This has prompted some states to provide legislation to seek to ban healthcare workers from using gloves with powder. First you need to realize that latex gloves are providing protection from infectious diseases being transmitted between patients and healthcare workers. The universal precaution for gloves in 1987 was an attempt to protect workers against the blood borne pathogen Aids virus. In recent years we've had the introduction of chlorinated latex gloves. The chlorination process kills the proteins on the surface of the gloves.
Chlorinated gloves are normally yellowish in color instead of the milky white of natural latex.
Although this process kills the proteins, it also speeds up the life cycle of the latex, which will become brittle and lose its protective qualities much faster than that of unchlorinated gloves. Another, yet less favorable alternative, is to use Vinyl examination gloves. Vinyl is a man made plastic product which is less form fitting to the hand. This gives a healthcare worker or patient a false sense of security. The most protective glove that has no allergic reactions is a Nitrile glove.