"As with all products, there are risks – in this case very slight"
I cannot agree having studied the issue in depth and been involved in High Polymer Lattice research.
An increase in gay men of 2,000% in anal cancers indicates a similar figure in heterosexuals.
Latex deaths based on the 1% reported are now running in the thousands and one can only guess at long term deaths from cancers and related birth defects.
This is A VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM dispite the fact it is getting little media exposure. There are other far safer forms of birth control.Condoms are bad news and should be banned.
I AM NOT ALONE IN SAYING THIS
A Move To Banish Latex Products
June 28, 2000
BOSTON (Boston Globe) — Josephine Pandolfo's illness began three years ago as a slight rash on her hands, accompanied by chronic sinus headaches. But it progressively got worse.
There were days when Pandolfo, a dentist, had difficulty breathing. Her tongue would swell and she couldn't swallow. Then, she almost lost her life after going into anaphylactic shock, an often fatal allergic reaction, at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
Finally, a test confirmed it: Pandolfo had developed a severe reaction to latex, the rubber that is found in everyday products from surgical gloves to baby's pacifiers.
Pandolfo is one of an estimated 18 million Americans, or 6 percent of the population, who have latex sensitivity. The allergy has been responsible for at least 21 deaths nationwide since 1989, 16 as the result of an allergy to the latex in barium enema tips, a product no longer on the market.
Now, in one of the strongest moves ever taken against latex in New England, Rhode Island Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse is calling on hospitals, restaurants and manufacturers to discontinue using latex gloves. He has written a resolution recommending that the state health department regulate the use of latex in the health-care, food-service and day-care industries.
"I think the big message is to get the word out," Whitehouse said. "Particularly in the food-service and day-care industries, there is no need for the (latex) products. It's a little difficult in health care where the alternatives have to meet the standards of latex gloves."
Whitehouse has met with Allegiance Healthcare Corp., a latex gloves manufacturer, to encourage them to provide more non-latex products and bring awareness about the allergy to the general population.
"It's a particularly difficult allergy because it's so hard (for consumers) to find out if latex is in a product or not," he said. "Therefore, the risk of exposure to latex is very high. You don't really know if you are going to be exposed."
The natural, milky substance, made from the rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis, is used in 40,000 products, including items such as balloons, diaphragms, condoms, and even mouse pads. Of these 40,000 latex-containing products, 300 are medical items.
Ironically, the federal government greatly increased the use of latex in 1987, when new regulations required all health care workers to wear latex gloves to prevent the spread of the HIV-virus. That year, Americans used 2 billion pairs of gloves for medical purposes. Today, the number is estimated to be around 20 billion.
Along with the increase in latex use, the number of people with an allergy to the natural rubber has dramatically risen. The Food and Drug Administration reports that between January 1985 and March 1999, there were five deaths from allergies to latex gloves and 2,330 allergic reactions.
"Unfortunately, we see a significant increase (of allergic reactions) because of the increased use of latex gloves," said Jim Brady, a disability lawyer. Brady has represented more nurses with latex allergies than any other lawyer in New England. "I think, among many people, there's no awareness of the problem with latex gloves."
An allergic response generally triggers a poison-ivy-like rash 12 to 36 hours after contact. While this is not life-threatening, some people may have a reaction to the latex protein itself. A full-blown allergic response often affects the skin and other organs, producing hives, swelling, asthma and, in extreme cases, anaphylactic shock.
Pandolfo has had reactions to food prepared by people wearing latex gloves, latex powder residue left on a table at the doctor's office, and, once, to a water glass that was handled by a girl wearing the gloves.
"I don't go out to eat anywhere unless I've talked to the chef first," Pandolfo said. "This is life-threatening."
When she travels, she telephones the hotel ahead of time to talk with the chef. She brings her own food on an airplane. And she only uses self-adhesive stamps.
"I can't lick a stamp. I can't lick an envelope," she said. "(Latex) is out there everywhere, and you can just die."
Among the people who are most at risk are health-care workers. The American Academy of Family Physicians estimates that between 10 and 17 percent of these workers, which include nurses, dentists and surgeons, are at risk for latex reactions. Children with spina bifida, a disabling birth defect, people exposed to products containing latex, and those who have hay fever or other allergies are also at risk.
While many hospitals have voluntarily changed to non-latex products, some health care facilities have been reluctant to discontinue its use. A majority of restaurants, day-care centers and beauty salons continue to use latex, unaware that they are messing with a deadly allergen.
"For the places that haven't changed over, education hasn't gotten out to the degree that it needs to," said Gail Lenehen, editor for the Journal of the Emergency Nurses Association. Lenehen went into anaphlyactic shock three years ago while working in the emergency room of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "They haven't reached the average nurse, physician or hairstylist."
In 1997, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health recommended that non-latex gloves be used for all activities that are not likely to involve contact with infectious materials, such as food preparation, routine housekeeping and maintenance. That same year, the Food and Drug Administration established rules for labeling all medical devices that contain latex.
But still, said Whitehouse, who has been working on this campaign since January 1999, progress is slow. While some Rhode Island restaurants have volunteered to change to non-latex on their own, many are still using the allergenic material.
While there are a number of non-latex products available, including gloves made of vinyl or polyvinyl chloride, nitrile or other synthetics, many hospitals are slow to change because of the additional cost.
"It's money," Brady said. "The vinyl gloves are not as cheap as latex gloves. The latex gloves are very accessible, very easy."
Brady said, however, that the health-care industry is under the false impression that latex gloves are always less expensive. He said a growing number of non-latex gloves are just as good and priced competitively with latex.
"The pro-active actions that need to be taken, which are to eliminate latex gloves, are very doable, but there is tremendous reluctance at the facilities," said Evelyn Bain, associate director of occupational safety and health for the Massachusetts Nurses Association. "It doesn't make sense not to do it."
Copyright 2000 The Boston Globe. All rights reserved.
"Better they should contract AIDS? "
Even if you believe in 'AIDS' you cannot be so ill informed as to think condoms can protect against a virus HUNDREDS of times smaller than it's lattice structure, can you?
Do Condoms Protect Against Small Viruses?
The use of condoms is widely recommended to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including those caused by such viruses as herpes simplex, hepatitis B, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The efficacy of condoms in these circumstances, however, is unknown.
The water-leak test used to ensure the integrity of condoms can detect holes as small as 3 to 4 m in diameter, but sexually transmitted viruses are much smaller, with diameters of 0.04 to 0.15 m.
A previous study demonstrated that about one third of condoms tested allowed penetration of HIV-sized polystyrene spheres.
There are other far safer forms of birth control. Condoms are bad news and should be banned.