No way to deal with mask shortfall

In short supply, N95 masks have become a topic of debate on reuse: can hospitals and healthcare facilities safely clean them to prolong their use, even for multiple shifts? Medline Industries has pitched to the White House a way to decontaminate N95 masks. That would be laudable, if it weren’t for the chemical Medline wants to use to clean the masks: ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen. Researchers say the compound can damage the brain, and raise the risk of leukaemia, breast cancer and lymphomas at extremely low levels of exposure.

The Food and Drug Administration would have to approve use of ethylene oxide to decontaminate N95 masks. Here’s why the agency should say no: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and 3M, a leading maker of masks, have all said it’s a bad idea. Masks cleaned with ethylene oxide could still have residual amounts of the chemical that the wearer could breathe in, 3M said in April.

Is there an alternative cleaning solution? Yes, and its FDA-approved methodology is already in use. An Ohio biochemical research firm, Battelle, has been using vaporised hydrogen peroxide to clean up to 80,000 masks a day for reuse.

Medline is looking for the same emergency approval the FDA gave Battelle. Yes, N95 masks are in short supply, and decontaminating them for reuse makes sense. But a remedy that could put them at risk is no remedy.