Additional Info & Resources

First Leonardo Leaf would like you to note that brochure’s and competitor analysis sheets for SteraMist were convientely located on the SteraMist page of this website to make it easier for you to get the information you want before speaking with one of our professionals about your specific requirements and needs.  Please go to the SteraMist page and take the time to throughly look at everything that is there.

What is Aqueous Ozone and Why Does Nature’s Way Offer It?

Ozone (03) is a completely natural, colorless gas with a distinct, fresh odor, similar to a day at the beach.  When used properly it provides a wide range of benefits.  It is a natural molecule made up of 3 atoms of oxygen.  That “fresh, clean, spring rain” smell that we notice after a storm is nature’s gift to us.  This is because ozone occurs quite readily in nature, most often as a result of lightning strikes that occur during thunderstorms along with the ultraviolet rays of the sun that react and create the Earth’s upper atmosphere, the protective ozone layer for our planet.

Ozone is one of the most powerful sterilizing agents in the world!  So you might ask, why isn’t this concept being marketed to replace all of the harmful chemicals being used?  Well, one of the reasons is because ozone has a very short “active” life, or shelf life, as compared to the chemicals, plus the large companies have ignored its potency.  If they can’t bottle it, how are they going to sell it to you?  The truth is, you can’t bottle ozone or even ozonated water.  But, you can generate your own aqueous ozone at a fraction of the cost of all the chemicals you continue to buy.  You can search online and find a wide range of consumer products available for converting regular water into aqueous ozone and save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars over buying and using chemicals.

Ozone is five times more potent that molecular chlorine in destroying germs, bacteria, and viruses.  It doesn’t have a strong, over powering odor like chlorine, yet it is so powerful, it actually kills those chlorine odors.  Once generated, ozone is quite unstable, one of the three oxygen atoms eagerly splits off the molecule and attaches itself to any particle or pollutant with which it comes in contact.  The single oxygen atom oxidizes the particle.  The result is that the particle will no longer be toxic, will no longer be able to reproduce if it is biological, and becomes harmless.

When the single oxygen (O3) molecule oxidizes the particle, it too is destroyed.  This then leaves behind pure clean oxygen (02).  Over a period of 20-30 minutes, ozone breaks down into two atoms of regular oxygen-by giving up one.

The Native Americans, for whom fishing was a central industry recognized a correlation between a successful catch and a strange odor released by the action of lightning after an electric storm.

The ancient Greeks also noticed the odor and named it “ozein”, and like the Native Americans, preferred fishing after a storm.  This practice is still observed today by many fishermen.  The explanation for this natural phenomenon is that after an electric storm the upper layer of water in lakes and rivers is enriched with diluted oxygen and therefore naturally ozonated.  Once this layer of water is ozonated, harmful viruses responsible for many diseases in fish culture are destroyed, allowing for the healthier fish to be found in this upper layer of “healthier” ozone-rich water.  This positive influence of ozone on the digestive system of different species of fish has been scientifically documented.  Fish farms use ozone to keep the deadly toxins, viruses, and bacteria out of the water, thereby producing healthier fish.

The most common use of ozone is for the treatment of water.  In 1906, a group of scientists and doctors studied the ozonation system at the Oudshoorn plant in Holland and later constructed a 19,000 m3/day plant using ozonation for disinfection at Nice, France.  Nice is therefore referred to as the modern birthplace of the treatment of drinking water through ozonation.  Today, over 2,000 cities around the world-including Montreal, Paris, Los Angeles, and Moscow-purify their drinking water with ozone.

Safe and Effective Uses for Aqueous Ozone

Science has known that ozone kills and inhibits pathogens since the nineteenth century.  Only a few micrograms per liter of ozone provide sufficient germ-killing action.  It works even faster on viruses and bacteria, at lower dosages, and is not influenced by pH, temperature, and other nearby organic compounds.  Different viruses have different susceptibility to destruction by ozone. 

For Pet Problems

Use for pet mishaps and odors such as the litter box or to remove the spots and odor on urine damaged carpet.  Ask you Nature’s Way representative to show you the proper procedures for using aqueous ozone between professional cleanings.  For larger problems you may want to have us give you a complete assessment of the process and cost to eliminate and repair the damage.

For Surfaces

You can use your aqueous ozone to control bathroom and kitchen microbial fungi and odors, as well as disinfecting handles and various surfaces.  The kitchen and bathroom are typically the two most highly contaminated rooms in your house when it comes to infectious diseases.

Use the aqueous ozone with your mop to disinfect your floors.  Use a spray bottle to mist and wipe down furniture, counters, doors and windows to eliminate moldy bacteria, fungus infection, odors and the growth of bacteria.  It can be used in the home as well as at work to help prevent spreading of infection and disease, especially in doctors offices, hospitals, nursing homes, child care centers, schools, or anyplace where large numbers of people gather.

