ABC News

Consumer Reports Criticizes Air Purifier

Consumer Reports Renews Criticism of Popular Air Purifier
Made by Sharper Image
By PAUL ELIAS Associated Press Writer

The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO Apr 4, 2005 — Consumer Reports magazine is

taking renewed aim at a popular air purifier made by The Sharper Image
two months after it fended off a libel lawsuit filed by the machine's re-
tailer.

The magazine reports in its latest issue hitting newsstands Tuesday that
Sharper Image's Ionic Breeze Quadra Silent Air Purifier and four other
similar machines fail to significantly clean the air but also release poten-
tially unhealthy levels of ozone.

The article is being published two months after San Francisco-based

Sharper Image agreed to pay the magazine's publisher, Consumers Un-
ion, $525,000 in legal costs after a judge dismissed its libel suit. The
failed lawsuit alleged that earlier magazine articles highly critical of the
Ionic Breeze's ability to reduce airborne particles were false and mali-
cious.

Company lawyer E. Robert Wallach said Sharper Image was evaluating

how to respond to the article, which advised against buying the ma-
chines. More than 2 million of the $350 units have been sold.

"It is astonishing that Consumers Union would continue its misguided

efforts to attack the judgment and experience of millions of Americans
who are satisfied with the performance of the Ionic Breeze products,"
Wallach said in a statement.
In a statement of its own, Consumer Reports said the magazine's latest
article is accurate and that the nonprofit organization had called on fed-
eral regulators to look at the advertising claims being made by sellers of
the five air purifiers it examined.

"All of these 'not recommended' products did a poor job in our tests of
removing dust, smoke and pollen from the air," the statement said. "In
addition, all five of these products failed in Consumer Reports' labs the
standard industry test for ozone generation."

Consumers Union is based in Yonkers, N.Y.

Shares of Sharper Image Corp. fell 4 percent, or 67 cents, to close at

$15.68 Monday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, near their 52-week low of
$14.08.

Note: Shaklee AirSource was NOT one of the systems Consumers Union
recommended against.