CDC Awards Counterfeit Mask Prevention Contract To Underwriter Laboratories
Source : Medtech Insight
Safety certification company Underwriter Laboratories is set to land a contract with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop strategies to prevent the sale and distribution of counterfeit N-95 respirators, a CDC notice shows.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the government has become aware of “rampant” commercial fraud activity involving personal protective equipment (PPE), especially the gold-standard N-95 filtering face masks, the notice states. UL’s job under the contract will be finding ways to prevent those schemes.
According to the notice, UL “has specific and specialized experience with developing programs to prevent the production and sale of counterfeit copies of legitimate products, and to minimize exposure to the risks associated with counterfeit products.” This background will help the company analyze current processes on a global scale and make recommendations that comply with current US regulations and conformity assessment approaches, the notice states.
UL’s website states that as part of its COVID-19 services, the company evaluates PPE against standards from the World Health Organization, the CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration, among other groups. In the US, UL tests N95 masks to ensure they comply with relevant federal standards for surgical apparel and respiratory protective devices.
The company did not respond to a request for comment on what specifically they’ll do for the CDC under this contract by the time this story went to press.
The contract, set to last up to 12 months, is a sole-source firm fixed-price purchase order. Federal policy allows for some contracts related to COVID-19 to be awarded without a competitive bidding process.
The sale of counterfeit respirators has been a recurrent problem throughout the pandemic. US Customs and Border Control seized more than 12.7 million counterfeit masks last year, making them the most common forged medical device by far.()
The phony masks have led to lawsuits from manufacturers and consumers alike. Most recently, customers filed a class-action suit in February against an office supplies vendor who falsely labeled masks of unknown origin and efficacy as N95s. ()
By Elizabeth Orr