Faced with the public health issue of air pollution, many are wondering about the benefits of wearing protective equipment such as anti-pollution masks. Only here, according to a report from the National Health Security Agency, the available data would be insufficient to attest to a health benefit of these masks, very popular in particular by Japanese tourists who use and abuse them. Oops…
"While the effectiveness of a mask tested in the laboratory may be high, it does not necessarily reflect the effectiveness in real conditions of use", emphasizes the 150-page report.
"Indeed, effectiveness decreases due to poor fit to the face, lack of mask maintenance, lack of user training, strenuous physical activity, etc.", and "if these deviations can be more or less controlled in the professional environment, this is not guaranteed for the general public”, notes the report. Moreover, most anti-pollution masks available on the French market are designed to protect against particles, but not substances in a gaseous state such as nitrogen oxides, adds ANSES which, in the end, does not recommend not this device. Thus, to reduce air pollution, it is necessary to tackle the problem at the source and limit pollutant emissions, but also to better inform the population. As a reminder, particle pollution alone causes 48,000 premature deaths in France, according to data from the French Public Health Agency... A truly considerable figure that makes you think hard.
