Posted on 07/21/2021 6:33:41 AM PDT by lightman
The lead author of a now-retracted research note that claimed children’s masks trapped dangerously high concentrations of carbon dioxide has said that JAMA Pediatrics’ decision to pull the paper was politically motivated.
The research note, “Experimental Assessment of Carbon Dioxide Content in Inhaled Air With or Without Face Masks in Healthy Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” authored by Harald Walach and colleagues, was published in June. Based on measurements of carbon dioxide in air inhaled by 45 children between six and 17 years of age, the study found that children wearing face masks were inhaling carbon dioxide levels “deemed unacceptable by the German Federal Environmental Office by a factor of 6.” The researchers concluded that their findings “suggest that children should not be forced to wear face masks.”
JAMA Pediatrics retracted the research letter on July 16. In a retraction notice, Dr. Dmitri Christakis and Dr. Phil Fontanarosa cited “numerous scientific issues” raised about the study methodology, including concerns whether the proper device was used to measure carbon dioxide levels and if the measurements were an accurate reflection of carbon dioxide levels in inhaled air, along with “issues related to the validity of the study conclusions.”
“In their invited responses to these and other concerns, the authors did not provide sufficiently convincing evidence to resolve these issues, as determined by editorial evaluation and additional scientific review,” Christakis and Pontanarosa wrote.
“Given fundamental concerns about the study methodology, uncertainty regarding the validity of the findings and conclusions, and the potential public health implications, the editors have retracted this Research Letter,” they added.
But Walach, who holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Basel, Switzerland, told Just The News in an emailed statement that JAMA did not specify how he failed “to provide sufficiently convincing evidence” to back his conclusions.
“I would actually also like to see how those conclusions were reached, but I am afraid that there was no solid conclusion,” he told the outlet. Walach pointed to “potential public health implications” as a “key phrase” in the retraction notice that, to him, suggests “the retraction was political, because some people did not like our data.”
Walach’s study has, thus far, drawn 21 official comments, most of which are critical. In a written response to the comments (docx), Walach and colleagues defended their research.
“Facts are not constituted by single studies, but by multiple replications and discourse,” they wrote. “This is the first peer-reviewed study of carbon dioxide content under face masks in children in a short measurement set-up. The measurements, we contend, are valid and were conducted by individuals with high content expertise.”
“If someone doubts our results, the way to go is not to claim they are wrong without proof, but to produce better and different results,” they added.
It comes as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on Monday issued updated guidelines for school reopening, urging all staff and children over the age of 2 to wear masks in schools, regardless of vaccination status, a posture that is stricter than the mask-wearing guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The AAP called its new guidance a “layered approach,” which includes recommendations for building ventilation, quarantining, as well as enhanced cleaning and disinfection.
The association said universal masking is necessary because much of the student population is not eligible for vaccines, and “masking is proven to reduce transmission of the virus and to protect those who are not vaccinated.”
There are dozens of circumstantial studies suggesting that masks work to stem the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes the disease COVID-19, although there has been just one randomized-control trial during the pandemic, carried out in Denmark. The researchers found that wearing a “surgical mask when outside the home among others did not reduce, at conventional levels of statistical significance, incident SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with no mask recommendation.”
Senators in New Jersey recently held a hearing to explore the efficacy and negative effects of mask mandates in schools for children. They found the scientific evidence does not support such mandates.
Mask wearing amid the COVID-19 pandemic has become a hot button issue, with some questioning the efficacy of facial coverings and others opposing mandates on grounds of personal liberty. Advocates, on the other hand, have broadly taken a better-safe-than-sorry approach in the face of underpowered efficacy studies, while generally viewing mandates as a minor inconvenience that helps protect people who are prone to serious complications if they get infected.
“It comes as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on Monday issued updated guidelines for school reopening, urging all staff and children over the age of 2 to wear masks in schools, regardless of vaccination status, a posture that is stricter than the mask-wearing guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
Pfizer is one of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ supporters:
So it boils down to “mis-information”, or, suppression of factual data. Good thing pedo joe already declared “they” would choose truth over facts. Now, I would like to hear from mrs-information. 😱💄😊
Two year old kids need to wear masks because science.
The American Medical Association is clearly reiterating that they and their Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) are for political publications. Authors need to publish truthful medical publications elsewhere.
A couple of high school track stars in China and at least one here and several elsewhere have died wearing masks on the track from oxygen deprivation. When I had to wear one at work it would make me feel sleepy or dizzy until I raised the bottom of it to breathe a bit.
• Carbon dioxide levels among children wearing face masks may exceed healthy limits, according to a research letter (JAMA Pediatrics. 2021;published online June 30). The analysis included 45 children (mean age, 10.7 years) who tested two types of nose and mouth coverings (a surgical mask and a filtering facepiece 2 mask) in a laboratory-like setting. The researchers found that levels were similar between the masks, with means ranging from 13,120 to 13,910 ppm of carbon dioxide. Only age was associated with carbon dioxide content in inhaled air. The youngest children had the highest carbon dioxide values, with carbon dioxide level measured at up to 25,000 ppm. The limit of 0.2 percent by volume (2,000 ppm) was exceeded by more than threefold among children with the lowest carbon dioxide levels.
Criticism in the comments section noted that the authors use an CO2 incubator analyzer (0-20%) that has an accuracy of 1% of the range (i.e. 2000ppm) and a time response T^90<=20 seconds for CO2. This device is unsuitable for measuring the transient concentrations during the respiration processes.
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