Journal of the American Medical Association, April 17, 2020, “Masks and Coronavirus Disease”: “Unless you are sick, a health care worker, or caring for someone who has COVID-19, medical masks (including surgical face masks and N95s) are not recommended.”

At Children’s Health Defense, JB Handley has written an excellent article, “LOCKDOWN LUNACY: The Thinking Person’s Guide.”  Here are two highlights from his section on masks:

“May 29, the World Health Organization announced that masks should only be worn by healthy people if they are taking care of someone infected with COVID-19:”

“‘If you do not have any respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough or runny nose, you do not need to wear a mask,’ Dr. April Baller, a public health specialist for the WHO, says in a video on the world health body’s website posted in March. ‘Masks should only be used by healthcare workers, caretakers or by people who are sick with symptoms of fever and cough’.”

“…I often see this study from 2015 in the BMJ cited: ‘A cluster randomised trial of cloth masks compared with medical masks in healthcare workers’, and it bears repeating, since MOST of the masks I see people wearing in the community right now are cloth masks. Not only are these masks 100% ineffective at reducing the spread of COVID-19, but they can actually harm you. As the researchers explain:”

“‘This study is the first RCT of cloth masks, and the results caution against the use of cloth masks. This is an important finding to inform occupational health and safety. Moisture retention, reuse of cloth masks and poor filtration may result in increased risk of infection…'”

Of course, I understand that when people are conspiracy whackos wearing their masks, they don’t respond well to facts, even when those facts come from the very organizations they believe in with religious fervor.

Here is something else from the Washington State Nurses Association: “Reprocessing masks using toxic chemicals is not a solution”:

“Nurses are reporting that respirators and face masks at WSNA represented Providence facilities are being collected for reprocessing using ethylene oxide to decontaminate. The EPA has concluded that ethylene oxide is carcinogenic to humans and that exposure to ethylene oxide increases the risk of lymphoid cancer and, for females, breast cancer.”

“WSNA sent a cease and desist demand to Providence facilities where our members work, demanding an immediate halt to the reusing of any face masks, including N 95 and other respirators, that have been decontaminated by the ethylene oxide cleaning process. In addition, WSNA is preparing complaints to be filed with the Washington State Department of Occupational Safety and Health, highlighting this workplace hazard.”

“WSNA believes that the reuse of face masks or respirators cleaned with ethylene oxide violates the employer’s legal duty to ensure that nurses and other health care workers are afforded a safe and healthful working environment. While hospitals have long used ethylene oxide to clean certain surgical equipment, it should not be used to decontaminate face masks or respirators, through which nurses and other health care workers must breathe for many hours at a time.”

“…The CDC warns that ethylene oxide is carcinogenic and teratogenic, and that ‘inhalation of ethylene oxide has been linked to neurologic dysfunction and may cause other harmful effects to the wearer’.”

“Prolonged exposure to ethylene oxide can hurt eyes and LUNGS, harm the brain and nervous system, and potentially cause lymphomas, leukemia, and breast cancer. This extremely hazardous toxic chemical poses a severe risk to human health.” [CAPS are mine.]

Is the use of toxic ethylene oxide to treat masks widespread?  According to the Chicago Tribune, way back in March, Medline Industries was reprocessing 100,000 medical masks a day.  They applied to the FDA for permission to use ethylene oxide.  But wasn’t the horse already out of the barn?  Weren’t they already using the chemical?  I’ve queried Medline to find out whether the FDA has approved their application.

And finally, I have a lone report about a person from the region of Piedmont, Italy, who checked out his medical mask, which he’d received in the mail from the Department of Civil Protection.  He discovered it contained zinc pyrithione.

If true, this is ominous.  Consulting a simple safety data sheet on the chemical, from Cayman Chemical, I found a succinct statement: “Toxic if inhaled.”

But of course, medical masks must be worn.  The lockdown authorities tell us so.  They know.  They must know because, well, they’re on television.

Keep breathing through that mask.  It’s “safe and effective.”

SOURCES:

* chicagotribune[dot]com/news/environment/ct-trump-medline-masks-ethlyene-oxide-cancer-20200429-vyutifcyhvekljpn4rqxkpcl3i-story.html

* jamanetwork[dot]com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2764955

* childrenshealthdefense[dot]org/news/lockdown-lunacy-the-thinking-persons-guide/

* wsna[dot]org/union/kadlec-medical-center/update/reprocessing-mask-using-toxic-chemicals-is-not-a-solution

* caymanchem[dot]com/msdss/29154m.pdf