At present, masks have become a necessity in people's life. There are many kinds of masks on the market. In addition to medical protective masks, there are also fashionable printed and dyed masks with patterns. So, how to choose masks during the epidemic?
On April 12, the website of the State Food and Drug Administration issued the "anti-bacterial and anti-virus" respirator consumption risk alert, pointing out that medical masks are mainly divided into three categories: disposable medical masks, medical surgical masks, and medical protective masks. Non medical masks that claim to be "anti-bacterial and anti-virus" currently appear on the market generally add various kinds of antibacterial agents by blending, spraying, etc. The main additives include nano titanium dioxide, nano silver, quaternary ammonium salt, copper ion/copper oxide, Chinese herbal extracts, etc. Under the premise that the clinical effectiveness of such masks has not been fully verified, adding antibacterial agents will introduce new risks, which need to be carefully selected.
Experts suggest that the key to judging whether a mask has epidemic prevention function is to look at the code!
The external packaging of formal masks should be marked with the executive standard code. The only codes that can truly meet the epidemic prevention requirements are the following: medical protective masks [GB19083 2010], medical surgical masks [YY0469 2011], disposable medical masks [YY/T 0969 2013], daily protective masks [GB/T 32610 2016], and child masks [GB/T 38880 2020].
At the same time, the state has also made clear provisions on the quality related to dyeing and printing of civilian masks, requiring that the color fastness of the inner and outer layers of masks should not be lower than Grade III to prevent the discomfort of the face skin caused by dye shedding. Dyeing and printing parts shall be free of decomposable carcinogenic aromatic amine dyes. Therefore, not every mask claiming to be a "medical mask" has epidemic prevention function.