{"id":7341,"date":"2020-08-14T18:36:12","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T23:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/?page_id=7341"},"modified":"2021-02-24T22:00:42","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T04:00:42","slug":"dr-arthur-firstenbergs-research-on-medical-face-masks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/dr-arthur-firstenbergs-research-on-medical-face-masks\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Arthur Firstenberg&#8217;s Research on Medical Face Masks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\"><em><strong>[excerpt from Dr. Firstenberg&#8217;s newsletter dated August 11, 2020]<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>[Dr. Firstenberg is the author of <em>The Invisible Rainbow<\/em>.]<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">Instead of acknowledging the harm from radio waves, society is tearing its fabric apart by instituting measures that are protecting no one and are instead sickening and killing people. I will mention just one of those measures here: facial masks.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\"><span style=\"color: #414042;\">As a person who went to medical school, I was shocked when I read <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=5WnsLxzx-T5wjV7FcruvWnZJHn_V3LpsvrSF17uqdSU1PDe7B2JephhdYwAKdhCRh5qv_Bcmo1_KaX7B1G0NAUsg6pBwBjGZiflE6_Xr8X8~\">Neil Orr\u2019s study<\/a><span style=\"color: #414042;\">, published in 1981 in the <\/span><span style=\"font-style: italic; color: #414042;\">Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.<\/span><span style=\"color: #414042;\"> Dr. Orr was a surgeon in the Severalls Surgical Unit in Colchester. And for six months, from March through August 1980, the surgeons and staff in that unit decided to see what would happen if they did not wear masks during surgeries. They wore no masks for six months, and compared the rate of surgical wound infections from March through August 1980 with the rate of wound infections from March through August of the previous four years. And they discovered, to their amazement, that when nobody wore masks during surgeries, the rate of wound infections was less than half what it was when everyone wore masks. Their conclusion: \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: #414042;\">It would appear that minimum contamination can best be achieved by not wearing a mask at all<\/span><span style=\"color: #414042;\">\u201d and that wearing a mask during surgery \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: #414042;\">is a standard procedure that could be abandoned<\/span><span style=\"color: #414042;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">I was so amazed that I scoured the medical literature, sure that this was a fluke and that newer studies must show the utility of masks in preventing the spread of disease. But to my surprise the medical literature for the past forty-five years has been consistent: masks are useless in preventing the spread of disease and, if anything, are unsanitary objects that themselves spread bacteria and viruses.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-left: .375in; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in;\" type=\"disc\">\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=f9gRfSsce5S_csZWwzNi9RZfc3VpkcZSD2Q1-gUUKu8q0vI-WGUPTtO0qepZRQ-wbS95sQkkTSQ5ykbqLE6PMZIM_Uza1aFGjixMwr9WW8w~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Ritter et al.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">, in 1975, found that \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">the wearing of a surgical face mask had no effect upon the overall operating room environmental contamination<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=reG_ndglkudWMwoRZxOvotwCSri5esYNmQt1JjmpeXhZeXXVQetj_6YdvjIbwg5KvGv4dCKRE6MyMxtoZChoQQJv0ttQF9f7yUyYfcXN8XA~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Ha\u2019eri and Wiley<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">, in 1980, applied human albumin microspheres to the interior of surgical masks in 20 operations. At the end of each operation, wound washings were examined under the microscope. \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">Particle contamination of the wound was demonstrated in all experiments<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=cpb4qkOpsvCWcmh229a2O2wzdTV1uqPJIDT0NGppw9NCPr32px7P08SvxVP0DnP17XtZIVBLEvjmhmu6ycTTeYIKfHRKCii4Oa0Qs_sMaww~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Laslett and Sabin<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">, in 1989, found that caps and masks were not necessary during cardiac catheterization. \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">No infections were found in any patient, regardless of whether a cap or mask was used<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">,\u201d they wrote. