Guayule Latex Gloves: Have You Made the Switch?

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I have a number of patients in my practice who are allergic to rubber latex. Because of this I have completely switched over to gloves that do not contain any latex rubber. I read in the news that there is a new material out called guayule which is very similar to latex rubber but does not produce an allergic response. For those of you already using gloves made out of this material, what are you thoughts? Have you started using it?

Editor’s Note:

In April 2008, the FDA cleared for marketing the first device made from a new form of natural rubber latex, guayule latex. The product, the Yulex Patient Examination Glove, is derived from the guayule bush, a desert plant native to the Southwestern United States.

Traditional latex gloves are made from the milky sap of a rubber tree, Hevea braziliensis. The sap contains a protein that may trigger allergic reactions, especially after prolonged and repeated contact.

Estimates vary, but anywhere from 3 percent to 22 percent of all health care workers are sensitized to traditional latex. Available data on the new guayule latex show that even people who are highly allergic to traditional latex do not react on first exposure to guayule latex proteins.

“This approval has the potential to make a significant difference to both the general public and the medical community at large,” said Daniel Schultz, M.D., director of FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “Gloves made from guayule latex may prove to be a safer alternative for some people with sensitivity to traditional latex. And yet they will not sacrifice the desirable properties of traditional latex such as flexibility and strength.”

The Yulex glove is made by the Yulex Corporation of Maricopa, Ariz.

Source: www.fda.gov

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Comments

One Response to “Guayule Latex Gloves: Have You Made the Switch?”

  1. Betsy on July 17th, 2008 4:47 pm

    Yes, the glove was approved by the FDA but it is not yet available to purchase from the public. The company who makes the natural rubber material for gloves and medical devices, Yulex Corporation, is trying to work quickly to get this product to the marketplace so you and many others can have a safe glove made with natural materials so it performs better than synthetic materials.

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