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Do latex gloves expire? What is the shelf life of medical gloves?

COVID-19 caused demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) to skyrocket, including face shields, goggles, and masks. Many people have also started
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  • Comments (7)

    • 6

      Very useful blog post – I’ve often wondered about that myself.

      Sorry for the stupid qestion, but how do we actually know that a place is free from ozone?

      • 7

        There are no stupid questions when it comes to preparedness. 

        Ozone is used as a disinfectant, and some hospitals pump low levels of ozone into ducts. As long as boxes are sealed they should be fine. If you are in a healthcare setting, your safety officer should be able to tell you if your hospital is using ozone for disinfection, and in what capacity. 

      • 4

        Some home air purifiers that work off of ‘ionizing the air’ release ozone as a byproduct. https://ecolifemaster.com/do-air-ionizers-produce-ozone/

      • 5

        As an aside, you don’t want a purifier that puts out ozone or turn it off if it’s a switch. Ozone irritates your lungs.

    • 7

      It’s always great to read an article about the potential expiration of items that you normally wouldn’t think about.  I have some of the DoD Pandemic Flu Kits and am curious if the surgical and N95 masks have a shelf life.  The hand sanitizer doesn’t have a date so I’m assuming well past its best by date.

    • 5

      As a lab technician I have found over the years that while latex or nitrile gloves don’t ‘expire’ as such they do have an increasing failure rate as time goes by. Every now and again we come across a box of gloves that has an unusually high rate of gloves ripping or disintegrating as you put them on, typically this turns out to be an older batch or a box that was at the back of the shelf and sat there for years unopened. This is not a big problem but does get annoying. However, because so many gloves out of a dud box tear, that box gets used up fast and then the problem goes away!

    • 5

      Thank you for this post.  It is a great reminder that I have preps that need to be used FIFO like food.  I appreciate the content.