Latex

Basic Facts
Latex is a stable dispersion of polymer microparticles in an aqueous medium. Latexes may be natural or synthetic. Latex is found in nature as the milky sap of the rubber tree in Africa and Southeast Asia. Latex can also be made synthetically by polymerizing a monomer such as styrene that has been emulsified with surfactants. Latex is used to produce many materials. It is a complex emulsion consisting of: 1. Proteins 2. Alkaloids 3. Starches 4. Sugars 5. Oils 6. Tannins 7. Resins 8. Gums



**History**
Christopher Columbus can be credited with being the first person to discover latex. It was on his second journey back to the new world, Haiti specifically, that he saw some young boys playing with a rubber ball. What the boys were doing was bouncing the ball and trying to put it through a "hoop" that was also made of rubber. This is the earliest known form a today's basketball. Rubbers next two uses were foot-ware and erasers. It was the natives who discovered that the latex could be used for foot-ware, and Joseph Priestly, in 1770, was the man who first used the latex to erase pencil markings. Around the 1880s, a Scottish man, using latex, made the raincoat. If you wear the gloves too long then your hands will get sweaty.



**Latex Allergies**
The exact cause of latex allergies is unknown, but it is thought that repeated exposure to latex and rubber products may induce symptoms. About 5% to 10% of health care workers have some form of allergy to latex. This allergy is developed and health care workers are at the highest risk to develop it. After health care workers, the following are also at increased risk: People are usually exposed to latex through skin-to-skin contact or through inhalation. With most reactions, skin just becomes dry, itchy or experiences a burning sensation. In a latex hypersensitivity reaction, which is the most serious, hay fever-like symptoms such as pink eye, cramps, and severe itching will appear. In rare cases symptoms may progress to rapid heartbeat, tremors, chest pain, difficulty breathing, ow blood pressure, anaphylactic shock, or potentially death.
 * A defect in their bone marrow cells.
 * A deformed bladder or urinary tract
 * A history of multiple surgeries
 * A urinary catheter, which has a rubber tip
 * Allergy, asthma, or eczema
 * Food allergies to bananas, avocados, kiwis, or chestnuts
 * Rubber industry workers
 * Condom users

Guayule latex a hypoallergenic type of latex. This is still being researched and could potentially prevent a latex allergy which causes anaphylactic shock.

= __**What is latex and Where does it come from? **__ = = __**Latex is rubber and rubber is latex. **__ = = __**Latex is a mixture of organic compounds produced by some plants in special cells called caticifers. The composition of latex differs from plant to plant. Most natural rubber comes from a single species of tree, Hevea brasiliensis. Though native to South America, H. brasiliensis is planted in large plantations in southeast Asia, including Malaysia. **__ =

After natural latex is processed, it becomes a rubber with excellent mechanical properties. It has excellent tensile, elongation, tear resistance and resilience. It has good abrasion resistance and excellent low temperature flexibility. However, without special additives, it has poor resistance to ozone, oxygen, sunlight and heat. It has poor resistance to solvents and petroleum products. Useful temperature range is -67º F to +180º F (-55º C to +82º C). It is the high resistance to tear and its superb resilience over synthetic rubber that makes it still being used by medical doctors and surgeons all over the world.

LaTeX is a high-quality typesetting system; it includes features designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation. LaTeX is the //de facto// standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents