All those people buying N95 masks

When it comes to infectious disease, preparedness is good. But ill-informed preparedness is a waste of time and resources, and there's a lot of ill-informed preparedness going on right now with the swine flu.

Case in point: All those people buying N95 masks (respirators).

They think wearing a mask protects them from swine flu. The mainstream media perpetuates the myth, broadcasting images of people wearing the masks, all while talking about people "protecting themselves" from swine flu. If it wasn't a potentially life-and-death situation, it would all be quite hilarious.

But let me ask you a question: Have you ever had surgery or visited a surgery room? Did you ever notice that the surgeons and medical staff are all wearing surgical masks that are very similar to the N95 face masks being used by people afraid of swine flu?

Did you ever wonder WHY they are wearing those masks? Here's the question: Are they wearing those masks to protect themselves from the patient's germs? Of course not! They're wearing those masks to prevent their own germs from infecting the patient!

N95 masks, you see, have but one purpose: To prevent the wearer from infecting others. To use blunt medical terminology, they work by preventing snot, spit or other virus-carrying particles from becoming airborne. Thus, if the wearer sneezes, coughs, drools, spits or talks excitedly, his or her infected fluids will be trapped in the mask and will not infect others.

N95 masks have virtually no ability to protect the wearer from other people's airborne germs.

If it's not air-tight, it's not right!
This should be obvious by simply noticing that N95 masks are not air-tight! When you inhale while wearing such a face mask, the air you're inhaling enters through the gaps on the sides of the mask, completely bypassing the mask filtration system.

This is why -- duh! -- level 4 biohazard scientists don't waltz into their labs wearing N95 face masks. If they did, they would die. Since they don't want to die, they don't depend on N95 respirators.

So all those people planning on wearing N95 face masks are kidding themselves. That's what I mean about ill-informed preparedness. It's almost worse than no preparedness at all because it gives people a false sense of security.

I've gone to great lengths to put together honest, accurate information about preparedness strategies that really work. That information is provided in my "Swine Flu Advanced Preparedness Teleconference" found here: http://www.naturalnews.com/026139.html (Once the teleconference is over, the audio recording will be offered as a sensibly-priced download, by the way.)

In that teleconference, I emphasize why people need to invest in an air-tight face mask (also known as a "gas mask"), and I teach you how to quickly check to make sure it's air tight. It's a simple process known by anyone who has ever been in the military:

1) Put the face mask on and tighten the straps to a comfortable fit.

2) Inhale and hold your breath.

3) Now attempt to gently pry the facemask off your face using your hands.

If the facemask comes off easily, it wasn't an air-tight fit! If it's more difficult to pry off your face (due to suction), you most likely have an air-tight fit, and you can now move around safely in certain biohazard situations, depending on the rating of the gas mask. (This little test works even better if you can completely block the intake valves temporarily, creating true suction.)

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 by: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor