There are actually a large number of materials characterized as rubbers or more generally as elastomers.
Not made with natural rubber latex meaning.
The word by itself does not refer to natural rubber latex.
Currently there is no requirement to have a not made with natural rubber latex statement or other information regarding the lack of use of natural rubber latex in medical product labeling.
Contains or presence of natural rubber latex.
These vary widely in chemical structure and application and all of them synthetic except for natural.
Instead of latex free and does not contain latex the fda wants labels to say not made with natural rubber latex that still leaves the latex sensitive crowd at risk because it s not possible to certify that a product is truly latex free.
At this time there are no regulations requiring a company to make any labeling statements when natural rubber latex is not used as a material in the manufacturing of a medical product.
Natural rubber this term includes all materials made from or containing natural latex.
In other words it refers to natural rubber latex dry natural rubber and synthetic latex or synthetic rubber that contains natural rubber in its formulation.
However even when medical products are not made with nrl there is a chance that products can become contaminated with nrl allergens during manufacturing or packaging processes.
The terms latex free and does not contain natural rubber latex suggest that the medical product is completely without nrl fda wrote.
Natural rubber latex should not be confused with synthetic rubber for example butyl or petroleum based.
Synthetic latex materials include.
Synthetic latex is made from petroleum and does not contain the naturally occurring proteins found in natural.
Not made with natural rubber latex.
The purpose of this guidance is to make recommendations on the appropriate language to include in the labeling of a medical product to convey that natural rubber latex was not used as a material.