Ozone gets under your skin, scientists warn

Indoors, the gas is produced by some types of office machines. It reacts with oil contained in the skin, producing substances that partly remain in the body, Austrian and US scientists have found.

Based on other studies of such types of substances, "one can expect them to irritate and sensitize the air passages and the skin," said Armin Wisthaler at the University of Innsbruck.

His joint research with Charles Weschler of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute in New Jersey was made public online in the Academy's PNAS publication.

When the scientists placed test persons in a simulated office space with a usual workplace concentration of ozone, the presence of one person lowered the gas concentration by up to 25 percent, at the same time raising the levels of reactive substances.

Ozone is made up of three oxygen molecules. In high concentrations, it irritates the respiratory system directly. Photocopiers and laser printers can emit the gas.

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