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| Amid China’s Smog Worries, One More: Counterfeit Masks | Amid China’s Smog Worries, One More: Counterfeit Masks |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| BEIJING — As pollution darkened the skies above northern China this week, and Beijing declared its first red alert over the capital’s air quality, the state-run news media gave anxious readers one more reason to worry about going outdoors. | BEIJING — As pollution darkened the skies above northern China this week, and Beijing declared its first red alert over the capital’s air quality, the state-run news media gave anxious readers one more reason to worry about going outdoors. |
| The customs authorities in Shanghai have seized nearly 120,000 counterfeit surgical masks, the official China News Service reported on Thursday. Such masks have become an increasingly common sight in China in recent years, with more people wearing them in an effort to protect themselves from pollution. | The customs authorities in Shanghai have seized nearly 120,000 counterfeit surgical masks, the official China News Service reported on Thursday. Such masks have become an increasingly common sight in China in recent years, with more people wearing them in an effort to protect themselves from pollution. |
| Although the China News Service report suggested that the counterfeit masks, seized in two separate raids, had been intended for export, Chinese social media was abuzz with skepticism, and many wondered whether their own masks were authentic. | Although the China News Service report suggested that the counterfeit masks, seized in two separate raids, had been intended for export, Chinese social media was abuzz with skepticism, and many wondered whether their own masks were authentic. |
| “I only hope they’re not making a tour in the free-trade zone and then coming back in as imports,” one person wrote online about the counterfeits. | |
| “I feel I’m not poisoned to death by the smog, but am choked to death by the smell of the mask,” another person wrote on the Weibo microblogging platform. “Is it fake?” | “I feel I’m not poisoned to death by the smog, but am choked to death by the smell of the mask,” another person wrote on the Weibo microblogging platform. “Is it fake?” |
| The report said that the masks seized in Shanghai — which bore the logo of the American company 3M, the manufacturer of one of the most popular models of masks in China — were made with inferior materials and that they would offer no protection from air pollution. In fact, the report said the masks would actually pose an added threat to the health of those who wore them, though it did not explain how. | |
| “The greatest risk from a fake mask is that people will be outside feeling protected but actually breathing in much more pollution than they’re aware of,” said Dr. Richard Saint Cyr, a physician in Beijing whose health blog is popular among expatriates. | |
| He said he believed 3M masks — real ones, that is — were indeed beneficial. “There’s a lot of published research which shows that a well-designed mask can greatly decrease your inhaled intake of PM 2.5,” he said, referring to a particularly dangerous category of pollutant. | |
| Xinhua, the state news agency, reported this week that searches for masks and air purifiers on the e-commerce site Alibaba had soared, and that many sellers were running out of stock. | Xinhua, the state news agency, reported this week that searches for masks and air purifiers on the e-commerce site Alibaba had soared, and that many sellers were running out of stock. |