At 08:39 AM 4/27/01 +0100,
[log in to unmask] wrote:
Does anyone have any experience of
automatic air fresheners? These are the devices found in toilets and
increasingly around hospitals which automatically dose the air with a jet
of air freshener at regular time periods.
Apparently the NHS are pushing this as a way for hospitals to be
perceived as cleaner, i.e. not smelling of hospital. Our trust has
recently spent quite a bit of money on them. I first found out when I saw
a couple of patients from the same area with pre-existing asthma whose
symptoms suddenly got a lot worse. These settled completely within a day
or two of the air fresheners being removed. Has anybody else had this
problem?
I am still awaiting data sheets on these products but am told we have two
different sorts. One which works as described above and the other which
produces ozone and "recreates the atmosphere experienced after a
thunderstorm". Call me old fashioned if you like but is this a good
idea??
I am told by my Facilities people that they are widely used all across
the NHS and therefore there can't be a problem, my experience so far
indicates the opposite.
Philip Atkinson
Consultant OHP NHS
Dear Dr. Atkinson, At least some of the devices are small ozone
generators. As such, in my opinion, they are undesirable.
Arthur A. Krawetz, Ph.D., CChem, FRSC