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Ordinary Lab Gloves May Have Skewed Microplastic Data (nautil.us)

submitted 4 months ago by cm0002@toast.ooo to c/science@mander.xyz

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[–] its_prolly_fine@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Lab gloves are typically packaged in cardboard, and can be made from latex. Don't see how they would significantly skew data.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 7 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Lab gloves are nitrile plastic, they haven't been latex in decades.

[–] its_prolly_fine@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

Huh, last I wore goves was like 8 years ago, and my coworker had to have her own latex free gloves.

[–] ThoGot@feddit.org 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There are still latex gloves around, they're just not that common

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 months ago

Can't use latex in any hospital and most labs avoid them because of allergy and higher costs.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

nitrile and latex gloves traditionally worn by laboratory scientists of all stripes, can shed particles called “stearates” that mimic microplastics. These hydrocarbons, added by the glove manufacturers to prevent the gloves from sticking to the molds, can fool spectroscopy machines and are nearly impossible to distinguish from polyethylene under electron microscopes.

[–] its_prolly_fine@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

Oh interesting! That's actually kinda cool. Thanks for posting that, I didn't have time to read it originally.