying wa-ter, sterilizing air, and bleaching certain foods. Ozone formed in the atmosphere from nitrogen oxides and organic gases emitted by automobiles and industrial sources, however, is a health hazard, and it may cause serious crop damage in some areas.

Now that the scientific stuff is out of the way, I would like to outline some key compo-nents to the excerpt. Please note that ozone is magnetic and will attract to particles in turbid wa-ter. Also note that it is stated that ozone is formed by the combination nitrogen oxides and or-ganic gasses emitted by automobiles and that it may cause serious crop damage in some areas. If ozone is said to be useful, why is it considered a poisonous gas and to what extent? Let me clar-ify that above. Ozone is produced in different ways and the method of mixing organic gasses and nitrogen oxides is one method that leaves ozone in the presence of a high quantity of these sub-stances, making it poisonous.

The encyclopedia article also described the production of ozone. For all of the informa-tion in this paper, you must know the following. Ozone can be produced electrically when an electrical arc is passed through oxygen, causing normal oxygen, O2, to separate and rearrange in threes, O3. In this highly unstable state, ozone will actively pursue the opportunity to oxidize. Ozone is also produced when oxygen is struck by ultraviolet radiation with a wavelength of around 200nm. This normally occurs in the atmosphere.

Ozone may be the greatest medical discovery of this century. Ozone has been proven to cure cancer and AIDS. Other previously thought incurable diseases have been eliminated without apparent side effects. If this is the case, why is medical ozone not legal in North America? This question has mystified scientists like Gerard V. Sunnen, M.D., for years. Dr. Sunnen is a leading researcher in so called “alternative medicine.”

“Ozone has been used without encumbrance in South America, Europe, and Africa, medically, for years. People who require treatments must venture to medical facilities in the southern and eastern hemisphere where they are legal. We must bear in mind that medical ozone is only ‘not legal’ and not ‘illegal’.”

Not legal? What does that mean? It means that the governing medical force in North America, the FDA or Food and Drug Administration doesn’t know better than to listen to very powerful, politically orientated organizations, called pharmaceutical industries. That may be putting it harshly but in other words, these industries have a large influential power in the FDA, just because of their size. Without pharmaceutical companies, most of the purposes of the FDA, regulating use of medicine and medicinal practices, would not exist.

What are pharmaceutical companies so “ticked off” about ozone anyway? The issue is very logical. Ozone is a gas that is produced when an electrical charged is passed through oxy-gen or air, which also contains oxygen. The electrical charge splits normal O2 oxygen molecules and rearranges them into energized arrangements of threes. Being a very unstable state, it cannot be stored for more than a few minutes under normal circumstances and will revert back to plain oxygen. Since ozone cannot be stored, pharmaceutical companies cannot capitalize on its amaz-ing healing capability. There is no such thing as a pill of ozone and numerous pharmaceutical companies also produce stabilized oxygen products. If ozone were legalized, there would be di-rect competition for the market of the pharmaceutical companies. Therefore, it is illogical for pharmaceutical companies to support the legalization of ozone.

Being a very high profile issue in the eyes of certain groups of people, it is difficult to make the use of ozone seem logical. The following are some interesting arguments offered by pharmaceutical companies and other opposition to the use of medical ozone.

“The use of ozone by means of dialysis is ridiculous. The bubble of gas in the blood stream would quickly and easily cause death to the patient. This has been known throughout the history of medicine.”

Explanation: This is a very logical and strait-forward argument and medical practitioners have not been able to come up with a perfect scientific explanation for why the bubbles do not accumulate in blood vessels. Although unexplainable, no tests have proven what was stated by the argument. No one has been known to die of “bubble disease” as some people call it. This could partially be explained by the knowledge of ozone’s volatility, causing it to be absorbed by blood after being reverted back into ozone.

Speaking of dialysis, you may be wondering how exactly is it done. There is not only one standard method of doing it (there are no standards), but the most common method is to draw a moderate quantity of blood from the patient and put it into a glass bottle with ozone, then shaken. It may sound primitive but this removes all of the large bubbles and saturates the blood. Saturat-ing blood with ozone works because pathogenic microorganisms that reside in human beings have generally been agreed to be organisms that thrive in anaerobic conditions. Being conditions of little oxygen, the introduction of ozone would readily dissipate the anaerobic conditions, causing them to die off.

