UGLY question: Why does the US keep buying PPEs from China when we have an American-made solution? Nine Line News Team August 27, 2020 Nine Line News 410 No one really disputes the fact that the novel Coronavirus spread from somewhere near Wuhan, China. Whether it originated in a “wet” seafood market, or in a lab, we may never really know. But we do know it has upended our U.S. economy and claimed over 170,000 American lives (so far). We also know the pandemic, unfortunately, revealed how much the U.S. had been relying on China for some of our most crucial medical supplies: the personal protective equipment our health care professionals and first responders need on the frontline battle against the virus. Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the nation launched Operation Warp Speed to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. Trump himself has said, “the United States must produce essential equipment, supplies, and pharmaceuticals for ourselves. We cannot rely on China and other nations across the globe that could one day deny us products in a time of need.” Damn right. So why is the U.S. still buying masks from China? Why is the government dragging its feet over approval and funding of American-made masks that would give jobs to Americans? We have the solution. In record time, with an incredible partnership of engineers, scientists and manufacturers, we have rapidly developed a reusable face mask using all FDA-certified materials. It’s a process that would normally take years, but we accomplished it in just two months. Talk about Warp Speed. Our American Made Personal Protective (AMPP) mask uses economical, changeable filters made of a PTFE membrane that is extremely efficient at filtering particulates. How efficient, well we can’t tell you. We can’t say it has passed all baseline breathability, filtration, blood splatter, or flammability tests. In fact, even under the guidelines of the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization, we are specifically forbidden from comparing our product to that of a Chinese-made (or anywhere made) N95. We simply don’t understand why the U.S. continues to buy masks from China when we know we have a superior solution available right here. This is not a product we ever wanted to make, but the desperate need for N95 respirators used by healthcare providers and first responders caused us to invest our time and money into a scalable solution but we need help. Congress has directed almost $10 billion to the effort of developing countermeasures against the virus. That includes more than $6.5 billion designated for development through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and $3 billion for National Institutes of Health (NIS) research. Where’s that money going? To date our company invested over $1 million into R&D, creating patents, purchasing material, and mold/filtration testing of our reusable America-made masks. We’ve been in constant correspondence with the FDA and our efforts have been recognized by Georgia Senator David Perdue and U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. You’d think if an American company, in record time, had developed an effective, economical essential piece of equipment to be used in the fight against COVID-19, the government would be all over it. But they’re not. This is not a debate over the necessity of masks for our frontline workers, this is a discussion of our dependence on Chinese labor camps to create our PPE. This is a matter of national security and identity and you must simply ask yourself why?
