FDA: ‘Latex-free’ claims for medical products may be misleading
Washington – The Food and Drug Administration is recommending that manufacturers of medical products stop using the claims “latex-free” and “does not contain latex,” saying the claims may be inaccurate.
According to a draft guidance document (.pdf file) issued March 11, FDA is not aware of any tests that can verify a product is completely free of natural rubber latex proteins, which can trigger an allergic reaction in latex-sensitive people. Even products that are not made from latex can be contaminated during the manufacturing or packaging process, FDA warns.
To avoid giving people a false sense of security, FDA advises manufacturers to use the statement “not made with natural rubber latex.”
Between 8 and 12 percent of health care workers are sensitive to latex, according to OSHA.
Post a comment to this article
Safety+Health welcomes comments that promote respectful dialogue. Please stay on topic. Comments that contain personal attacks, profanity or abusive language – or those aggressively promoting products or services – will be removed. We reserve the right to determine which comments violate our comment policy. (Anonymous comments are welcome; merely skip the “name” field in the comment box. An email address is required but will not be included with your comment.)