Toxins May Form When Skin, Indoor Ozone Meet

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In their study, Weschler and Wisthaler used "proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry" to analyze compounds released into the air by the interaction of human skin oil and ozone.

When squalene, the most common fat and antioxidant found on the human skin, from just one person interacted with ozone, this could reduce ozone concentrations in a small room by 10 to 25 percent, the team found.

Byproducts of this skin-ozone interaction are later released back into the environment.

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"Some of these products are benign, something like acetone or fingernail-polish remover. Some of these compounds have not been identified before in terms of this chemistry, but we don't expect them to pose much of a health concern simply because of their structure," Weschler said. On the other hand, "some of these compounds may be a health concern, but toxicity studies have yet to be done," he added.

Besides the skin, reactions occur on objects where squalene was left by a person's touch, such as furniture or computer equipment.

The research also revealed that squalene and not vitamin E, as was previously thought, is the main antioxidant protecting the skin from ozone. "Squalene has been doing the heavy lifting when it comes to protecting us from the ozone," Wechsler said.

"Some of these products [resulting from the interaction] we inhale and some stay on our skin," he added. "Toxicologists will be looking more closely at what some of the potential health effects are."

One expert noted that the latest research sheds more light on ozone's harmful effects.

"Ozone by itself is harmful straight out, and we've known for some time that ozone indoors reacts with a variety of things," said Janice Nolen, assistant vice president of national policy and advocacy at the American Lung Association. This study "tells us more about how ozone can affect us and reinforces why we don't want ozone indoors," she said.

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