The carbon dioxide exposure risk from wearing face masks. Hint: it is not good.

https://www.cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2405-8440(23)01324-5#%20

This is a fantastic journal article about the exposure of carbon dioxide from the face mask wearing during covid mandates. As this journal explains quite well, masking kids and women of childbearing age was never a good idea. Many people questioned CO2 levels from masks and if they dared to question elevated CO2 levels they were quickly dismissed and slapped with a disinfo tag. If I had a dollar for every time I heard “surgeons wear masks all day long and they are fine” I could afford a really nice beach vacation. That logic was not even truthful, as surgeons are only masked while in the OR, in the sterile field actually operating, and spend many hours a day outside of a mask. I digress.

Onto the journal article.

In the normal environment, the average person when exposed to fresh air has around 0.04% exposure of CO2 in the inhaled air.

However, while wearing masks for more than 5 min evolves into chronic exposure to carbon dioxide (CO2) levels of 1.41% to 3.2% of the inhaled air.  That is just wearing a mask for longer than 5 minutes.  Imagine the long term consequences of mask wearing ALL THE TIME, for hours on end!!

We take CO2 exposure seriously.  US Navy toxicity experts set the exposure limits for submarines carrying a female crew to 0.8% CO2 based on animal studies which indicated an increased risk for stillbirths at higher CO2 levels.  Additionally, mammals who were chronically exposed to 0.3% CO2 demonstrate a teratogenicity with irreversible neuron damage in the offspring, reduced spatial learning caused by brainstem neuron apoptosis and reduced circulating levels of the insulin-like growth factor-1. With significant impact on three readout parameters (morphological, functional, marker) this chronic 0.3% CO2 exposure has to be defined as being toxic.

Additional data exists on the exposure of chronic 0.3% CO2 in adolescent mammals causing neuron destruction, which includes less activity, increased anxiety and impaired learning and memory. There is also data indicating testicular toxicity in adolescents at CO2 inhalation concentrations above 0.5%.

Every single one of these numbers and data shown above are far lower than what we measured in mask wearing for longer than 5 minutes.  What kind of damage did we do when masking kids?  Teenagers?  Pregnant women?  Men of childbearing age???

Lack of efficacy was demonstrated in 8/8 (100%) Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) that were evaluating the effect of covid 19 mask use in the home setting, in 4/5 (80%) RCTs on the efficacy of wearing masks in the community setting, and in 1/1 (100%) RCTs involving healthcare settings. Among the available RCTs on the antiviral efficacy of masks, only two clinical trials deal exclusively with COVID-19: one methodically sound study from Denmark Europe, showing no significant effect of masks, while the other trial has been shown to be statistically insignificant due to poor self reporting.  Reading this again: we HAVE THE DATA to support that mask use was ineffective, and provided next to zero protection based on these clinical trial journal findings.

“Seeing the overall weak evidence for the efficacy of masks against viral transmission within the general population, from a purely evidence-based empirical perspective, masks for the public seem to be overrated in a pandemic response.  There is discrepancy between the evaluation of virus protection by face mask based in evidence-based criteria (low) and the anticipated efficacy by authorities and mainstream media (high).”  The mainstream narrative preached how effective they were, but “the science” showed that to be false.

“Children and pregnant women are a special subgroup more susceptible to potential negative environmental factors (e.g. toxins) because the protective/conjugative mechanisms in early life tissues are less well developed.  Data on a total of 25,930 children wearing face masks for 270 min per day showed that 68% complained about impairments. Side effects included irritability (60%), headache (53%), difficulty concentrating (50%), less happiness (49%), reluctance to go to school/kindergarten (44%), malaise (42%) impaired learning (38%) and drowsiness/fatigue (37%).  In addition, in another 6-min experimental study, the masks frequently led to breathing problems in 100 school children between 8 and 11 years of age especially during physical exertion.  Despite having the lowest risk of severe disease from a SARS-CoV-2 infection, children have endured the most disproportionate disruption to their lives in their most formative years during the pandemic.  According to some authors, the reduction in viral transmission is not a pre-eminent cause that eclipses all other potential harms, including children's physical, psychological and psychosocial well-being.”

“Among the many symptoms and physiological changes while wearing a face mask, an elevated blood carbon dioxide level is an important cornerstone of the so-called Mask-Induced Exhaustion Syndrome (MIES).  There are several general short-term effects on human health due to low level CO2-inhalation: Physiological changes already occur at levels between 0.05% and 0.5% CO2 showing increased heart rate, increased blood pressure and overall increased circulation with the symptoms of headache, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, dizziness, rhinitis, and dry cough.  While the effects of short-term exposure on cognitive performance begin at 0.1% CO2 levels, with reduced cognitive performance, impaired decision-making and reduced speed of cognitive solutions, many other long-term effects are known at concentrations above 0.5%.  Exceeding the limit of 1% CO2 the harmful effects include respiratory acidosis, metabolic stress, increased blood flow and decreased exercise tolerance.  Therefore, regarding low-level CO2 exposition an EN149:2001 + A1 (European Standard Norm) and a NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health) norm exist. A health-critical limit is set at 15 min for 3% for short periods, while the 8-h limit is set at 0.5% CO2.”  Knowing the numbers above that showed that 5 minutes or more in a mask = 1.1-3% CO2 levels, we far exceeded anything safe when mandatory masking.  We did far more harm than good.