In Europe and Japan the value of negative ions and the need to generate them artificially within work buildings, houses and cars has been accepted for years. I find the case for negative ion effects strikingly similar to the evolution of North American thinking about acupuncture -- we can't completely explain it, so it can't exist. Somehow our scientific and medical community got away for decades with pretending that the standard anaesthetic and medical stimulator for one fourth of the earth's population was a case of mass hypnosis. Only recently has Canada sent medical teams to China to study what acupuncture can really accomplish. Quebec, for one, has now licensed acupuncture practitioners as part of the part of the government medical system.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has forbidden manufacturers of negative ion generators to talk about their medical effects. In Canada they are not restricted by law, but responsible companies hold back for fear of losing credibility.
Look around you and you will discover negative ion generators in offices, reception rooms, and homes throughout the country -- by word of mouth and no advertising -- simply because they make people feel better. Unfortunately, when they are installed in central ventilation systems they may work a bit like electronic air cleaners and cause some particulate precipitation within the ductwork, but the metal and plastic ducts ground out the negative ions long before they can be released into the rooms. We must use individual zone generators and they are not cheap. (Will someone please develop some adequate ducting?)
Our insulation, ventilation and air quality experts list dozens of obscure household air pollutants and talk about oxygen depletion, but not one word has been written by them about the absence of negative ions in our modern houses.
Although I have accumulated a respectable file of scientific research on the subject, I have located very few publications for general public distribution -- and they are now out of print. The subject is more important than that. Technicians and researchers across the country have admitted to me that they had an interest in the subject, but say they could never talk anyone into providing funds to study it.
I am not saying that negative ion depletion is the unsung cause of the century, or that negative ion generators are miracle cures for all that ails you. I am saying that there is a general ignorance of the subject and a strong prejudice against accepting both the experience of Europe and Japan and technical studies from all over the world which prove negative ion depletion to be an important concern for air quality in our modern houses. We need to lift the debate on negative ion depletion to the same level of importance as radioactive radon gas and formaldehyde off-gassing.
If you missed the start of this story, check out What The Heck Is A Negative Ion.