For Bedding

Sanitize your bedding by using a spray bottle to “lightly” spray your bedding in the morning.  Don’t soak!  Just mist as you would with a spray deodorizer, or you may be calling us to handle the water damage you now have in your bedroom.

For Food

Cleaning food with aqueous ozone can sterilize the outer surface of fruits and vegetables to remove farm chemicals, chemical fertilizer, kill exterior bacteria, and prolong storage periods 3-10 times longer.   Using aqueous ozone to soak and cook rice can remove the moldy smell and make the rice much tastier.

Use aqueous ozone to help eliminate dangerous bacteria in meats, poultry, and fish.  Dangerous E.Coli and Salmoneila bacteria thrive in poorly refrigerated, frozen, and stored meat and poultry-sometimes leading to food poisoning, or worse!  Soaking the meats in aqueous ozone for 5-10 minutes will decompose leftover hormones and antibiotics and get rid of bacteria and pathogenic worms.  This simple procedure can restrict the reproduction of bacteria and maintain the original natural taste of your meats and poultry.

For Your Dishes and Cookware

Cleaning dinnerware and utensils with aqueous ozone can efficiently kill surface bacteria and viruses and prevent the spread of diseases.  The kill rate for coliform bacteria such as E. Coli, golden staphylococcus, and antigens on the surface of hepatitis B virus can reach 100%!

You can also sterilize kitchen sponges, which otherwise you should technically throw out after each use to the sponge’s ability to harbor problematic bacteria.  Simply soak your sponge in aqueous ozone for 10 minutes once daily to control bacteria, mold mildew, and fungus.

For Personal Hygiene

Your toothbrush harbors millions of bacteria and over time many people end up re-infecting themselves day in and day out.  Studies have shown that toothbrushes used by individuals with infectious diseases can easily pass on dangerous pathogens to family members by simply placing their freshly infected toothbrush adjacent to the toothbrush of a healthy family member and within minutes pathogens infect a formerly clean toothbrush.

Moreover, specialists in the field of infectious diseases tell us that the absolute worst place to store your toothbrush is in the bathroom.  The air in your bathroom contains a swirling mass of pathogens including coliform and fecal bacteria that can land on your toothbrush while not in use.  If you brush before bedtime, you’ve given yourself a low-grade infection every night.

The simplest method to overcome this infectious cycle is to create some aqueous ozone and simply drop your toothbrush into a glass of this disinfecting solution.  Not only will this daily habit improve your health, it will also give your toothbrush added life by keeping it pristine.  Also soaking dentures, night guards, orthodontic appliances and the like in aqueous ozone for at least ten minutes will kill any offending germs.

Another use is using aqueous ozone is in a footbath or full baths. By allowing odorous feet, toes infected with toenail fungus, or athlete’s foot to contact aqueous ozone for at least 10 minutes, the problems will begin to disappear along with the odor.

In Europe and Asia, a home therapy has been developed, known as a “hot aqueous ozone bath”.  Hot water is ozonated and put into a bath.  Then you bathe and relax for 20-30 minutes.  Studies have shown this kind of bath can increase blood oxygen levels and activate metabolism.  It can also address the healing of various skin diseases, and those health problems related to diabetes.  For the high percentage of the public that cannot use deodorants, or finds them ineffective, this type of “hot aqueous ozone bath” will provide relief and freshness.

If not in a bath, the aqueous ozone can be used to wash your hands and face, in order to moisten skin, and/or to prevent and cure skin diseases.  It’s been shown to have very positive effects on skin diseases caused by inflammation-the most common cause of red, dry scaly skin.

For Laundry

You can add aqueous ozone to deodorize dirty laundry by simply adding a cup of aqueous ozone to your washing machine.  A Chinese study showed that by adding aqueous ozone to your washing machine, it can enhance the cleansing power, thereby reducing detergent use by up to 60%.  It also fights many of the harmful chemicals, which remain in commercial soaps after the product manufacturing process.  This results in clothing much less irritating to the skin.  It also can prevent any cross infection, especially in homes with small children or baby’s clothes.  Some forward-thinking appliance manufacturers are now researching and developing aqueous ozone washing machines, which can directly release a great deal of ozone bubbles into the machine as it runs.  They know that aqueous ozone will obviously get rid of dirt, but it also eliminates peculiar smells that commercial detergents fail to destroy.  And, because aqueous ozone kills the destructive bacteria embedded in your dirty clothes, your clothes can last longer and you will wear them more comfortably.

Interesting Information on the Medical Applications of Aqueous Ozone

Ozone technology was not used medically until 1915, when it was found to be an effective disinfectant of wounds and skin diseases in Germany during the first World War.

