Officially presented a few months ago, and with several hundred units sold worldwide, it seems that Razer has just retracted one of the main qualities of his mask Zephyr, removing all mention of N95 grade protection certification.
In fact, the company’s official website now describes its product claiming that the «Razer Zephyr It is not a certified N95 mask, medical device, respirator, surgical mask, or personal protective equipment (PPE) and is not designed for use in medical or clinical settings […] To avoid any confusion, we are in the process of removing all references to ‘N95 Grade Filter’ from our marketing materials.«.
We’ve taken feedback and guidance from regulatory agencies to establish our testing protocols for the Razer Zephyr and Razer Zephyr Pro. Review the test results and learn more about how we’ve designed the wearable air purifier *: https://t.co / a64JBKiaOe pic.twitter.com/IunXhc4fkS
– R Λ Z Ξ R (@Razer) January 8, 2022
The change comes after the YouTuber Naomi Wu wrote a Twitter thread about the handheld device over the weekend and publications like PCMag began to make a wake-up call about Razer’s “mislabeling.” As Wu points out, the “N95” certification is an official certification issued by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for respirators that filter at least 95% of airborne particles. Also, this is a designation that involves a full mask, not just a part, taking into account both fit and leakage. In fact, the content creator pointed out that neither Zephyr nor Zephyr Pro are listed on the agency website as NIOSH approved respirators.
For its part, Razer has already advised that, in addition to this change in the promotion of the mask, it will contact all users who have purchased this product to inform them of the change.
And it is that this change occurs in the midst of various changes in the United States and Europe, in which some countries have asked the public to use surgical masks, N95 and KN95, instead of cloth masks and other devices of less efficiency given the high contagion rate of the new delta-omicron variant of COVID-19.
