Formaldehyde in reusable protective gloves

Abstract

Due to the clinical findings in a single patient's case, formaldehyde was suspected to be present in clinically relevant levels in reusable protective gloves. Therefore, 9 types of gloves were investigated with the semi-quantitative chromotropic acid method. It was found that 6/9 gloves emitted some formaldehyde and that 4/9 gloves emitted > or =40 microg of formaldehyde. Most of the formaldehyde was found on the inside of the gloves. To get an indication of the clinical relevance, a comparison with a protective cream declared to contain the formaldehyde-releasing agent diazolidinyl urea was performed by comparing areas of gloves with areas of cream layers with thickness 1-2 mg/cm(2). It was found that the amounts of formaldehyde emitted from the gloves might be in the same range as emitted from a layer of cream.