German researchers find that wearing face masks could result in stillbirths and cognitive decline

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

German researchers have recently published a study indicating that wearing face masks, even for brief periods, could lead to carbon dioxide poisoning and potentially cause detrimental health consequences such as stillbirths in pregnant women, testicular dysfunction, and cognitive decline in children.

According to the Daily Mail, a review of 43 previously published studies on the effects of carbon dioxide exposure, mask-wearing, and pregnancy has been published in the journal Heliyon.

Face masks may raise risk of stillbirths, testicular dysfunction and cognitive decline due to build-up of carbon dioxide, study warns. https://t.co/baumRMLxZh

— Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis (@DrLoupis) April 24, 2023

The study found that pregnant rats and young mice exposed to concentrations of CO2 as low as 0.3% experienced brain damage, increased anxiety, and impaired memory, according to one of the reviewed studies.

Another study mentioned in the research found that exposure to 2.5 percent CO2 for four hours led to the destruction of testicular cells and sperm in male mice, which is equivalent to 0.5 percent CO2 exposure in humans over the same duration.

Another trial found that pregnant rats exposed to as low as 3% CO2 suffered stillbirths and birth defects, which is equivalent to 0.8% for humans, as per the study.

The research also highlights a study which discovered that after only five minutes of wearing a mask, CO2 levels rose to between 1.4 percent and 3.2 percent.

The researchers acknowledge that the review offers only "circumstantial evidence," but they suggest that the increase in stillbirths during the pandemic could have been caused by masks.

A rise in stillbirths during the pandemic has been noted by Swedish researchers, who found an increase from seven per 1000 births to 21 per 1000 births. Similarly, a leading UK hospital experienced a four-fold increase in its stillbirth rate.

“Circumstantial evidence exists that popular mask use may be related to current observations of a significant rise of 28 percent to 33 percent in stillbirths worldwide,” the German researchers stated.

The researchers also added that there was “reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance of two full standard deviations in scores in children born during the pandemic.”

Dr. Kevin Bass, who has a PhD in cell and molecular biology, created a comprehensive thread on the study:

A review published by @CellCellPress shows mask-wearing may contribute to stillbirths, irreversible cognitive deficits in children, testicular dysfunction, and much more.

This suggests the ethical principle "first, do no harm" was violated by mask mandates.

Thread.🧵

— Kevin Bass PhD MS (@kevinnbass) April 16, 2023