Now, with the growing popularity of surgical masks, our focus has shifted to ensuring that those who need them are not harmed by overseas suppliers who are unreliable and often producing inferior products.
Poor quality face masks pose both comfort and health risks
In some cases, the materials or chemical treatments used to produce the masks have caused health problems for the people wearing them. For example, according to one report, "some commercial masks have been pretreated with formaldehyde to sterilize them." This has caused skin irritation problems for many mask wearers, especially when the mask must be worn for long periods of time.