Quebec school board distributed potentially toxic masks to students, daycares, government workers

Masks have been withdrawn from Quebec's largest school service after it was discovered that they could contain potentially toxins in their materials, CBC Radio-Canada reports.

The Centre de services scolaire de Montreal was requested by the government of Quebec to pull the masks after it was discovered that a material called nanoform graphene was used to make the masks, according to CBC.

The school service says that the majority of masks used were not targeted by the recall, and just the adult-sized, blue and grey ones were.

Radio-Canada also found that the masks were distributed to employees at Revenu Quebec.

Staff were told to stop distributing the China-made masks as it could trigger "early pulmonary toxicity."

"If you have this type of mask in stock, we ask that you stop distributing them and keep them in a safe place now," wrote the Quebec government in a directive, reports Radio-Canada.

The Lester B. Pearson school board was among the schools who used the masks on their students, notifying parents in a letter reading:

"We are now verifying whether any of these particular masks remain in our schools and centres. Any unused masks will be returned to our storage depot while we await further directives from the government."

"Please note, our understanding is that this recall does not apply to recent shipments we have received and does not affect the pediatric (child-sized) masks being distributed to our elementary schools."

English school boards did not use the masks.