Vytex™ Natural Rubber
Latex (NRL) Wins Hands Down over Hevea Natural Rubber Latex
The greatest demand for latex-safe products is in the health care arena, where reduced antigenic protein exam and surgical gloves are critical for both professionals and patients.
To date, efforts to produce low protein natural rubber latex gloves rely heavily on the post-leaching processes. For example, processes using chlorination to remove the antigenic proteins in natural rubber latex gloves have been known to weaken the natural rubber latex and reduce the barrier properties of the glove.
With Vytex NRL these extra post leaching processes to reduce the antigenic proteins are unnecessary since they have been virtually removed during the Vytex NRL process.
Synthetic gloves made of materials such as neoprene, nitrile, PVC and polyurethane lack many of the desired benefits of natural rubber latex. In many cases, the elasticity, barrier protection tensile strength, modulus and tactile sensitivity properties are inferior to Vytex NRL as evidenced by lower ASTM standards for these materials.
Additionally, many synthetic materials create environmental hazards in their production and contain known carcinogenic chemicals including phthalates, typically found in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to achieve flexibility and used in many medical product applications, such as IV bags and tubing.
Vytex NRL changes all this. It's simple and economical to produce, exhibits all the desired characteristics of natural rubber latex and has low antigenic protein levels. And Vytex NRL, like natural rubber latex, is a natural, renewable resource, can biodegrade in nature in as little time as six months or the equivalent of an oak leaf, according to a study conducted on balloons by the Balloon Council and contains no known human carcinogens.
Test Results for Potential Medical Devices made with Vytex NRL
| Sample ID |
ASTM D6499-03 ELISA (ug/ml) |
ASTM D6499-03 ELISA (ug/g) |
ASTM D5712-05 Modified Lowry (ug/ml) |
ASTM D5712-05 Modified Lowry (ug/g) |
| Condoms |
b.d. |
< 0.2 |
b.d. |
< 47 |
| Surgical Gloves |
0.7 |
3.4 |
< 8.3 |
< 42 |
| Exam Gloves |
0.2 |
0.8 |
b.d. |
< 28 |
| Breather Bags |
b.d. |
< 0.2 |
b.d. |
< 42 |
| Probe Covers |
0.1 |
0.4 |
b.d. |
< 42 |
| Tubing |
b.d. |
< 0.2 |
b.d. |
< 42 |
b.d. - Below Detection
