Masks Won't Cover Up Real Problem

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday January 15, 1991

By DEBORAH SMITH Science Writer

Australians working in the Gulf may wonder why they have to fork out $250 to the Government for gas masks when US Army masks, similar to those used by the Australian forces, are prominently displayed in Sydney disposal stores for less than $100.

They're not being robbed. The gas masks for sale here are unlikely to work properly.

But it is also wrong to think the 600 masks being flown by the Government to the Gulf will be sufficient to protect Australian citizens against poison gas, warned Mr Rob Sellers of MSA, the company which has provided the Australian Navy with its Nuclear Biological Chemical Warfare masks.

"People also need full protective clothing. Mustard gas will eat through a plastic mask in eight hours and then cause a very horrible death," he said.

At Kings Army Surplus store in Railway Square it is possible to buy a variety of gas masks, including an Israeli model. A US army M17 mask, made by MSA, costs $85.

A young trooper from the Armoured Corp, who was browsing through the disposal store, confirmed that the US mask on sale was similar to the ones he and other Australian soldiers used during chemical warfare training.

He also pointed out that gas masks are no help without clothing, when a droplet of liquid nerve gas on a person's skin can kill.

A Kings salesman, Mr Alan Munro, said that collectors were the main people interested in the M17 masks.

However, the masks would not work because they had not been sealed in airtight bags, Mr Sellers said. The filters on each side of the mask, which kept the radioactive, chemical and biological agents out, degraded with time.