Washing technology set to reduce latex allergies from hospital gloves
ERJ staff report (DRR)
Dusseldorf, Germany -- A new technology claims to reduce the allergic potential of latex gloves to virtually zero. Developed by the Dutch company Budev, the patented MPXX technology is used to wash latex during manufacture, the firm said in an 18 Nov announcement.
The new process and the Cleantexx brand gloves made with it were iintroduced at the Medica trade fair running in Dusseldorf from 17-20 Nov 2010.
Cleantexx gloves are produced in Malaysia by Total Glove, a Dutch-Malaysian joint venture between Budev and the Malaysian manufacturer Latexx Partners.
"Our product aims to offer a lasting solution to the problem of allergies caused by latex gloves," says Michiel Paping, CEO of Budev and one of the Directors of Total Glove, in the statement.
"Efforts by manufacturers, legislators and users have brought about in a drop in the number of statistically recorded cases of contact dermatitis due to hypersensitivity to latex proteins, but they haven't been able to eliminate the problem completely," he said. "Also, latex allergy Type IV is upcoming for nitrile gloves.
"That may be about to change," says Paping, as Budev has granted Total Glove the right to use its MPXX technology in a licensing agreement for the manufacture of latex gloves. The technology is used to wash the protein residue from the gloves as a final step in the manufacturing process, the firm explained.
Current regulations require commercially available medical gloves to guarantee a latex protein content of less that 50 microg/g. The levels of the four allergenic proteins in gloves treated with the MPXX process are so miniscule that they cannot be quantifiable by any of the standard methods - such as the Lowry and FITKit tests prescribed in Europe and in the US - or in even more stringent tests conducted by the dermatology department at the university hospital in Erlangen, Germany.
Thus MPXX not only meets the current ASTM and EN 455 standards, it actually exceeds them by far, Budev claims.
The joint venture is presently limited to using the new technology to produce Cleantexx examination and surgical gloves, but Budev plans to apply the new process to the manufacture of other products made of natural rubber in the future.
Serial production of Cleantexx gloves has already begun in Malaysia, and they are already for sale in Europe. The gloves are available in two quality grades, and pricing is "fair and highly competitive, considering the excellent value of the product," says Paping.
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Press release from Total Glove (Malaysia)
www.mpxx.org
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