A new peer-reviewed study in the scientific journal Water Research has called for a full investigation into face masks as it raises serious questions about their safety for daily use and their impact on the environment.
The study, “An investigation into the leaching of micro and nano particles and chemical pollutants from disposable face masks – linked to the COVID-19 pandemic“, investigated the impact of disposable plastic facemasks (DPFs) on the environment by submerging masks from seven different manufacturers in water then testing the water for chemicals. The researchers found lead, cadmium, antimony and various plastic and organic substances in the water. They expressed concerns about the contribution disposable face masks are making to the world’s plastic problem.
While the focus of the study was on the impact on the environment, the authors were clear about the implications of their findings for the safety of masks for public health. They write: “The toxicity of some of the chemicals found and the postulated risks of the rest of the present particles and molecules, raises the question of whether DPFs are safe to be used on a daily basis and what consequences are to be expected after their disposal into the environment.”
The problems arise from both the toxicity of the chemicals present and how easily they detach from the mask. The authors call for a full investigation into the risks to the environment and public health.
There is a concerning amount of evidence that suggests that DPFs waste can potentially have a substantial environmental impact by releasing pollutants simply by exposing them to water. DPFs release small physical pollutants such as micro and nano size particles; mainly consistent with plastic fibres and silicate grains, which are well documented to have adverse effects on the environment and public health. In addition to the physical particles, harmful chemicals such as heavy metals (lead, cadmium and antimony), and organic pollutants are also readily released from the DPFs when submerged in water. Many of these toxic pollutants have bio-accumulative properties when released into the environment and this research shows that DPFs could be one of the main sources of these environmental contaminants during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It is, therefore, imperative that stricter regulations need to be enforced during manufacturing and disposal/recycling of DPFs to minimise the environmental impact of DPFs.
Secondary to environmental concerns, there is a need to understand the impact of such particle leaching on public health, as all DPFs released micro/nano particles and heavy metals to the water during our investigation. One of the main concerns with these particles is that they were easily detached from face masks and leached into the water with no agitation, which suggests that these particles are mechanically unstable and readily available to be detached. Therefore, a full investigation is necessary to determine the quantities and potential impacts of these particles leaching into the environment, and the levels being inhaled by users during normal breathing. This is a significant concern, especially for health care professionals, key workers, and children who are mandated to wear masks for large proportions of the working or school day (6–12 hours).
The full article is behind a paywall but the abstract is publicly available and can be found here.
Looks like the makings of another public health calamity with the potential for some very expensive litigation. If I was in Government, given how weak the evidence is for their effectiveness, I’d be looking at phasing face masks out round about now.
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Does not matter how much evidence is presented. The myth will remain.
Indeed. The evidence was non-existent and even our now bought and paid-for medics were saying they were pointless before they were introduced, why would more evidence of the same reverse that?
This one has to be seen to be believed.
On its Facebook page, The Alabama Department of Public Health just used Darth Vader to promote mask-wearing.
The picture is Darth’s mug shot followed by this text:
“Darth Vader wears a mask to help himself. Thank you for continuing to wear a mask to help those around you.
May the 4th Be With You!”
The Comments actually give me a little hope for my state.
https://www.facebook.com/alabamapublichealth
Scroll down about 12 posts to find Mr. Vader.
Well Darth Vader kills children so it’s kind of apt.
It was obvious to all if us last year that discarded face knickers by the billion were a threat to the environment. God Almighty, the more I frequent this site, the more I think it’s inhabited by more brains than all the world’s governments and their moron ‘advisors’ put together.
Now: if poison particles detach readily when in water, what happens to them when they’re on a nappy that’s damp with ‘droplets’ and clamped on a victim’s face? A child’s face? For eight hours a day? Eh?
Next episode: environmental harms from billions of gallons of hand gunk in the water supply, in watercourses, and in the sea. What a surprise. Except to us.
God Almighty, give me strength.
Saw idiots walking in today’s rain in (presumably) soaking wet muzzles. They seem to love ’em, don’t they? Nothing nicer than a cold wet thing thick with bacteria stretched between yer ears, eh?
A watched idiot never boils.
They either think they’re all being virtuous or they’re truly terrified still. Either way they’re lost now.
God Almighty, give me a leader with wisdom and common sense and with a wife/husband who doesn’t seek to influence government policy in the background.
Roughly back to Mrs Thatcher for those criteria then.
Can we get Trish Greenhalgh’s take on this?