Another notable argument in regards to the use of ozone as a treatment for AIDS: Viruses reproduced using human host cells. It is impossible for nonliving thing, never mind inorganic substance, to selectively neutralize infected cells while leaving healthy cells intact. And for those same reasons, we cannot conclude that ozone will inhibit only cancerous cells while leaving healthy cells intact.

Explanation: To date, there has been no official evidence supporting the idea that cancer and AIDS can be completely eliminated with ozone other than this; John C. Pittman, M.D. of the Carolina Center for Alternative and Nutritional Medicine in North Carolina has cancer and AIDS patients that will readily testify that without a series of ozone treatments, they would not be alive today.

We have heard all about the medical issues about ozone but what about industrial and commercial applications? There are numerous applications that have no opposition but even sup-port by the government. After speaking with a local scientist and engineer who is developing in-dustrial ozone generators for industrial and commercial purposes, I have found many interesting things. He has been working on an industrial ozone generator that will treat organic animal “sludge” and industrial sludge from oil processing and possibly agriculture.

First of all, he mentioned the use of ozone to decompose animal wastes. How is it done? He explains it as blending up with material that has been “squatted” out by animals and swishing it with water. Then blow in ozone like blowing air through a straw into a milkshake. Well, you get the idea. The main concern that he has when building this ozone generator is about the satu-ration of the ozone into the animal sewage. Usually, normal industrial bubbling processes are about 10% effective. That means that 90% of the ozone produced is wasted. He has devised a device that will be around 80% effective in saturating the sewage. Also, the highest concentra-tion of ozone usually utilized lies within the 2-10% range. The ozone-producing engine he has patented will produce a concentration of around 40%. Due to the fact that ozone is corrosive to a certain extent, the only materials he can use are stainless steel and most kinds of glass. The ef-fectiveness of the saturation system is crucial because a 40% ozone concentration is extremely lethal. That’s why everything on these kinds of systems are remotely controlled and almost al-ways automated with many safety precautions.

Ozone in smaller concentrations is also used for water purification. Ultra-violet radiation used to be used for water purification. Ozone and UV treatment both leave no environmental residue and are very effective. Compared to chlorine, the initial cost of ozone or UV treatment equipment is well worth the cost. However, ozone has some benefits over the UV treatment. Ozone has a residual effect so it will leave the water fresh for a few minutes after treatment and the remaining ozone would purify the water further. Ozone also has no recurring cost. As seen by the examples provided, it is very simple to conclude that ozone is very useful for industrial, commercial and medical purposes.

Why is ground level ozone viewed so poorly in the eyes of the EPA and the general population? This is where misconception takes its toll on the uninformed. Ground level ozone is only poisonous in relatively high concentrations. There have been no recent figures given to the exact concentrations in certain areas. Ground level ozone is various emissions of fossil fuels mixed with a small quantity of ozone. Besides, these emissions are already poisonous so ground level ozone should not be the name given to such pollution.

So, is ozone the magic bullet, the greatest medical discovery of the century? Is it a cure for AIDS and cancer? Personal opinions of many impartial physicians reveal that they do not be-lieve so. However, they feel that ozone is an important tool in medicine and should have a place in the treatment of disease, because most of the diseases afflicting humans today can be traced to diminishing levels of oxygen and compromised immune system. In conclusion, I have found in-sufficient evidence to prove or disprove the safety and effectiveness of using ozone medically for the treatment of disease.

Bibliographical Reference

John C. Pittman (1997), Medical Ozone, The Carolina Center for Alternative and Nutritional Medicine

Gerard V. Sunnen (1994), Possible Mechanisms of Viral Inactivation by Ozone, Ozone in Medi-cine (Medical Journal)

Ishizuka K, Sawadaishi D, Miura K, Shinriki N: Effect of ozone on plasmid DNA of Escheria Coli in Situ. Water Res 1987; 21(7): 823-828

Gerard V. Sunnen (1994), Ozone in Medicine: Overview and Future Directions (Editor and Publisher Unknown)

Ozone and the Politics of Medicine, (1995 Video)

“Ozone,” Microsoft? Encarta? 97 Encyclopedia. ?1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

“Oxygen,” Microsoft? Encarta? 97 Encyclopedia. ?1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.