M Aamir Khan
Srinagar: Seemingly cashing in on the fear psychosis, pharma companies have flooded markets with `magic mouth sprays’ and ‘super-masks’ claiming that these products give 99.9 percent protection against deadly coronavirus.
Photographs and videos of these products have gone viral on social media especially WhatsApp. People are being enticed to buy these products despite no approval from the authorized bodies.
“There are several products that are available for sale like enzyme-based mouth sprays that claim of reducing viral load by 99 percent. However, it has to be sprayed before going to a place where there is a risk of contracting the virus. Then there is the super-mask from a Swiss company that claims to directly inactivate bacteria and viruses including 99.9 percent of the novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also, there are few surface disinfectant sprays. More self-test Covid-19 kits are expected to flood the markets in the coming days,” said a medical representative.
“While the effectiveness of these products has not been recognized universally, most of these are not harmful either and are usually marketed by reputed pharmaceutical companies. The mouth-sprays are more or less like the liquid mouthwashes that you gargle. For example, doctors have issues with a few brands of hand sanitizers as their excessive use causes skin problems. But, these are still being sold,” he added.
Doctors are, however, advising people not to use these products. Doctors said only those products approved by the government-recognized bodies should be used.
“Whenever there are conditions like these, some rogue elements can exploit the situation and mislead people. The government has designated authorized bodies and the people should only follow their advice. No product should be consumed without the advice of experts. Our association does not approve of these products,” said Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) president Dr. Mohammad Yousuf Tak.
On the availability of Covid self-test kits in the markets, he said the people should go for the regular Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) and Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) if needed. He said in case the products were approved, they should be used only after consultation with the doctors.
