How the AIDS Epidemic Brought a Forgotten Desert Plant Back
Since the AIDS crisis beginning in the 1980s, members of the medical profession wear latex gloves as diligently as they do scrubs. Health care workers, with this increased use of protective wear, noticed more and more how the material irritated their skin and developed latex allergies.
Latex allergies are marked by itchy eyes, sneezing, coughing, rash, chest tightness, shock and even life-threatening illness. Health care providers with a latex allergy struggled for a compromise. With the gloves they were uncomfortable, possibly even ill, and without the gloves they were at a higher risk of contracting HIV. The solution: Using natural rubber latex that is hypoallergenic.
Commonly referred to as hevea, most natural rubber latex is often derived from the para rubber tree. Hevea, which is grown in tropical climates, absorbs a variety of tropical proteins. Because of these proteins hevea is the cause of this latex allergy and, therefore, hevea, the world's most common source of rubber, cannot be used to produce hypoallergenic latex.
Derived from petroleum, synthetic rubber is commonly used to produce hypoallergenic rubber. But with a demand for a natural and environmentally-friendly alternative and rising oil prices, manufacturers took another look at the plant guayule. Guayule, which grows in northern Mexico and the southwest region of the United States, is a natural source for hypoallergenic rubber because it doesn't contain any of the tropical proteins found in hevea.
Guayule's use as a hypoallergenic natural rubber source is important for nearly 10 percent of the population has an allergic reaction to hevea-based latex. But the guayule plant is also an excellent cash crop for arid regions. It's more than just a source of hypoallergenic latex. It can successfully grow in the desert; it's so sturdy and it doesn't require irrigation or pesticides. It can be used as a feed stock for ethanol production also.
Guayule rubber is surprisingly nothing new. Using guayule, Native Americans made rubber balls. Rubber was made from guayule because of a leaf blight outbreak that destroyed the rubber trees in Brazil in the 1920s. Guayule was used to produce latex in the 1940s because the war with Japan made it impossible to import rubber from Malaysia. Quickly after World War II ended and Brazilian trees recovered from the leaf blight, guayule rubber as a source of domestic rubber was abandoned. Despite guayule's natural allure, rubber producers in Southeast Asia were able to produce rubber more economically, and lobbyists worked to keep oil-based synthetic rubber on the market.
Then, again, things changed. In response to the oil embargo beginning in the 1970s, U.S. policy makers began to look at alternatives to oil-based synthetic rubber. Once again, guayule research and development began.
Enter the 1980s when because of AIDS the problem with latex allergies became unavoidable. Then and still now, with the demand being so high, guayule natural rubber is a product invaluable for anyone requiring hypoallergenic products.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
About the Author: Jason Lancaster is an avid fan of up-and-coming agricultural biotechnology. Learn more about guayule at GuayuleBlog.com.
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by: JasonLancaster
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