Absorbable Dusting Powder
A glove powder used to ease the donning of gloves. It is made of edible modified cornstarch and a small percentage of magnesium oxide as defined by USP, the United States Pharmacopoeia.

Accelerator
A chemical used as a catalyst to accelerate the process of turning liquid latex into gel form.

AQL
Acceptable Quality Level, is a quality specification that the FDA and the manufacturers use to specify the pinhole rate in surgical and exam gloves. The FDA specifies an AQL of 1.5 for surgical gloves and 2.5 for exam gloves. AQL 2.5 means the defect level from a very large numbers of gloves (say one million pieces) will not be more than 2.5%.

ASTM
The American Society of Testing and Materials. Organized in 1898, The ASTM is a not-for-profit organization that provides a forum for the development and publication of voluntary consensus standards for materials, products, systems and services in various industries. The FDA uses some of the standards and specifications developed by the ASTM to establish its requirements for examination gloves.

B Grade Gloves
Also known as off-line gloves or industrial grade gloves. They are not for medical use. These gloves are either made to not meet medical glove standards in the first place, or they fail in pinhole rates or specifications in quality control, and are downgraded from medical grade to B grade. These gloves are usually labeled as disposable gloves and cannot be labeled as exam gloves.

Calcium Carbonate
A mold-release agent added in production to help the release of gloves from the hand molds or formers. Calcium carbonate occurs naturally in chalk, limestone and sea shells.

Eczema
Dermatitis and inflammation of the skin, that later can develop into thickening and hardening of the skin.

Elongation
Measurement of the length a glove can be stretched before it breaks. It is expressed as a percent of the original length of the glove right at the moment it breaks. The higher the percent, the more stretchable the glove material.

Industrial Grade Gloves
See B grade gloves.

Latex
Natural rubber latex is a milky sap-like substance produced by the rubber tree called Hevea brasiliensis, found in Southeast Asia, India and South America. When the trunks of these rubber trees are tapped, they produce latex. This latex is then collected and used in manufacturing.

Leaching
The washing and cleansing process with water in the manufacturing of gloves, by which excess chemicals and/or latex protein are dissolved and washed away from the gloves.

LEAP
LEAP method is ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent) assays that use antibodies that are sensitive to latex proteins to quantitatively measure the level of antigenic proteins in latex extracts. The antibodies IgG are generated from rabbits that are immunized with purified latex protein.

Spina Bifida
A birth defect in the spinal column, whereby the vertebral arches (top part of the backbone) is absent, and through which the spinal membranes may push or jut outward. Therefore, this part of the central nervous system is not well protected. Patients with Spina Bifida are at very high risk of developing latex related allergy.

Modified Lowry
Modified Lowry method uses a chemical assay to measure total protein levels. The assay uses a chemical dye to interact with certain amino acids. The result in a color shift is measured to determine the change in optical absorbance, which means the detection of protein when comparing it to a standard curve using egg protein (purified ovalbumin) as reference point.

Modulus
A low modulus glove is easy to stretch and flex, whereby a high modulus glove is hard to move and stretch.

Permeation
Movement of substance through a thin film, such as a glove, on a molecular level.

Primary Skin Irritation Test
A test to determine if certain material can cause skin irritation. The test material, such as a piece of glove material, is attached to the skin of test subjects, such as rabbits or guinea pigs. After maintaining the skin contact for 24 hours, the contact area is observed for up to 72 hours for any kind of skin reactions.

Rhinitis
Inflammation of the nasal mucous membrane.

Sensitization
The process of developing an allergy.

Tensile strength
Measurement of the amount of force or pull required to break a glove. Tensile strength is expressed in Mpa, and the higher the number, the stronger the glove material.

Vulcanization
A manufacturing process whereby latex gloves are treated and hardened from gel form into solid form in a heating oven.