Also, double masks on vaccinated Biden? Lala land
It’s OK. The WEF have already thought of this: https://www.weforum.org/videos/21559-mask-tech-uplink
“How else can we make money out of this? How can we get maximum mask buy-in? Make it an investment?”
There is a video going round on Telegram how Asian children sit on the floor and package the swabs for PCR/LFT tests. Sterile?
OMG!
Anyone with a handful of functioning braincells came to that conclusion in April last year already.
Correct!
Why is the risk to human health considered only secondary to the environmental impact? In yesterday’s BBC coverage of this study, the project leader is quoted as saying that the benefits of wearing masks are huge so we need to keep wearing them. This guy is either thick or a psychopath. Or both.
The environmental impact will damage everybody’s health, including us non-maskeloids’. But yes, you’d think the first reaction would be ‘Take the soddin’ things off.’
It its all about the money – getting paid to spout nonsense
I see discarded face masks littered all over the place where I live. In fact I got one stuck to my shoe the other day and had to peel it off and put it in the bin then go and wash my hands. I haven’t worn a mask since day one – always felt there was something not quite healthy about covering my mouth and nose all day long with a mask that contains god knows what kind of chemicals and microscopic fibres you could be breathing straight into your lungs all day long. I know of one worker in a well-known high street shop who wears one of those blue masks for almost ten hours a day five days a week (two hours commute and a eight hours in the shop on the tills serving customers) – the only time she takes it off is to eat or drink during breaks otherwise its strapped to her face all day long. I have little sympathy for her though – its her choice she doesn’t have to wear one – if after over a year of this nonsense she is still wearing a mask to protect herself and even after having… Read more »
All be gone by tomorrow morning.
Like fuck it will – they really are the abiding symbol of this whole shitfest.
I agree that people who choose to wear masks deserve what’s coming to them. No one has to wear a mask anywhere, according to government rules I don’t have any medical condition that prevents me from wearing one, I just choose to claim that I’m exempt, as could anyone. My sympathy is with kids who are forced to wear them in school, or even worse, very young kids (under 7 judging from appearances) forced by their parents to wear them. If they leach lead that can be inhaled then it’s kids who are most at risk as their brains and nervous systems are still developing.
What’s the deal with couples, one fully napped up and the other not? Ok, I can (not) understand if one has a health problem but it still doesn’t make sense. If Mr H wore one he’d be walking on his bloody own!
My OH has an old neck warmer that he pulls up over his face when in shops etc. He hasn’t the slightest belief in its efficacy, but he’s a timid soul who hates confrontation. Luckily this includes confrontation with me, so he doesn’t try to stop me going bare-faced although he tries to pretend we’re not really together. On the other hand, there’s no way I can persuade him to go bare-faced himself, so we just have to call a truce.
Yes. People have to do what they have to, and I understand if they need wear it. My elderly mum refuses to wear one out or in the shops but she has to attend various health related appointments for herself and my dad, who is quite frail, and she wears one then just so they can be seen without hassle.
That at least isn’t a mask.
My husband wears a mask, though only for a minimum time. I glare at him & children (2&4) reliably point and say “daddy’s wearing a silly face mask!”. I’ve never cared about “fitting in”, but I accept (sort of) his greater need to conform. Plus it gives my “I’m exempt” greater plausibility. He’s refused the jab so far (I did bin one of the letters before he saw it, mind you).
That is a good point. Both myself and Mr H claim exemption but it does make it a bit awkward when we’re in shops together…although, to be fair we’ve never had any real problems. Only a few laser eyes glares from the nap wearers!
LOL ditto!
I’m still surprised to see the amount of parents nappied up at my daughters primary school after all these months. They’re under no legal obligation to, just a request in a newsletter last year.
The other day one of my daughters peers shouted at her parents from the classroom door to take off the mask and they replied back to her that they had to wear them. All the while I stood there with my permanent smile and smiles-matter.org badge as usual.
They all are at mine too. Two of the four-year-olds in my daughters class wear face nappies too.
A very long standing friend of mine posted a picture on Facebook of various birds that had got into difficulty from face nappies, you know the usual pictures of birds being garrotted etc. The caption read “please cut the ties before disposal”.
My reposte read “Alternatively DON’T USE THE F…ING THINGS. They are disgusting, dangerous and there is no Scientific evidence that they work. In fact they harm.” Funnily enough I haven’t heard a Dickie from them since. See what I did there! Oh well another friendship bites the dust.