As microscopy improved, it was later discovered that ozone has the ability to “blast’, holes through the membranes of viruses, yeasts/ bacteria and abnormal tissue cells, thereby killing them.  Ozone was the focus of considerable research in Germany during the early part of the 20th Century where it was successfully used to treat patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disorders, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and chronic bacterial diarrhea.

Ozone is not just a very powerful oxidizing agent but also a very powerful non-chemical disinfectant.  It has the unique feature of decomposing into a harmless, nontoxic, environmentally safe material commonly known as oxygen

In Europe, ozone is used for many purposes such as taste and odor removal, elimination of abnormal colors in drinking water, and bacterial disinfections and viral inactivation.  Most of these applications are based on ozone’s high oxidizing power.  In water treatment practices, ozonation is recognized as a preferred method of virus inactivation rather than just an alternative to the use of chlorine for disinfection.

Over 90% of all diseases, including the common cold and the flu, are caused by water or airborne bacteria and viruses.  Like chlorine, ozone kills microorganisms.  The sterilization action of ozone is by “direct kill attack” and oxidation of the biological material.  However, the rate of bacteria killed by ozone is 3500 faster than using chlorine, virus destruction with ozone is instantaneous, safe and foolproof as nature’s own purifier.  It has properly been described as the “add-nothing” sterilizing agent.

There have been many long-term scientific studies on the use of aqueous ozone.  Here are just a few that are interesting to note.  At Nature’s Way we feel the more you know about the alternatives for a clean, safe, and comfortable environment to live and work in, the better it is for all of us.  So with that we are attempting to peak your curiosity as ours has been.  There is no “greener” cleaning company than Nature’s Way Cleaning & Restoration.

Ozonetherapy in Out-Patient Dermatological Practice-A review of a long term Scientific Study on 350 Patients.  Sergei L. Krivatkin, Alexander L. Gromov, Elena V. Krivatkina, Sormovo Interdistrict Dermltovenereological Dispensary iNizkny Novgorod, Russia, 1995.

Ozonetherapy has been used successfully in out-patient dermatological practices for many years. Therapeutic results of ozonetherapy in acne, alopecia, drug eruptions, eczema, herpes, neurodermitis, psoriasis, psoriatic athritis, scleroderma, tinea pedis, venous leg ulcers, and other related conditions were demonstrated. It is estimated that based on the results of this study, ozonetherapy is an effective, safe, inexpensive, and easy to use therapy for a wide variety of dermatological conditions.

Dermatology differs from other clinical disciplines by its various capabilities of observing diseases (about 2OOO dermatoses). Including in this large number of conditions is a considerable percentage of chronic diseases which happen to have an unfortunately low rate of effective therapeutical approaches. Naturally, the search of new promising curative directions is of great importance. Taking into consideration the broad spectrum of ozone interactions in the human body (bactericidal, fungicidal, analgesic, anti-inflammatory immunocorrective, microcirculation stimulating, Detoxicating, wound healing, etc.) and the positive experience of ozonetherapy (OT) application in very different fields of medicine, we decided to use it in our out-patient dermatological practice, having some theoretical basis and proposing to receive the positive therapeutical results in concrete dermatoses.

A total of 350 patients suffering from acne and rosacea (n=60) alopecia (17), drug eruptions (3), eczema (52), herpes (70), lichen planus (14), neurodermitis (22), prurigo (2), psoriasis (27), and psoriatic arthritis (8), pyoderma (47), scleroderma (4), tinea pedis (15) and venous leg ulcers (10) were included in this study. A variety of ozone therapies were used, including ozonized olive oil and water. As usual OT was carried out as the only therapeutical method or in combination with very simple external routine medicines. The only exceptions were in cases of neurodermitis, prurigo and psoriatic afthritis where considerations of special internal treatments were added. As a source of O2/O3 mixture of home ozonizer was used (concentration of 03 was between 7-20 mcg/ml). Laboratory control was realized by means of available bacteriological, biochemical, clinical, immunological, and x-ray examinations.

A Nine Year Dermatological Study on The Benefits of Ozonated Oils In Medicine. L. Falcon, D. Simon, S. Menendez(1), S. Moya, E. Garbayo, W. Diaz(l), Dr. Carlos J. Finlay Military Hospital, Cuba. 1-Ozone Research Center, Cuba. Source: 2nd International Symposium on Ozone Applications-Havana, Cuba-March 24-26, 1997.

Summary: The ozonized oils of vegetable sources constitute an appropriate method for the local therapy of several diseases. The interaction of ozone with these oils produce a mixture of chemical compounds (ozonides and peroxides) with a great germicide power. The results of topical applications of ozonized oil in dermatological diseases of viral, fungal, and bacterial origin, during 9 years of study, were presented. Among the diseases of bacterial origin (for example, pyoderma), 600 patients were treated, obtaining a healing criterion of 87%. In cases of mycotic diseases (for example, epidermophystosis, onychomycosis, etc), 1000 patients received the treatment, with a healing rate the relapses disappeared. The researchers reported no side effects during this study.

Influence of Ozone Treatment in Sports Medicine, J. Jakl MD, Sports Medicine, A-115O, Wien, Austria-Akkonpl.10/15-1995.

Summary: According to the well known effects of ozone treatment and its influence on fatty acids in the erytocytic membrane as well as in 2,3 DPG, we took interest in possible side effects in endurance tests. 30 sports students had to undertake bicycle ergometrics as vita maxima tests.

Aerobic and anaeorobic threshold, heartrate 02 utilization and lactatkinetic were compared before and after different ozone treatments such as intramuscular application, IV 03 blood treatment and rectal insufflation. Especially in the IV blood treatment and in the rectal insufflation group aerobic performance was improved, when no influence on anaerobic workout in lactate concentration over 4 mmol/1 showed up. Those effects and the relative economization in aerobic training seems to base on ozone effects in intracellular metabolism as well as a better utilization of free fatty acids.

Especially endurance sports and athletes who need a high level of 02 turn over could probably take some profit of ozone treatment without side effects that could occur with other therapies. In general it showed up, that the positive influence in very well trained person was less then in those who had lower endurance levels. That probably depends on the just optimized intracellular metabolism which develops after several years of training.

Oxygen-Ozone Therapy and Physical Activity in Humans, Riva Sanseverino E., Castellacci P., Institute of Human Physiology, University of Bologna-Bologna, Italy.-1995

Abstract: On the basis of the circulatory and biochemical positive effects of the oxygen-ozone therapy, a study was programmed in order to check if physical activity in humans is improved by treatment with medical ozone administered by means of the major autohemaoin-fusion (AHT). Preliminary observations indicate that physical activity, performed 12-24 hours after one or several administrations of medical ozone, is improved by 8-12%. Long term performances for a better effectiveness are in progress.

Important Dates in the History of Ozone Therapy in Medical Applications

  • The first ozone generators were developed by Werner von Siemens in Germany in 1857, while 1870 saw the first repot that ozone was being used therapeutically to purify bloods by C. Lender in Germany.
  • In October of 1893, the world’s first water treatment plant using ozone was installed in Ousbaden, Holland, and today there are over 3,000 municipalities around the world using ozone to clean their water and sewage.
  • In 1902, J.H. Clarke’s ‘A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica”, London describes the successful use of Ozonated water in treating anemia, diabetes, influenza, morphine poisoning, canker sores, strychnine poisoning, and whooping cough.
  • During World War I, ozone was used to treat wounds, trench foot, gangrene and the effects of poison gas. In 1915, Dr. Albert Wolff used ozone for decubitis ulcers.
  • In 1926, Dr. Otto Warburg of the Kaiser Institute in Berlin announced that the cause of cancer is lack of oxygen at the cellular level. He received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1931 and again in 1944, the only person to ever receive two Nobel Prizes for Medicine. He was also nominated for a third.
  • In 1929, a book called “Ozone and Its Therapeutic Action” was published in the U.S. Iisting 114 diseases and how to treat them with ozone. Its authors were the heads of all the leading american hospitals.
  • The Swiss dentist E.A. Fisch was using ozone in dentistry before 1932, and introduced it to the German surgeon Erwin Payr who used from that time forward.
  • In 1933, the American Medical Association, headed up by Dr. Simmons set out to destroy all medical treatments that were competitive to drug therapy. The suppression of ozone therapy began then, and it continues in the US to this day.
  • In 1953, German doctor Hans Wolff started using ozone in his practice and wrote the book “Medical Ozone,” while training many doctors in ozone therapy.
  • In 1957, Dr. J. Hansler patented an ozone generator, which has formed the basis of the German revival of ozone therapy over the last 35 years.
  • In 1987, Dr. Rilling and Dr. Viebahn published “The Use of Ozone in Medicine”, the standard text on the subject.
  • In 1990, Cuban physicians reported on their success in using Ozone for the treatment of glaucoma, conjunctivitis, and retinitis pigmentosa.
  • In 1992, Russian Medical Doctors revealed their techniques bubbling ozone into brine to treat burn victims with astounding results.
  • Today, after 125 years of usage, ozone therapy is recognized modality in sixteen nations.

If you are reading this it probably means you took the time to read this entire page and passionate about the health and well-being of yourself and the people you care about.  We commend you and hope that you take the next step to take action and begin taking the steps to acquire the appliances to make aqueous ozone and use it in place of any and all of the chemicals you are now using.  One caveat we noticed in professional cleaning is that aqueous ozone is not completely effective at breaking down grease and oil.  We recommend using a “pre-treatment” (e.g., botanical citrus based high alkaline liquid or gel) to break down the grease and oil.  Then rinse away the soils and pre-treatment using aqueous ozone for the best results and a truly “green” clean.