Contents of sensitising rubber accelerators in disposable rubber gloves: A Copenhagen market survey

Rubber gloves contain rubber accelerators that may cause contact allergy. The content of sensitising rubber accelerators in contemporary rubber gloves is not well known. Identify and quantify the content of rubber accelerators in disposable rubber gloves. Fifty-one gloves of 49 different brands were collected. Forty-eight of the gloves were disposable and three re-usable. The gloves were analysed for their content of sensitising rubber accelerators, that is, zinc dithiocarbamates, thiurams, thiazoles/benzothiazoles, diphenylguanidine, and thioureas by high-performance liquid chromatography. Rubber accelerators were identified in 43/48 (90%) of the disposable gloves. In total, 39 gloves contained zinc dibutyldithiocarbamate (ZDBC) (0.18-1.96 mg/g), 34 zinc diethyldithiocarbamate (ZDEC) (0.032-2.78 mg/g), three zinc dibenzyldithiocarbamate (0.65-1.4 mg/g), one zinc dimethyldithiocarbamate (0.23 mg/g), and one 1,3-diphenylguanidine (0.21 mg/g). 2-cyanoethyl dimethyldithiocarbamate (CEDMC) was identified in three gloves (