My oldest friend has (with truly shocking abuse) just cut all ties with me too, because I’ve had covid and therefore won’t have the vaccine. Apparently I’m a f. moron. We didn’t get as far as discussing my mask non-compliace.
We know we’re right though. It will all come out in the wash, as it were, then they’ll see who the real morons are. So sad.
I’m glad I never used any. Almost a year ago now, I took the trouble of reviewing the relevant BSI standard ( https://www.bsigroup.com/globalassets/localfiles/en-gb/product-certification/personal-safety/bsi-guide-for-personal-safety-equipment-0520.pdf ), and came to the conclusion that it’s crap for the general public, and worse for the environment as well.
Note that (in British English, at least) there is a deliberate abuse of the term ‘masks’ compared with the relevant standards protocol. The DHSC published bumf does properly use the term “face covering” though. Under the standard, they need to be manufactured and properly labelled to be called what they are – most of the junk on sale has tiny labels that say they are not medical masks, that most buyers don’t read. Thus the seller can’t be done under trading standards legislation; pretty close to fraud, though.
Surely the dictatorship also thought ‘Face covering’ sounded softer and more cuddly than face mask, fetish mask, face pants, gag or muzzle.
Same as ‘Community charge’ compared to ‘Poll tax’
Or ‘Care in the community’ to ‘Sleeping in shop doorway’.
Oh dear. What a dilemma this is for the control freaks. So many environment hand wringers are also mask zealots. What is a new age puritan to do?
Good one, excellent point.
It has amazed me for a long time now that David Attenborough and others haven’t said a word about this.
The little goblin of doom hasn’t been saying much either.
The government deserves to be sued, particularly all those ministers who are so besotted with mask wearing.
Sad though it is, I now think humanity has split. There are free-thinking conscious humans and mask wearing covid-drones.
Yesterday I visited a dermatologist’s offices I’ve visited many times.
Virus community prevalence is zero here as in most of not all.
Everyone was mashed. I had my lanyard.
Was told if I’m planning on coming back, I’d need to pay for & take a LFT.
I told them I’d just solved that by deciding never to return.
The dermatologist himself said he planned to continue masking even if/when they’re discontinued.
I gave him both barrels & invited him to give me ONE major narrative point about the virus which government or advisors have made repeatedly which was actually true.
He couldn’t, the weasel.
Vote with your feet! Get another dermatologist
You don’t sound like Mike Yeadon. Be careful folks.
Apparently were not “safe” until the world has been vaccinated. I’d go further and say we’re not safe until there’s galactic vaccination. That’ll keep the fear going until the end of humanity (which cannot come soon enough as there’s no intelligent life on earth).
I have recently had a bit of a ‘set to’ with a private hospital and currently mid ‘debate‘ with an NHS hospital. Recently with the Private hospital, whilst trying to get the usual pre-op tests done for a long-awaited (another story) hip replacement; because of their insistence on the wearing of face knickers and hand sanitizing your way around the hospital building. Below are a couple of small excerpts from each of my responses to their nonsensical parroting of the official political narrative. Clearly, it makes no difference whether you go Private or NHS. They all mindlessly follow the same mind-washing official narrative. The latest in Human evolution; Homo Bovinus at the top of their game. Jeez! This unfounded nonsense from so-called professional health institutions, unable to back their diktats up with any proof or evidence of efficacy. A perfect example of ‘monkey see monkey do’… The current ongoing one is with an NHS hospital for similar face knicker reasons to the earlier with the Private hospital. NHS hospital (ongoing) because of an “important appointment” for diabetic eye screening for detection of early signs of diabetic retinopathy, routinely required once a year. The same masking issue as at the Private… Read more »
You’re wasting your breath. It is impossible to reason with a true believer. Still, it’s sometimes good to watch them squirm.
I had a happier experience. I had a hernia procedure recently at a private hospital owing to the wait of half a year on the NHS. I was allowed to go un-masked with my exemption lanyard, upon proof of my having had covid, and showing a full antibody-count.
Unfortunately, government banned these antibody blood-tests for fear, they said, that if we knew we’d had covid we’d stop wearing masks. Interesting…
Our latest anecdotal story. My wife went to visit our Doctor in Gaillac, Tarn and on entering his surgery he said to her ( in English) lets take off these silly masks. I had spotted him earlier turning up for his surgery moins mask.
Absolutely no attempt to ‘sell’ a vaccine to her, which is a change of attitude as previously he was trying to relieve himself of his AZ stock.
Masks = The Slow Kill