Malaysian minister pushes glove program, condemns anti-latex bias

LONG BEACH, Calif. (May 10)—Malaysia´s new Standard Malaysian Glove program is set to provide the highest quality, least allergenic natural rubber latex gloves in the world, according to Lim Keng Yaik, Malaysian minister of primary industries. "Malaysia is making medical gloves as safe as possible while ensuring barrier protection will not be compromised," Lim said at the Glove Shippers Association´s Second Annual International Glove/Barrier Conference and Trade Show in Long Beach. At the same time, Lim criticized the U.S. for "an unjust exuberance" in reacting to the latex allergy problem "which could lead to an unfortunate phobia against rubber...I´m not here to convince you there´s no problem, but to place the problem in perspective."