"Surgical masks are crummy and everyone knows it,"

[guinness]

I found this very disturbing. I just bought some surgical masks. Are they or are they not going to help?

MARY LAMEY, The Gazette

The federal department is stockpiling up to 4.5 million surgical masks as part of its influenza pandemic preparedness plan and has set another 95,000 N-95 masks aside in strategic locations across the country in the event of an avian flu crisis.

Some healthcare workers are rebelling against the plan, including the Ontario Nurses Association, which is demanding that the government is cheaping out, and putting lives at risk.

Others are also speaking up, including microbiologists who challenged a Health Canada representative at last week's meeting of the Canadian Association for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

"Surgical masks are crap and everyone knows it," said Claude Neunlist, Triosyn's director of international sales.That view was echoed by Dr. Raymond Tellier, a microbiologist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, who is critical of Health Canada's mask policy.

"Sending health-care workers to work with surgical masks is akin to sending soldiers into Iraq with BB guns. It isn't good enough," Tellier said.

The flu is spread by droplets from coughs and sneezes, surface contact and from aerosolized vapour, which is breathed deep into the lungs "where the flu likes to live best," he said.

In clinical trials, Triosyn's face mask has proven to be more effective against airborne diseases than the masks currently recommended by the World Health Organization against SARS and avian flu, among other illnesses. Called N-95 masks, they are considered sufficient to block 95 per cent of particles 0.3 microns in size or larger.

A fitted mask with a polymer lining treated with an iodine-based compound, is one hundred to one thousand times more effective in trapping and killing harmful micro-organisms and is effective longer than the competition, according to tests conducted by France's Pasteur Institute, the U.S. Air Force Research Labs and Health Canada, among others.


A spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada, spearheading the federal government's avian flu response, refuted that, as it did last week at the microbiologists' conference.

"The flu is not an airborne disease. It does not float around in the air. It is spread by droplets," said Shirley Paton, a nurse and infectious diseases specialist with the agency.

For more info go to www.viraldefender.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2006

[Mingus]

Re: "Surgical masks are crap and everyone knows it,"

Can you post the link where you find it, please ?

[Mellie]

Re: "Surgical masks are crap and everyone knows it,"

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/business/story.html?id=4795ed4a-4164-49cb-80b9-2637bd9c93a6&k=15064

Triosyn boosts production of anti-microbial face masks
Aces tests. Interest in product growing, especially in the U.S.

MARY LAMEY, The Gazette
Published: Thursday, March 23, 2006

Mirabel-based Triosyn Corp. is ramping up production of its patented T-3000 and T-5000 anti-microbial face masks amid rising global concerns about tuberculosis, SARs, avian flu and the threat of bioterror.

In clinical trials,Triosyn's face mask has proven to be more effective against airborne diseases than the masks currently recommended by the World Health Organization against SARS and avian flu, among other illnesses. Called N-95 masks, they are considered sufficient to block 95 per cent of particles 0.3 microns in size or larger.

Triosyn's product, a fitted mask with a polymer lining treated with an iodine-based compound, is one hundred to one thousand times more effective in trapping and killing harmful micro-organisms and is effective longer than the competition, according to tests conducted by France's Pasteur Institute, the U.S. Air Force Research Labs and Health Canada, among others.

That efficiency has caught the attention of authorities in the U.S., where Triosyn operates a manufacturing plant in Williston, Vt.

It also has factories in India and Thailand.

The Vermont plant is currently running two production lines, but the company has been asked to add five more lines to respond to growing American demand for equipment to be stockpiled in the event of an avian flu pandemic.

To date, 200 people around the world are known to have contracted a strain of bird flu, and half of them have died.

(Yesterday, a report in the journal Nature downplayed threat of the disease being spread by coughing or sneezing, which could lessen the likelihood of a pandemic.)

Triosyn is excited by the growing interest in its product, which is currently being stocked by the Canadian Department of National Defence, various detachments of the RCMP, the House of Commons, various police departments, including Montreal's, and the U.S. Defence Department. The company is suddenly the focus of attention of venture-capital firms eager to fund its expansion.

Triosyn was founded in 1992 by Pierre Messier, an entrepreneur who previously worked as a consultant to municipalities on water-purification issues. He remains the company's largest shareholder with a 20-per-cent stake.

Other backers include VantagePoint Venture Partners, a U.S. venture-capital firm, and Collers, a British fund. While the company does R&D in Mirabel, manufacturing is done in Vermont, which allows the company to tap into lucrative defence contracts. That Triosyn has an ally in Vermont - Senator Patrick Leahy, a member of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee - doling out money hasn't hurt.

Triosyn's order book stops short of Health Canada, however. The federal department is instead stockpiling up to 4.5 million surgical masks as part of its influenza pandemic preparedness plan and has set another 95,000 N-95 masks aside in strategic locations across the country in the event of an avian flu crisis.

Some healthcare workers are rebelling against the plan, including the Ontario Nurses Association, which is demanding that the government is cheaping out, and putting lives at risk, by providing surgical masks instead of N95s. Surgical masks cost pennies apiece, and N95s cost about a dollar each. Triosyn masks cost between $5 and $6 each.

Others are also speaking up, including microbiologists who challenged a Health Canada representative at last week's meeting of the Canadian Association for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

Triosyn has leapt into the fray, hoping to persuade Health Canada to adopt its product instead.

"Surgical masks are crap and everyone knows it," said Claude Neunlist, Triosyn's director of international sales.

That view was echoed by Dr. Raymond Tellier, a microbiologist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, who is critical of Health Canada's mask policy.

"Sending health-care workers to work with surgical masks is akin to sending soldiers into Iraq with BB guns. It isn't good enough," Tellier said.

The flu is spread by droplets from coughs and sneezes, surface contact and from aerosolized vapour, which is breathed deep into the lungs "where the flu likes to live best," he said.

A spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada, spearheading the federal government's avian flu response, refuted that, as it did last week at the microbiologists' conference.

"The flu is not an airborne disease. It does not float around in the air. It is spread by droplets," said Shirley Paton, a nurse and infectious diseases specialist with the agency.

She said the avian flu strategy in place is the correct response for the time being, but that health-care decision makers will meet in June again to review the situation. That leaves the door open a crack for a possible policy change. Triosyn is waiting in the wings.