Recently we made a toxicological study of several epoxy resins which are used in embedding media for transmission electron microscopy (Ringo et al., 1982). Using the Ames Test for bacterial mutagenesis, we confirmed that all the resins tested were mutagenic to some degree. Several reviews of safety procedures in the electron microscope laboratory have appeared recently (Drury, 1980;Bance et al., 1981;Causton, 1981), but, in terms of protective materials for handling resins, these authors could only warn that common laboratory gloves are designed for aqueous systems and may be penetrated by organic reagents (Weeks and Dean, 1977;Sansone and Tewari, 1978). In order to obtain information on this subject, we tested three types of commonly-used disposable laboratory gloves: polyvinyl chloride (here abbreviated vinyl), natural latex rubber (latex), and polyethylene (poly).
These were exposed to representative epoxy resins; a colorimetric reagent for epoxides was used as a sensitive indicator of penetration of the glove material either through breakdown or diffusion.
Gloves were tested which are typical of those available from several manufacturers: 1) Triflex vinyl examination glove, Travenol Laboratories, Deerfield, Illinois (0.004" thickness).
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Rosstex latex examination glove, Searle Medical Products, Dallas, Texas (0.005" thickness).
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Vanlab poly gloves, VWR Scientific, San Francisco, California (0.0015" thickness). Resin was placed in a 13x100 mm glass culture tube; a finger-tip from the glove to be tested was stretched taut over the tube end and secured with a rubber band. The tube was inverted in a vial containing 2 . 5 ml of Tris buffer, 0.2 M, pH 7.4; 0.5 ml buffer samples were removed at 5, 15, 30, 60, and 0 1984 ALAN R. LISS, INC.