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Me: I know many of you in TN just a heads up
'I wouldn't wear one,' environmental expert says
By: Phil Williams
Posted at 2:19 PM, May 29, 2020
and last updated 3:17 PM, May 29, 2020
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans have picked up free face masks provided by the state, never suspecting that those masks might carry their own health risk.
But an exclusive NewsChannel 5 investigation has discovered that those face masks - meant to slow the spread of COVID-19 - were treated with a controversial substance that is registered as a pesticide.
That substance is an antimicrobial designed to ward off odors.
"I wouldn't wear one," said Dr. Warren Porter, a professor of environmental toxicology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a board member for the environmental group Beyond Pesticides.
"Nobody wants to breathe in COVID, but I wouldn't want to be breathing in something that I also knew could be poisoning my body in a relatively short period of time and might be having multi-year effects on my health."
As part of Gov. Bill Lee's push to re-open Tennessee's economy, the state ordered five million nose-and-mouth coverings from the Renfro Corporation, a North Carolina-based sock maker.
Cost to taxpayers: $8.2 million dollars.
Related investigation: Sock maker gets $8 million, no-bid contract to make face masks
"We wanted to get a free mask to Tennesseans who felt like they couldn't afford a mask," Lee told reporters in early May.
The governor's team boasted that the sock masks, as they came to be known, are "washable, reusable, and treated with Silvadur, a non-toxic silver antimicrobial good for 25 industrial washes."
But a search of the web reveals filings with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where Silvadur is registered as a pesticide that is "harmful if inhaled" and "toxic to fish."
Silvadur is a Dupont product that uses nanotechnology that is supposed to keep fabrics fresh.
Under "how it works," DuPont says Silvadur "delivers silver ions when organisms land or form on a treated fabric."
These ions "continually release to safely kill microbes that cause odor."
Professor Porter said, when positively charged silver ions are released on and in the human body, "these antimicrobial functions are also anti-cell functions."
"While it's true it affects the cell membranes of bacteria, that means it can also affect cell membranes of anything else in the body, including your nerves or anything else," he explained.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates noted that Dupont says that Silvadur is "trusted and safe."
Porter laughed.
"Well, I'm afraid the literature would not agree with that."
In fact, a 2010 EPA study concluded, "There is evidence that silver, and in particular nanosilver, is toxic to aquatic and terrestrial organisms ... and may be detrimental to human health."
"You start messing around with DNA, which is the genetic material controlling your cell operations, you interfere with the messaging and bugger up the communication that goes on in cells, like I say, you've got a molecular bull in a china shop," Porter said.
"There are all kinds of ways that it can disrupt cellular activity."
The EPA report lists nanosilver in medical breathing masks as a "high" risk of exposure.
We asked Porter, "Is there something particularly vulnerable about having it over your nose and mouth?"
He answered, "That would definitely be more vulnerable because you've got all your respiratory surfaces and a lot of things that can get through those respiratory surfaces."
NewsChannel 5 Investigates reached out to the Governor's Office and Lee's COVID-19 Unified Command for comment at 8:07 a.m., asking for a response by noon.
At 12:31 p.m., Unified Command spokesperson Dean Flener responded, "We’re working on it and should have to you soon."
Later, asked for an update, Flener emailed at 1:38 p.m., "We are working on it."
At 2:04 p.m., the spokesperson finally responded: "Thank you for your patience. Please direct your questions to Renfro."
Emails sent to Renfro Corp. were not answered, and no one was available to answer the company's main phone number. Efforts to submit an inquiry through the company's online portal repeatedly resulted in error messages.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Professor Porter, "If you were advising the governor of the state of Tennessee, what would you advise him about these masks?"
"Well," he responded, "I would advise him to try to get his money back."
All the major health authorities are in agreement that we all need to wear nose and mouth coverings when we're going out in public around other people.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends basic cotton fabric.
If you don't want to wear one of the sock masks, we've got instructions here about how you can make your own masks using materials you probably have around the house.
Tennessee governor's free 'sock masks' treated with registered pesticide
Hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans have picked up free face masks provided by the state, never suspecting that those masks might carry their own health risk.
www.newschannel5.com