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Gloves: Nitrile and Latex Defined
Nitrile - Originally formulated as a replacement for
natural rubber latex gloves due to latex allergy concerns, Nitrile is a
synthetic material made to mimic latex, but has no natural rubber latex in it.
Nitrile gloves can be made thinner, providing better feel without giving up any
protective properties. Nitrile gloves are generally stronger, more puncture
resistant and more chemically resistant than their original latex counterparts.
Nitrile offers excellent protection against acids, oils, gasoline, solvents,
esters and grease. Nitrile gloves are more resistant to snags, punctures,
abrasion and cuts than neoprene, latex or PVC gloves and are quickly becoming a
staple in the industry. |
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Latex - This is the most universally recognized glove
material. Latex gloves hold up to acetones, ketones and thinners. The main
concern associated with these gloves is latex allergies, which can develop over
a long period of exposure to the product. Reduced latex protein gloves were
developed for this reason. These gloves have been additionally processed to
reduce levels of natural rubber latex (NRL) protein. |
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The Present: Many customers are now
switching from latex gloves to Nitrile in an attempt to decrease latex allergy
occurrence in workers. This is causing a significant reduction in accidents,
injury and loss of time spent productively in research ad experimentation. As
diseases such as AIDS have become more prevalent in recent years, and with
continual health scares such as MRSA and Bird Flu, the concern of healthcare
workers and patients about the quality of medical gloves has increased.
Practitioners need guarantees about the quality, strength and durability of a
glove. |
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Tough, yet gentle on the hands, Nitrile gloves are
becoming increasingly popular as they are less likely to cause accidents,
irritation and allergy. They are the best choice when it comes to working with
solvents, oils, greases, some acids and bases. There have been some concerns
raised over Nitrile gloves decreasing dexterity in smaller hand motions.
Some studies have found Nitrile gloves to give 8.6 less finger
dexterity. However the change was small and there was no gross loss in dexterity
in normal movements when using Nitrile gloves over latex. Nitrile gloves may
impede smaller finger actions to a very small degree, but will not affect larger
movements of the hands and arms and there should be no appreciable loss of
deftness and dexterity. |
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