The Federal health officials decided to finally move to ban most surgical gloves made with powder. This is allegedly a feature designed to make them easier to wear but it actually poses health risks to patients and healthcare professionals.
According to ABC NEWS, the Food and Drug Administration stated that the powder found to some latex gloves can actually bring about breathing problems, wound inflammation, and scar tissue on internal organs of patients when used during surgery. After finding out the outcome of using powdered surgical gloves, the FDA immediately proposed the ban in a federal filing on Monday.
However, in a government research, it was found out that the federal filing would not be expected to cause too much impact on the glove supplies or manufacturer sales. FDA also ensured that most of the powdered surgical gloves have already been phased out, and only six manufacturers are still registered to produce them in the United States. "This ban is about protecting patients and health care professionals from a danger they might not even be aware of," stated Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, head of the FDA's medical device center.
Yahoo! News reported that the consumer watchdog group, Public Citizen, made a petition to the FDA to restrict the use and production of powdered gloves in 1998. This comes after the group stated that the surgical gloves could actually induce allergic reactions caused by cornstarch powder used in most brands.
During that time, Public Citizen estimated about 75 percent of surgical gloves used in the U.S. contained cornstarch powder. Before the 1970s, powdered gloves contained talc, which is another ingredient that was found out to be an irritant.
"The fact that it took the FDA 18 years to propose banning powdered surgical gloves from the market highlights how recklessly negligent the agency is," mentioned Dr. Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen, in a statement. She added, "There is absolutely no new scientific information today that we didn't have in 1998."
Regarding this matter, CTV NEWS claimed that the agency made sure that its proposal on surgical gloves is based on extensive review of scientific literature and public documents, which the FDA started to collect in 2011. The FDA also addresses safety issues with medical devices by putting warning labels or modifying their instructions for use. But it concluded that the safety issues with powdered gloves could only be addressed by removing them from the market.
Meanwhile, the FDA is set to make comments on its proposal for 90 days. Later on, it will also be moving to finalize the ban of the powdered surgical gloves.
