Sharp Air Purifier Review – The Efficacy of Plasmacluster Ion Technology

At the heart of Plasmacluster Ion technology is a tiny dynamo. Our Sharp air purifier review zeroes in on the enriched high concentration Plasmacluster Ion generator. At only 57mm by 28.5mm by 15.5mm, its size is dwarfed by its importance of producing the essential reactive agents without which the air purifier is completely useless.

Plasmacluster Ion Technology Overview

Plasma is generated when negative and positive voltages are directed at the discharge electrodes in the Plasmacluster Ion generator. Increasingly, plasma is accepted as the 4th state of matter, after the commonly known solid, liquid and gas. A partly ionized gas-like state, it contains free electrons that are not bound to a molecule or atom. Water molecules existing naturally in the plasma are broken down into negative oxygen ions and positive hydrogen ions. Plasmacluster Ions, stable and distinguishable, are created when water molecules in the room air surround the oxygen ions and hydrogen ions in clusters. Ultra reactive and extremely unstable hydroxyl radicals are created as soon as Plasmacluster Ions come into contact with any pathogens. These characteristics cause the hydroxyl radical to bond readily with hydrogen atoms on pathogen surface membranes. Incredibly, the product is a deactivated pathogen and a harmless by-product, water. Simply perfect! But is it fact or fiction?

Plasmacluster Ion – Science Fiction or Scientific Fact?

A serious Sharp air purifier review should not ignore the insecapable question – are Plasmacluster Ions science fiction or scientific fact? As with many other products emerging from the field of nanotechnology, Plasmacluster Ions are invisible to the naked eye. Making matters tricky for individuals who rely on air purifiers is the inability to test the validity of the claims. Obvious alternative authentication means would be to rely on tests results of Plasmacluster Ion experiments. Efficacy tests (in laboratory settings) and efficiency tests (in real-world scenarios) are the 2 experiments that are conducted.

Anticipating these valid consumer concerns is testimony of the long track record of successes by Sharp. It has developed to an art what they term as academic marketing. This is a collaborative effort between Sharp and academia with the objective of reputable institutions testing and producing scientific data to confirm the claims made with regard to Plasmacluster Ions. The data forms the basis of new products introduced to the market. Sharp has fine-tuned the definition of effectiveness into efficacy and efficiency. Between 2000 and July 2009, it focused on efficacy testing. Since then, there has been a shift towards efficiency testing in collaboration with business users of Plasmacluster Ion technology.

Plasmacluster Ion – Authentication at Cellular Level

Digging deeper for this Sharp air purifier review, it became clear to us that Sharp firmly believes that the science in efficacy and efficiency testing will give them the industry lead. Sharp announced on 17 November 2004 the scientific findings of Professor Gerhard Artmann of the Department of Cell Biophysics and Bioengineering, University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Armed with an electron microscope, leading cellular engineering authority Professor Artmann confirmed that Plasmacluster Ions led to the destruction of more than 60 protein types on the cell membranes of viruses and bacteria, thereby inactivating them.

A very significant result indicated that Plasmacluster Ions will not pierce the pathogens’ cell membranes to reach the core cell DNA. This is highlighted as a clear advantage over any air purification technology that relies on DNA destruction to inactivate pathogens. The danger to users of other air purification technologies being exposed to cancer from DNA damage was implied.

Plasmacluster Ion – Efficacy Testing

This current Sharp air purifier review highlights the efficacy tests that Sharp has conducted, together with several organizations, on various pathogens. The efficacy of Plasmacluster Ions has been established through tests held from September 2000 to July 2009 which showed that 28 types of virulent microorganisms were totally destroyed. Quite impressively, the list of 28 includes potentially deadly viruses like the SARS virus, the H5N1 bird flu virus, the H1N1 virus like the one that caused swine flu in 2009 and bacterium like the pernicious MRSA that infects hospitalized patients.

Other viruses which have been destroyed by Plasmacluster Ions include coxsackie virus (causes colds), feline coronavirus and polio virus. Also annihilated are candida, pseudomonas, serrata bacterium, sarcina, escherichia coli, bacillus subtilis, micrococcus, enterococcus, white staphylococcus and staphylococcus. Allergens, pollen, mites, have also been effectively eradicated together with fungi like aspergillus, alternaria, cladosporium, mucor, penicillium and stachybotrys.

The following organizations worked with Sharp:

- Ishikawa Health Service Association, Japan

- Kitasato Institute, Medical Center Hospital, Japan

- Kitasato Research Center of Environmental Sciences, Japan

- Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University, Japan

- Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China

- Seoul University, Korea

- Asthma Society of Canada

- Harvard School of Public Health, USA

- CT&T, Aachen University of Applied Science, Germany

- University of Lübeck, Germany

- Retroscreen Virology, Ltd., London, UK

Osaka City University Medical School conducted the last reported efficacy test that validated the inhibitory properties of Plasmacluster Ions on allergic reactions caused by mite allergens (mite feces and dead mites).

To wrap up our Sharp air purifier review concerning efficacy testing, we note the importance of the GLP (Good Laboratory Practices), an OECD standard that lends weight to test results, status of the testing organizations. GLP is an international standard that must be renewed every three years. Extremely critical yet this factor is totally ignored by detractors of academic marketing and air purification technologies. Another conveniently overlooked factor is the fact that the data from a GLP laboratory can be easily the subject of a scientific peer review. As we know, the scientific peer review is the missing final jigsaw piece in the puzzle of all air purification technologies, Plasmacluster Ion technology included!

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