A masked statue, at the Trocadéro, in Paris.
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NICOLAS MESSYASZ
The author of a post that went viral on Facebook claims that blue surgical masks contain formaldehyde and toluene, two dangerous substances.
He wonders if, with the obligation to wear a mask in many places, "the population is not committing suicide with slow poison".
In fact, there is no scientific evidence to support this claim.
Afnor recalls that European rules prohibit dangerous substances for surgical masks.
Toxic, the surgical mask that has become an everyday object to prevent the spread of Covid-19?
This is what suggests, on Facebook, a post published last Thursday and which had been shared more than 800 times this Wednesday evening.
"Are the people not killing themselves with slow poison?"
", Goes so far as to ask the author of the publication, a group which is also presented on Telegram as a movement of resistance to the" cabalists "who control the world.
The Facebook post is accompanied by a diagram, showing two skulls, and this text: “Here is the toxicity of formaldehyde and toluene.
Products that we find in blue masks.
The two molecules mentioned are shown, along with a list of toxic effects.
Facebook post about the alleged toxicity of masks - Facebook screenshot
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Can surgical masks really contain these substances?
To find out,
20 Minutes
first contacted one of the main French mask manufacturers - which wishes to remain anonymous.
The answer is clear: “All of our masks on the market are 100% polypropylene, and they are tested for phytotoxicity.
What about the blue tint, then?
"It is only there to indicate the direction, to show how to put on the mask, answers our interlocutor.
There are also green or white masks!
"
He also pointed out that the masks made by his company have been used for years in operating theaters and hospital departments.
"I do not control what our colleagues do," she admits, however.
Materials under control
20 Minutes
therefore put the question to the French Association for Standardization (Afnor), which guarantees compliance with standards in France.
As Rim Chaouy, head of the “health and safety at work” pole at Afnor explains, there are strict rules governing the sale of masks in the region.
"On the matter of materials, European regulations on medical devices prohibit any substance that is dangerous for surgical masks," she underlines.
A European regulation of 2017, incorporating a directive of 1993, specifies this.
A text that weakens the theory of a market that would have been invaded, in the face and beard of the authorities, by toxic masks.
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