7 or 8 years ago.... Isn't that the time that the FDA ordered them off the shelves becuase they didn't work as promised and that promise was only like a 4 or 5 micron filter? If they are the ones I remember, they had a finite shelf life, no more than five years IIRC.

Yeah, they sucked, and they are probably stale. Try the McNett, a lot of people like it. I've got my reservations, but YMMV.