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=ri4ZY0FPbzNozIv8iblCR-ogulIJzjRR_fMSU8B-8xQoMpPUNQz6Jf9XwgSMdk627-wx_HpMnAzGWbyvHR1H6O38ujEplitdTZ9Wpy0IrOk~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Sj\u00f8l and Kelbaek<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\"> came to the same conclusion in 2002.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">In <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=WTnD7KS1KrtrQZ7HKQhP9-LRCNY8FV307R3HyRyWPpmNPcr3VXLjBByoXCmH-gFRzqrOmbB_3Ybg56V5B43C8LqLBP2QzeSEvLg3rWOImPI~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Tunevall\u2019s 1991 study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">, a general surgical team wore no masks in half of their surgeries for two years. After 1,537 operations performed with masks, the wound infection rate was 4.7%, while after 1,551 operations performed without masks, the wound infection rate was only 3.5%.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=KU8gzIJvvtGyouHiSMvFfLSjqzb__qgO8dLrJ4dLEzZqZC8alkdR96NrYxbYEDSQGrrhdVDBSOE_YjzIb4FrZfNQ87h0vxdwK2iiU1jjBuY~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">A review by Skinner and Sutton<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\"> in 2001 concluded that \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">The evidence for discontinuing the use of surgical face masks would appear to be stronger than the evidence available to support their continued use.<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=LNjXsN9WwitjR9gZZy9Fo0o9qdeLQfo3c4a7-toie3KDQQf61MASTginO6Ww45Bj70Sq6Rh47mqQt_D23_lLpWjH6jd1O7Mmw56xRU9tzNU~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Lahme et al.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">, in 2001, wrote that \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">surgical face masks worn by patients during regional anaesthesia, did not reduce the concentration of airborne bacteria over the operation field in our study. Thus they are dispensable<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=eHLL2YtXpTQzzAzmu29xl-jMpjE4isnoR4fFP_v_zmBhOJwrJo1OjzmvJbaiTDuC3r2sy3FDWqAhM-ef50EmLsWopdciADAPHBrq3HHUNRs~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Figueiredo et al.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">, in 2001, reported that in five years of doing peritoneal dialysis without masks, rates of peritonitis in their unit were no different than rates in hospitals where masks were worn.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=5ze0nkRKzyPh-tS_Sjsg2zkduYphSbR5Unpm5v1betQkt7Ttj-zVBRO35un4frWswSo_vofKlgQq-COh8_C4Yibz6cHJHXuQwlWVBn-9I5M~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Bahli<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\"> did a systematic literature review in 2009 and found that \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative wound infection was observed between masks groups and groups operated with no masks.<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=SYsuSb7rybHWPdjGgyM-6Fd6XG7BTC9sYNdPqB8M0-Yl6yK-rzDNsqZ4EQ7-tSbxTvTdgECT1Zy0iZjgOwUmDRwjRo-Vk3TQOX9LLTtmTrU~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Surgeons at the Karolinska Institute<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\"> in Sweden, recognizing the lack of evidence supporting the use of masks, ceased requiring them in 2010 for anesthesiologists and other non-scrubbed personnel in the operating room. \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">Our decision to no longer require routine surgical masks for personnel not scrubbed for surgery is a departure from common practice. But the evidence to support this practice does not exist<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">,\u201d wrote Dr. Eva Sellden.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=YzkvmOTz8WvUER_1hA5WtUmvS2TCJGHQwVj7ZAmRDHt0M91c_3OjNaJdhLBwukzxe1cUAlz_AL8CV6NIerZg8nRGLwu0w46QkFYMmrdKpms~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Webster et al.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">, in 2010, reported on obstetric, gynecological, general, orthopaedic, breast and urological surgeries performed on 827 patients. All non-scrubbed staff wore masks in half the surgeries, and none of the non-scrubbed staff wore masks in half the surgeries. Surgical site infections occurred in 11.5% of the Mask group, and in only 9.0% of the No Mask group.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=WzGFuyWiOADb6MZ7aL7xLuPwc5lSYkFZ0gT_wY_v71Xk7igxdimzGM_Wv6fNNptNbgBbIgR9tL51HbCEOMkptBhU6OThTzOaYEWQOEGVhco~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Lipp and Edwards<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\"> reviewed the surgical literature in 2014\u00a0and found \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">no statistically significant difference in infection rates between the masked and unmasked group in any of the trials<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">.