Industrial giant 3M has been working non-stop with legal authorities to help prevent the sale of millions of counterfeit versions of its N95 mask.
“We have taken very strong measures to tackle the problems of counterfeiting or price increases. And this has happened in the last year in this environment of restricted supply and very strong demand for essential products like the N95,” said Mike Vale, who leads security at 3M industrial business group, told CNBC.
N95s have been the gold standard during the coronavirus pandemic for their ability to filter at least 95% of airborne particles. The masks, which are considered essential to protect Covid-19’s frontline workers, are in short supply. 3M is the largest manufacturer of N95.
Federal authorities announced on Wednesday that the scammers had distributed millions of fake N95s to healthcare professionals in at least five states. To date, 11,000 cases of fake masks have been reported by 3M, leading to 29 civil suits. In total, the company said it seized 10 million fake N95. In mid-January, 3M helped its home state, Minnesota, avoid buying nearly 500,000 counterfeit N95s from a Florida company. 3M sued and ended up winning an injunction.
News of the federal investigation into counterfeit N95s comes when several hospitals across Washington state discover that their mask supply contains counterfeits.
“It’s an amazing feeling … just to think that there are people … making counterfeit personal protective equipment that we need so much now during this pandemic,” Cassie Sauer, president of the Washington State Hospital Association, told NBC News earlier this week. week.
3M helped employees in Washington confirm that the fake masks were purchased from an unauthorized distributor, who had no relationship with the company. 3M warns that hospitals and medical clinics need to verify that they are purchasing respirators from an authorized and verified distributor. One way to do this is to check the company’s website or call the anti-fraud hotline.
Despite joint efforts to eliminate fraudsters and hold them accountable, fake masks continue to pop up in the United States and around the world. “False N95 represent a serious health risk and I think 3M has been appropriately aggressive to get them off the streets. It is a blow-and-mole game, however, get rid of one and the other appears,” he said. Scott Davis, CEO of Melius Research, who has been following 3M’s evolution for several years.
In terms of production, 3M is now manufacturing more than 95 million respirators per month at its plants in the United States in South Dakota and Nebraska. By scaling production and hiring hundreds of additional workers, including 300 at its South Dakota plant, the company was able to quadruple production last year.
However, several doctors who spoke to CNBC said they were still rationing the masks.
“Getting enough N95s to safely cover healthcare professionals has an unresolved challenge, especially for smaller hospitals and healthcare facilities. Having to negotiate around counterfeit products makes it even more difficult and impossible to ensure adequate protection for our front line. “said Dr. Natasha Anushri Anandaraja, who founded Covid Courage, a nonprofit organization in New York that helps healthcare professionals to access PPE, including N95s and reusable masks.
Due to the limited supply, Anandaraja said that more medical professionals are opting for reusable options. “Providing each healthcare professional with their own reusable mask will eliminate the constant struggle to find legitimate disposable masks and eliminate the need for healthcare professionals to reuse masks that should be used only once and save hundreds of healthcare systems for thousands of people. dollars a year. “