The ancient Hebrew meaning is the breath of god. Webster defines it as:    A form of oxygen with a sharp, clean smell, produced by an electrical discharge in the atmosphere.  Pure air.

It is created naturally during thunder and lightning storms with concentration levels triple the allowable limit, as set by the EPA. It is created electronically or through ultraviolet light by converting molecules of oxygen into three molecules. Its also referred to as activated oxygen, allotropic oxygen or triatomic oxygen.

Being an unstable gas, its life span is about 20 minutes, depending on the temperature. After completing its job, it reverts back to oxygen.

Ozone occurs naturally in the environment. In nature oxygen is released from plants and sea plankton during photosynthesis. Oxygen floats upward into the atmosphere and in turn is converted into activated oxygen by ultraviolet radiation. When you look up at the sky, the ozone layer is what makes it blue. It blocks out the harmful UV rays that cause skin cancer.

The production of allotropic oxygen is dependent on the amount of the suns energy. This explains the hole in the ozone layer over the poles in the winter months when there is a lack of sunshine.

Ozone has a distinctive smell that has been used to purify water since 1893. It can also be used in air conditioning for disinfecting and to deodorize along with many medical applications. The first time ozone was used in food preservation was in the early 1900's in a Cologne meat packing house.

Activated oxygen is most essential in meeting the high demand for safe food, and with the extension of shelf-life will provide less waste of food products. Its use leaves no toxic by-products or residues and is non-carcinogenic. It is anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, anti-tumor, antiviral and better for health.

The Natural Resources Defense council says that more than 53, 600 treatment systems violated EPA rules in 1991 and 1992. Together they broke the rules for contamination 25,000 times and for reporting and monitoring 217,500 times. EPA issued fewer than 4,000 fines. This kind of neglect can be deadly to everyone.

In April of 1993, cryptosporidium caused approximately 400,000 cases of illness in Milwaukee and killed 100 people. In May of 1994, 100 people were sickened and 19 died from the same parasite. A survey of treatment utilities found cryptosporidium in more than 80 percent of the rivers and lakes that supply 66 major systems. Research data proves it kills this same parasite.

These types of neglect and occurrences of contaminated foods and rivers are getting worse every day. According to the WHO statistics, more than 1.5 billion people are without safe drinking water. Consequently, more than 35,000 people a day die of water borne disease. Between 1978 and 1984 there was 72,000 reported cases of disease associated with drinking water in the United States. According to EPA, Ozone is effective 99.999 percent in purifying water.

Using it to purify and clarify water is not new. It has been in practical use since 1893. The first application in a treatment plant was in Nice, France, in 1906. Currently, it is being used in more than 2,000 treatment plants worldwide. More than 300 municipal treatment plants are using it in the U.S. Ozone use in water applications for treatment is now easier, more efficient and much less costly.

It was approved by FDA in 1982 for purifying bottled water applications and is approved as the only agent to purify in California. In 1991, USDA approved it for the recycling of poultry rinsing.

Because of possible regulatory action on chlorine, the produce industry is showing much interest in it as a natural alternative to chlorine for water applications in the processing of fresh produce.

Activated oxygen, being heavier than oxygen, is carried in down drafts into the lower atmosphere. As it falls it oxidizes any pollutant or contaminate with which it comes into contact, turning it into a safer compound.

Chlorine is the main compound that reduces the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere. When it comes into contact with water vapor during storms it forms hydrogen peroxide. This is why plants flourish better with rainwater than with irrigation water. This is natures way of cleaning the environment.

Natural concentrations can vary between .01 ppm to .05 ppm, depending on geographic location, altitude and season. The cycle of activated oxygen is just like the cycle of water in nature. It is created by waterfalls and oceans surf. This accounts for the calm and the relaxed feeling enjoyed while at the beach or in the mountains.

Triatomic oxygen is second only to fluoride as the most powerful oxidizer or oxidant in the world for disinfecting. It's the most powerful, natural sanitizer readily available. It will break down most chemicals into that chemical's basic naturally-occurring component parts. After time they are eventually broken down into h2o, carbon dioxide, sulfur, nitrogen and oxygen.