Masks package says "Not for medical use"

[mefordis]

I just noticed on my package of masks it says "Not for medical use". They look like surgical masks, and are extremely breathable and comfortable. Two layers but feels like I'm wearing almost nothing compared to all the rest I've tried.

Just wondering why they would put that on the package.

 

[Allison]

Because it isn't for medical use in a medical setting.

 

[SteveH]

One word... liability, second world lawyers. They were manufactured, possibly, on the same line as the medical masks but they didn't use the same materials or some other reason. You don't need a medical mask to help reduce the spread of C19. I have cases of KN95 and cloth masks for my team, both say not for medical use and not sterile.

 

[mefordis]

One word... liability, second world lawyers. They were manufactured, possibly, on the same line as the medical masks but they didn't use the same materials or some other reason. You don't need a medical mask to help reduce the spread of C19. I have cases of KN95 and cloth masks for my team, both say not for medical use and not sterile.

Good response. Thanks.

 

[Southernmiss]

I just noticed on my package of masks it says "Not for medical use". They look like surgical masks, and are extremely breathable and comfortable. Two layers but feels like I'm wearing almost nothing compared to all the rest I've tried.

Just wondering why they would put that on the package.

This is one of the mask deniers arguments.

 

[mefordis]

This is one of the mask deniers arguments.

Why? A little protection is better than no protection. Nothing is black and white.

 

[DisLiss]

Nothing is black and white.

I agree, but many people do not feel that way at all. They believe most everything is black or white, A or B, yes or no, always or never, good or bad, etc.

 

[mefordis]

I agree, but many people do not feel that way at all. They believe most everything is black or white, A or B, yes or no, always or never, good or bad, etc.

To me it's common sense if your nose and mouth are covered all the time you aren't going to spray fluid around.

 

[Colleen27]

Most likely because they're not sterile or not packaged to maintain sterile conditions through transport, stocking and sale. Just like the rubber or nitrile gloves you get at the hardware store. The product is the same, but the production and packaging aren't handled in such a way to guarantee sterility and so they're fine for cleaning or painting but not for surgery.

 

[Christine]

Most likely because they're not sterile or not packaged to maintain sterile conditions through transport, stocking and sale. Just like the rubber or nitrile gloves you get at the hardware store. The product is the same, but the production and packaging aren't handled in such a way to guarantee sterility and so they're fine for cleaning or painting but not for surgery.

This right here.

I've got several boxes of paper, surgical masks (mine our labeled as 3 ply though). They are all thrown in the box in one clump and wrapped in plastic. Not sterile and should not be used in a setting where that is important. The same product packaged for medical use would have each mask wrapped individually in a sterile wrap.

 

[StageTek]

I just noticed on my package of masks it says "Not for medical use". They look like surgical masks, and are extremely breathable and comfortable. Two layers but feels like I'm wearing almost nothing compared to all the rest I've tried.

Just wondering why they would put that on the package.

They are pointing out the difference between medical use and personal use. Since they look like surgical masks they would not want medical personal in, say, an operating room to mistake them for sterile, medical use masks.

What masks did you get? I'm always looking for breathable and comfortable ones.

 

[tzolkin]

Since quite a few people have mentioned it's because they're not sterile... I just wanted to point out that lots of items (including masks and gloves) that are used in a medical setting are not sterile. They come in a box for dispensing and are not individually packaged.

Ex. Regular exam gloves (which are the ones most commonly used) are not sterile and are not individually wrapped. Surgical gloves are individually wrapped and sterile, but are only used when needed because they are double the price (and because gloves don't need to be sterile for what they're typically being used for).

 

[Heigh-Ho]

Things for commercial usage, residential usage, things for personal usage, things for professional usage, etc it's not new. Just a way to *hopefully* clear up that it's not intended to be used in whatever way it's mentioned. In this case a hospital wouldn't want to purchase these masks to be used around patients, they would purchase masks intended to be used in a medical setting.

I do know exactly what the poster was talking about with mask deniers. It's an argument to say "well if it's not for medical usage what good is it actually doing, what effectiveness is there, that means those things aren't doing what we're told they are doing, etc" but that's just a way to detract from the situation really.

 

[spiders]

To me it's common sense if your nose and mouth are covered all the time you aren't going to spray fluid around.

Condoms aren't 100%. I wouldn't recommend sleeping with someone you don't really know but if you're going to do it...

You just can't with some people. It makes your head hurt too much.

 

[cepmom]

idk exactly why boxes are labeled as "not for medical use" guessing its a combination of different factors but masks used in medical setting are not sterile either....worked in plenty of OR's and everyone wears the same masks, taken out of a (non sterile) box prior to entering the OR suite.

 

[mefordis]

They are pointing out the difference between medical use and personal use. Since they look like surgical masks they would not want medical personal in, say, an operating room to mistake them for sterile, medical use masks.

What masks did you get? I'm always looking for breathable and comfortable ones.

Not too expensive but I must warn you my younger daughter thought they are itchy but I must have leathery skin because I do not think they are itchy at all.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086QLH269/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[DisneyOma]

Maybe they are rip-off ones that are rather useless though if they are "extremely breathable"? Sounds like they aren't doing a thing to prevent droplets from going anywhere?

I just noticed on my package of masks it says "Not for medical use". They look like surgical masks, and are extremely breathable and comfortable. Two layers but feels like I'm wearing almost nothing compared to all the rest I've tried.

Just wondering why they would put that on the package.

 

[isabellea]

They probably don't meet the medical mask standards (ASTM level 1-3) or the company never tried to certify them. They are basically knock-off. I work in a research lab (academia) within a big university hospital and we have to purchase our own masks and gloves. In May, all I could find were non-medical masks because all the certified masks (nothing to do with sterility btw) were not available to us, only to hospitals from government decree. Now it's easier for masks and found some ASTM level 3 boxes. Now what I have difficulty getting are nitrile gloves. All the gloves I used to buy are no longer available from my usual distributors, again reserved for hospitals and probably stockpiled by our provincial government right now (no problem with that as I believe priority should be given to them but still a headache because I cannot work if I don't have proper PPE since I work with level 2 pathogens). And trust me, not all nitrile gloves are made equal! Some are safe for use with certain chemicals for example but not all.