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Subject: [DCHAS-L] LSI Prudent Practices Roundtable
Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2020 at 11:21:31 AM
Author: James Kaufman <jim**At_Symbol_Here**LABSAFETY.ORG> 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Another Mask Question
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2020 11:31:00 -0800
Author: NEAL LANGERMAN

From: John Callen <jbcallen**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Another Mask Question
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2020 10:33:07 -0600
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: 15892B36-39D5-4546-BDE5-09ABC18BE30F**At_Symbol_Here**gmail.com
In-Reply-To


Del, Neal and ALL,

In response to your question, from my tenure at 3M as a "Lifer" - 41+ Years of Service - and although I am now retired and cannot officially speak for 3M, I can still let you know the following information.  

To my knowledge, 3M Brand Surgical Masks (SMs) manufactured since 1968 and 3M Brand Filtering Facepiece Respirators (FFRs) since 1972 have not had any issues with off-gassing during the manufacturing process.  As part of such, 3M does extensive QA and toxicology testing to insure that these devices meet the requirements of 3M internal standards as well as for FDA registration and NIOSH certification. 

From time-to-time over the years, 3M had some complaints that the masks and/or respirators smell bad.  Upon 3M Technical Service investigation, 3M has found that these isolated incidents can be traced to the following underlying causes:

  1. The wearer of the SMs and/or FFRs had halitosis and was smelling his/her foul breathe due to:
    1. Gum disease and poor oral hygiene;
    2. Eating certain foods like onions, garlic and hot spices and peppers; and/or,
    3. Chewing or smoking tobacco products. 
  2. Product misuse or improper storage.
    1. Wearing SMs and/or FFRs for protection against gases or vapors.
    2. Cleaning or decontaminating the SMs and/or FFRs by non-3M sanctioned/approved processes or with certain chemicals (see 3M Technical Data Bulletin on the Decon of FFRs: https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1824869O/decontamination-methods-for-3m-filtering-facepiece-respirators-technical-bulletin.pdf )  NOTE: With regard to the decontamination, 3M looks to the sterilization company to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the method, and the FDA to confirm it, before they issue an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).  3M then evaluates the filtration and components of the FFR related to fit (e.g headbands, noseclip). 
    3. Improper storage by the wearer after use in open work areas as opposed to clean, safe, sanitary and secure areas that are not affected by heat, light, open flame, common dirt and grim or chemicals used in the workplace.
    4. Improper storage by material management or stockroom personnel.
      1. Shipping cases or boxes are subject to:
        1. The urine or excrement of feral animals including but not limited to bats, cats, dogs, pigs and rats.
        2. High temperatures in excess of 86*F (30*C) which could affect the integrity of the SM or FFR parts.  In one such instance, the FFR shipping cartons were stored (or should I say, "Baked") in a south-central Texas warehouse at temperatures between 95*F - 115*F (35*C - 46*C). 

If you have any questions about the above information, please let me know.  Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving!

Be Safe and Stay Healthy!

All My Best,

John B. Callen, Ph.D.
3M Personal Safety Division - Retired
ACS/DCHAS Founding Member
(312) 632-0195


On Nov 24, 2020, at 6:50 PM, NEAL LANGERMAN <neal**At_Symbol_Here**CHEMICAL-SAFETY.COM> wrote:

Look for work done by Lindsey Marr and colleagues. A paper of her's just appeared at 
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.18.20233353v1

Look forward to seeing good analytical chemistry on this perplexing subject. 

Sent from Neal Langerman's NEXUS 6.
Standard client confidentiality terms apply.

On Tue, Nov 24, 2020, 13:13 Del A. Koch <dkoch**At_Symbol_Here**inovatia.com> wrote:

I have a safety-related question regarding disposable surgical masks.  I am hoping that someone in the group might have some insight into my query. 

 

Our laboratory has done some very preliminary off-gassing analysis for a particular brand of disposable surgical mask and we have generated some interesting results.  In order to better plan some more definitive testing, I attempted to search the literature to learn more about the analysis of masks for inhalable components.  The only references I was able to find were either oriented toward the analysis of residual compounds following disinfection procedures (such as ethylene oxide, to give an example), or involved skin irritation (formaldehyde).  I did not find anything which studied possible inhalation of volatile components which might be present in masks as part of the manufacturing process.

 

While I am not a safety professional (I work in the  area of analytical chemistry), it seemed to me very odd not to find anything on this topic (possibly my searching was not sufficiently thorough?).  Is anyone in this group aware of any testing (or even a concern) around the potential inhalation of volatile compounds from a surgical mask which is being worn for most of the day?

 

I would be most grateful for any responses, thank you!

 

Del A. Koch

Senior Scientist

 

Inovatia Laboratories, LLC

120 East Davis Street | P.O. Box 30 | Fayette, MO  65248-0030

p:  660-248-1911 | f:  660-248-1921

 

www.inovatia.com

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www.twitter.com/InovatiaLab

 

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