The Saint-Jérôme Polyvalent School had to throw away all of the approximately 3,700 eclipse glasses that it had acquired for its students and staff members because they were in fact counterfeits, we have learned The duty.
Last Wednesday, the school began distributing protective glasses purchased on the Amazon platform to its thousands of students and hundreds of employees. The establishment, like several others in the greater Montreal area, will be closed on April 8 due to the solar eclipse expected in the afternoon. The initiative aimed to allow students and employees to be able to witness this rare astronomical phenomenon from home in complete safety.
However, on Friday, the parents of the high school students received an email from the director of the establishment, Nathalie Flamand, urging them to throw away the protective glasses that had been provided to them. “Following certain checks with astronomers affiliated with the Montreal Science Center, we had confirmation that the glasses were not all safe and that it is impossible to validate the effectiveness of each pair,” writes the director. “If your child has received a pair, we ask you NOT to use it and throw it away,” she asks in this message which startled several parents.
“Did they make a purchase on Amazon like fools or did they buy from a reputable source and there was a manufacturing problem? » asks Katia Belisle in an interview, one of whose children studies in secondary school at this school. She plans to go to Jean-Drapeau Park to watch the solar eclipse with her children as part of an activity organized by the Montreal Planetarium.
Counterfeits
By email, the Rivière-du-Nord School Service Center (CSSRDN) confirms that these protective glasses had been acquired on the Amazon platform from a recognized supplier, American Paper Optics. These should in theory comply with the international standard ISO 12312-2, which guarantees that their use is safe to observe a solar eclipse without risk.
“However, the supplier realized that its products were counterfeited. He issued an opinion and members of the school team saw this opinion,” continues CSSRDN communications manager, Nadyne Brochu. “The school immediately referred to the specialists at the Science Center and, together, it was decided to throw away all the glasses in order to avoid risks,” she continues.
Mme Brochu assures, however, that the Saint-Jérôme Polyvalent School is the only CSSRDN establishment which suffered from this problematic order.