Company producing “anti-H1N1 masks” shut down

By Zhao Chunzhe (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-11-11 14:38

The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) brought the shutters down on a Tianjin-based textile mill, which started producing “anti-A/H1N1 masks”, since the company was not qualified to produce medical products, the chinanews.com reported today.

Mingda, the company, with its headquarters in Yonqing county, Hebei province, reportedly invented what they advertised as the anti-A/H1N1 mask, and sold 5,000 of them at a price of 9.5 yuan ($1.5) per mask.

The Ministry of Health said yesterday the “anti-A/H1N1 mask” cannot battle the A/H1N1 virus, a Beijing TV station reported.

“All hygienic masks can prevent flu and bacteria,” said Shu Yuelong, director of the National Flu Research Center.

An expert with the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, CAS, told chinadaily.com.cn that it had only tested samples from Mingda and proved the masks can prevent certain coli bacillus, Staphylococcus and Molina bacteria, but added it is impropriate to advertise the masks as “anti-A/H1N1 masks”.

An official with the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) said: “The SFDA has taken many measures to control A/H1N1 flu, including giving vaccinations and adopting a special regulation concerning public health. But it hasn’t given any approval to produce ‘anti-A/H1N1 masks’ so far.”

All efforts to contact Mingda failed.

According to reports, Beijing pharmacies have stopped stocking masks produced by the company.

A doctor with the China-Japan Friendship Hospital said keeping away from sick individuals is the key to avoid the flu. “The transmitting distance of the A/H1N1 virus is 1.8 meters. As long as we keep this safe distance when other people are coughing, we won’t get infected.”