Medical device manufacturer 3M says it is under pressure from the White House to stop exporting N95 masks it currently produces in the United States to other countries, including Canada.
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Medical device manufacturer 3M says it is under pressure from the White House to stop exporting N95 masks it currently produces in the United States to other countries, including Canada.
The Minnesota-based company said in a news release Friday that while it welcomes the Trump administration’s invocation of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to compel domestic companies to produce critically needed medical infrastructure, it presents some problems, too.
Among other things, the order mandates that 3M stop making N95 masks that are destined for customers in Canada and Latin America, and instead keep them in the U.S.
The DPA, which was passed in 1950, grants the president the power to expand industrial production of key materials or products for national security and other reasons. Hockey equipment manufacturers and even fashion houses have been trying to shift their production to start making medical safety equipment, such as gowns and masks, where possible.
Health-care workers around the world are currently facing a desperate shortage of such masks in their fight to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19.
“There are, however, significant humanitarian implications of ceasing respirator supplies to health-care workers in Canada and Latin America, where we are a critical supplier