N95 masks widely available and much cheaper this year: CASE

If you’re stocking up on N95 masks in anticipation of the haze this year, you can rest assured that they are more widely available and more reasonably priced this year than last year.
 
Prices of the masks range this year from $1.38 for a 3M 9105 V-Flex mask to $3.90 for the 3M 9210 model at Guardian, said Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) in a release on Monday.
 
At the height of the haze in 2013, prices of the masks went as high as $8 per piece.

 
For its study, CASE did a random sampling of masks from three different leading brands — 3M, Kimberly-Clark and Paul-Boye — from 57 different authorised retailers that included Cold Storage, Guardian, NTUC FairPrice, Unity Healthcare and Watson’s.
 
A large variety of cheaper masks are on sale online or at other retailers, the non-governmental organisation noted, but it urged caution in purchasing them, especially when their quality is not assured.
 
Also, CASE president Lim Biow Chuan stressed that N95 masks sold in Singapore are not certified for use for children as they are not designed to fit their faces.
 
“Parents should take precaution to ensure that their children reduce their outdoor activities when the air quality is unhealthy,” he added.

 
CASE said it also ran tests on 10 air purifiers sold here to determine their effectiveness in clearing respiratory-problem-causing particles from the air. It found that the average elimination rate of these substances is in excess of 98 per cent.
 
In cleaning respirable suspended particles (atmospheric particles present in hazy conditions that are below 10 micrometers in diameter, and can cause chronic and acute effects on human health at high levels), the most effective air purifier was the Whirlpool AP628W, with an elimination rate of 99.21 per cent. The least effective air purifier on that front was the EuropAce EPU 166C, with a corresponding rate of 96.42 per cent.
 
Both purifiers scored 100 per cent elimination for volatile organic compounds (organic chemicals with a high vapour pressure at room temperature), however, alongside the Philips AC4025/01, with the worst performer, the LG PS-S209WC, still scoring an elimination rate of 99.55 per cent.