\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=xKCr83oIzsEaJ8EtSqq11_5HEX37t-ZYta5c1Bo4zmHQlDVzq6A5MNu871YMZqX5kURNKbDOQU8sCFmCmB5UNL2FisQCHeGGbcWSaJ3cHLQ~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Vincent and Edwards<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\"> updated this review in 2016 and the conclusion was the same.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=MNEwPMVoYQtkNSU7LlDz_28bEoQNibznscMiyXsTjqzOtfwrWUweFz5ppdsbbKnc6tRA8wpHxzOhFFCFS7wHwqyliWkWIo970UFXgiKfnHs~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Car\u00f8e<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">, in a 2014 review based on four studies and 6,006 patients, wrote that \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">none of the four studies found a difference in the number of post-operative infections whether you used a surgical mask or not<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=3iASWYTPmvzBjayXrqKxNdNUnci9TgDFnhDj0si5_60klOpRtFcXLErmuoyMl_KHgun8M6nBdaZFRtfJljYylOVJmpEDf1Un3om4__HUJN8~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Salassa and Swiontkowski<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">, in 2014, investigated the necessity of scrubs, masks and head coverings in the operating room and concluded that \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">there is no evidence that these measures reduce the prevalence of surgical site infection<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=xZ8e4-6gE3LSwZX3WsrEWN5ZClWP_Lf84sILtt543mKCDwMSKyLD7tbJvqMbxf_G6XByt-dOTB31OqeH-F3HuwMDEj9ogEoG4fzsgXa2z7U~\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\">Da Zhou et al.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">, reviewing the literature in 2015, concluded that \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">there is a lack of substantial evidence to support claims that facemasks protect either patient or surgeon from infectious contamination<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;\"><span style=\"color: #414042;\">Schools in China are now <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=S_8oYeiJDam2g-Of7ABe1pXHQjGDHXZa92G7Bm1gL3iYZMMiDU6VpwR5v3PjhaHXXVV24561tIsUQmF6ksYqLjw95AeEhLshW_l0ysW0sYw~\">prohibiting students from wearing masks<\/a><span style=\"color: #414042;\"> while exercising. Why? Because it was killing them. It was depriving them of oxygen and it was killing them. At least three children died during Physical Education classes &#8212; two of them while running on their school\u2019s track while wearing a mask. And a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/app.cyberimpact.com\/click-tracking?ct=iFJivDBiIPcvHe1eDWkZ8wtymE1-8b7x2KK__ZEBzvG9RvJeAwGxevXTagAcfapR9SkW1I30clh7FL68GZJ9wzZ_u_ah4_F0rE-KtFw9mXQ~\">26-year-old man suffered a collapsed lung<\/a><span style=\"color: #414042;\"> after running two and a half miles while wearing a mask.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: #414042;\">Mandating masks has not kept death rates down anywhere. The 20 U.S. states that have never ordered people to wear face masks indoors and out have dramatically lower COVID-19 death rates than the 30 states that have mandated masks. Most of the no-mask states have COVID-19 death rates below 20 per 100,000 population, and none have a death rate higher than 55. All 13 states that have death rates higher 55 are states that have required the wearing of masks in all public places. It has not protected them.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>[For more information about the effectiveness of wearing face masks to prevent illness, see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/coronaphobia-research\/#mask\">Real Food Houston&#8217;s Coronavirus\/SARS-CoV 2 Research page<\/a>.]<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; [excerpt from Dr. Firstenberg&#8217;s newsletter dated August 11, 2020] [Dr. Firstenberg is the author of The Invisible Rainbow.] Instead of acknowledging the harm from radio waves, society is tearing its fabric apart by instituting measures that are protecting no <span class=\"excerpt-dots\">&hellip;<\/span> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/dr-arthur-firstenbergs-research-on-medical-face-masks\/\"><span class=\"more-msg\">Continue reading &rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7341","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P70SEj-1Up","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7341"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7549,"href":"https:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7341\/revisions\/7549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}