Dodgy masks are a health hazard

AUSTRALIANS may be risking their health by relying on dodgy face masks purporting to protect them from coronavirus.

More than 200 face masks – registered by the nation’s medicines watchdog – have been dramatically withdrawn from sale to hospitals, raising fears about their effectiveness.

But in a bizarre twist, the deregistered masks can still be sold in hardware stores and other shops, so long as they are not labelled for surgical use or marketed as stopping the transmission of the disease.

It comes as residents of Victoria are being urged to wear face masks in crowded public places to protect themselves from coronavirus.

Millions of face masks, many produced in China, were bought into the country under special exemption granted on March 22 that allowed them to avoid checks.

At the time the government was racing to obtain enough personal protective equipment to protect nurses and doctors on the frontline during the first wave of the COVID-19.

However, late last month after a series of complaints from health workers, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) announced it would conduct a review into the products to ensure they met safety standards. It wrote to companies supplying the masks warning them they could face fines if they did not comply.

Occupational health and safety expert from the University of Queensland Professor Keith Adam said it was “like the wild west” in March and April with shady operators trying to make a quick buck out of supplying masks in times of high demand.

“The quality had to be dodgy … I’ve seen lots of dodgy masks walking down the street,” he said.

To provide proper protection a surgical mask needed to be at least three layers thick and act as a filter, he said.