In recent years, smog has become more and more serious, driving a wide range of protective masks , including medical masks , industrial masks, and consumer masks , which have increased sales in major pharmacies and online. But what kind of mask can really prevent smog? There is no definitive answer so far. Some mask manufacturers have even started to talk about it. "Wo said that the husband is reasonable and the public speaks reasonable", and the vast number of consumers are in confusion. Industry experts have called for China to formulate standards for civilian masks at the industry level.

Fog days driving masks hot

Smog has become the keyword of the year 2013 that has passed. Statistics show that in 2013, 25 provinces were covered with haze and the average haze days approached 30 days, which was a period of 10.3 days more than the same period, the highest in 52 years. . Even the southern regions where the air conditions were good in previous years were frequently hit by haze. According to statistics from the meteorological department, the haze days in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were the highest in the same period in 2013. In December 2013 alone, there were two large-scale haze days in the area, which was more than 10 days higher than the same period. In the recent local "two sessions" in 28 provinces, "treating warts" has become the focus of attention.

Severe air pollution forced public awareness of respiratory protection to increase, and PM 2.5 protective products became popular in the market. On major online shopping platforms, "PM 2.5 masks" and "fog-proof masks" have become the hottest search keywords. Masks are also available in a variety of types, including cloth masks, activated carbon masks, N95 masks, and KN 90 masks.

According to online shopping data, in 2013, consumers spent 8.7 billion yuan on protective products and indoor sports goods, buying a total of 4.5 million. The mask market in 2013 showed a situation of blowouts. Data showed that the number of masks and air purifiers purchased on Tmall and Taobao had increased by 181% and 131% respectively compared with 2012.

Taking the domestic mask brand Green Shield as an example, the mask brand has been declared by the public that the mask uses antibacterial fiber and the sandwich with a filter element. It can fight the "two fines" in the air (that is, fine particles represented by PM 2.5 and bacterial viruses represented by N 1N 1 and NDM -1), so as to achieve full and effective protection. As a result, it performed well in sales of PM 2.5 protection products. This reporter learned that in 2013, the number of green shield mask shipments reached 6.5 million, and the total value of the retail market was 210 million yuan, which was 4.3 times of its 2012 performance. On the double 11th day of last year, the daily sales of the green shield mask at Tmall reached 1.29 million yuan. On December 5 last year, it also reached a single day's sales of 2.3 million yuan, becoming the third place in Tmall's household products category. This does not include statistics on the number of consumers and the amount of money spent on offline purchases of related products.

Are manufacturers hitting industrial masks with potential health hazards?

But Dan Danqing, head of the brand of Green Shields, believes that recently they have encountered a "cold cold spell."

Not long ago, a certain domestic TV station broadcasted a program to test the effectiveness of the tamper-evident masks using TSI instruments. In order to effectively filter PM 2.5, various kinds of tamper-proof masks in the market that people are concerned about are related to the test. During the tests, experts used the US T SI portable PM 2.5 rapid detector to detect various masks that are currently popular in the market, including cloth shields with green shield interlayers, activated carbon masks, N95 masks, and KN 90 masks. . The test results show that the N95 and KN 90 masks have a good filtering effect, while activated carbon masks and sandwiched masks do not have the function of filtering PM 2.5.

It is understood that in the N95 and KN 90 mask models, N is the mask standard developed by the National Institute of Occupational Health of the United States, KN ​​is the mask-related standard of our country G B2626-2006, K is the initial letter of the pinyin particle, N represents For non-oily particles, 90 represents a filtration efficiency of 90%, and 95 represents a filtration efficiency of 95%. The higher the number, the higher the filtration level.

According to Zhao Danqing, this is an "unjustly suppressed by the international giants." He believes that in the anti-mite mask test, the expert wears the green shield mask back, resulting in a leak point, and the protective effect is poor. Not only that, he also pointed out that the test instrument company T SI and the company that produced the N 95 and KN 90 masks belonged to a United States town in the television program and questioned the relationship between them.

In another incident, after New Year's Day this year, masks merchants received notice from Tmall that the masks for the sale of masks must be provided by China's GB 2626, the US N IO SH's N 95 standard, and the European Union’s EN 149. The product is allowed to be re-launched.

Zhao Danqing believes that these three kinds of qualified inspection certificates are all aimed at the standard of industrial dust masks. These standards do not apply to daily civilian masks. At the same time, he also pointed out that the N95 and KN 90 masks are based on American standards beginning with N 95, N 90, or European standards starting with FFP, and are industrial masks. Although these masks can effectively filter fine particles of PM 2.5 or less, they have poor air permeability and are prone to dizziness, nausea, and vomiting for a long time. Not only that, he believes that the water vapor carried by people's breath is likely to adhere to the inner wall of industrial masks, so that bacteria and viruses attached to PM 2.5 can be nourished, making industrial masks a petri dish for bacteria and viruses, and the health of consumers. It is vulnerable to secondary pollution from industrial masks.

No standard masks for civil masks.

“Which kind of mask is best for us? Whom do we listen to?” Miss Wang, who lives in Fengtai, Beijing, told reporters that the hazy weather is too serious and she can only wear masks, but I’m always confused about which mask to choose. . Someone told her that the P M2.5 mask was very effective against fog and haze. However, a friend reminded her that she was only wearing industrial masks such as the N95. She is now very confused.

Zhao Danqing believes that at present, China's mask market is rather confusing, not only full of counterfeit masks that mainly include counterfeiting, but also has not yet introduced national standards in the field of civilian masks. Therefore, many elderly people, children, pregnant women use industrial protective masks, but "in fact these groups are not suitable for wearing industrial masks." Zhao Danqing told the "Economic Information Daily" reporter.

In fact, what kind of mask should be selected? Which masks are suitable for different people in daily life? At present, there are no relevant research results in China.

The data shows that in terms of related mask standards, China only has the Technical Requirements for Medical Protective Masks and Mask Paper, and G B2626-2006, which is applicable to industrial masks. Similar to US standards, it is divided into KN class for non-oil particle filtration and KP class for oil particle protection. Among them, the filter rate requirement of KN 90 is greater than or equal to 90%, while the filter rate of KN 95 is required to be greater than or equal to 95%, and the filter rate of KN 100 is greater than or equal to 99.97%. Therefore, fundamentally speaking, there are no national standards for civil masks.

On the other hand, although some mask companies in China claim that their masks are resistant to smog and have passed validation reports from some of the world’s leading laboratories, because there are no relevant daily mask standards in China, they are also unable to verify effectiveness. reference. It is worth noting that no standard for daily masks has been introduced abroad.

The reporter learned that, in the absence of relevant standards, some companies began to try to establish public mask standards. For example, in 2012, Kanglun Fiber developed a corporate standard for the “Standard for Anti-Bacterial Masks for Daily Use”. Although it has been approved by the Shanghai Quality Supervision Department, it has not become a national standard and has limited influence.

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