Medical Supplies: The Many Defects in “Made-in-China” Medical Supplies

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the China produced medical supplies, including face masks and personal protective equipment (PPE), are widely scrutinized around the world. The following are a collection of reports from countries that found defects in these “made-in-China” supplies.

#1 U.S.: On May 8, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed 14 Chinese manufacturers to supply N95 face masks to the U.S., way below the 80 manufacturers that had done so previously. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) tested 67 types of imported face masks and found about 60 percent failed the U.S. required safety measurement. For example, a Chinese manufacturer whose export license the FDA had revoked, produced face masks that could only filter out 24 to 35 percent of the micro particles, way below the required 95 percent standard. (Central News Agency)

#2 U.S.: The State of Illinois spent nearly $17 million buying KN95 masks. An alert from the Illinois Department of Public Health said that the KN95 masks might not meet performance standards and counterfeit masks are “flooding the marketplace.” It recommended that agencies remove the KN95 masks that have already been received. (Fox News)

#3 Canada: The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said that it had found that about 1 million KN95 face masks did not meet the requirements for the medical staff to be able to use them. Also, the city of Toronto announced that it would recall over 60,000 made-in-China face masks that had been provided to staff members at long-term care institutes. (Sing Tao Daily)

#4 Europe: On April 24, the Rapid Alert System for Dangerous Non-food Products, which the European Union had established, announced it had given the label of “Serious Warning” to four types of face masks that China made. The manufacturer of these four types of face masks had claimed that they met the N95/FFP2 requirement. (Central News Agency).

#5 U.K.: The Department of Health admitted that none of the 3.5million finger-prick tests ordered from mainly Chinese manufacturers in March passed accuracy checks. The Government wants its money back.

Netherlands: The Dutch health ministry recalled 600,000 face masks at the end of March because they did not fit and the filters were defective.

Spain: The government found 60,000 testing kits from China failed accuracy tests.

Slovakia: Prime Minister Igor Matovic said a million face masks from China were so inaccurate they should “be thrown straight into the Danube.”

Ireland: The Irish government issued an ultimatum to China after healthcare workers on the front-line found that 20 percent of the £176million-worth of PPE it had bought from China was unusable. (Daily Mail)

#6 Finland: The government of Finland said that the 2 million face masks it bought from China did not meet the requirements and thus were not suitable for hospital use. (Radio France International)

#7 Austria and Italy: At end of March, several million China-made face masks and PPE arrived in Austria. Part of the shipment was supposed to have been re-shipped to Italy. After Austria conducted tests, it found they didn’t meet the requirements. (Epoch Times)

#8 Australia: The Australian Border Force (ABF) officers have intercepted several deliveries of PPE that were found to be counterfeit or otherwise faulty. One law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, estimated the ABF had already seized 800,000 masks with a combined value of more than $1.2 million on the Australian market. (ABC)

#9 India: India cancelled an order for 500,000 testing kits from China because the accuracy rate of these testing kits was only 5 percent. (Epoch Times)

#10 Pakistan: Pakistan found out that the N95 face masks that China provided to them were made from women’s bras and were completely different from the CCP’s claim of “high-quality” face masks. Pakistan’s media were angry and said, “China cheated us.” (Epoch Times)

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