3M said Thursday that it investigated more than 4,000 reports and filed 18 lawsuits in response to suspected price increases, counterfeiting, and fraud regarding the sale of N95 respirator masks.
Because it is important: Potentially, the United States is seeing another serious shortage of face masks, gowns, and other protective gear, especially needed for healthcare workers, amid the surge in the coronavirus.
- The company said any damage recovered through its lawsuits will be donated to nonprofit coronavirus relief efforts, including direct relief.
The panorama: 3M faced criticism from President Trump and other prominent observers, such as Mark Cuban, about its production of respirators at the start of the pandemic.
- Cuban criticized the company in April for “doing more globally than nationally,” echoing a similar line by Trump now when the United States became the epicenter of the pandemic. “You can’t fool the American people,” he told Axios.
- 3M says that as of July it delivered nearly 100 million N95 masks to U.S. hospitals, while making 50 million respirators per month.
Go deeper: PPE fails again
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