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Since the beginning of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, members of the medical profession diligently wear latex gloves as they do scrubs. Health care workers noticed more and more how the material irritated their skin and developed latex allergies with this increased use of protective wear.

Latex allergies are marked by itchy eyes, sneezing, coughing, rash, tight chest, shock and even life-threatening illness. Health care providers with allergy to latex struggled for a compromise. Without the gloves they were at a higher risk of contracting HIV and with the gloves they were uncomfortable, possibly even ill. Using natural rubber latex that is hypoallergenic is the solution.

Most natural rubber latex is derived from the para rubber tree, which is referred to as hevea commonly. Because hevea is grown in tropical climates, this hevea often absorbs a variety of tropical proteins. The cause of latex allergies are these proteins. Hevea, therefore, is the world’s most common source of rubber and cannot be used to produce hypoallergenic latex.

Commonly used to produce hypoallergenic rubber, synthetic rubber is derived from petroleum. Manufacturers took another look at the guayule plant with rising oil prices and a demand for an environmentally-friendly and natural alternative. Guayule, which is a natural source for hypoallergenic rubber and does not contain any of the tropical proteins found in hevea, grows in the southwest region of the United States and northern Mexico.

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 nothing new surprisingly. To make rubber balls Native Americans used guayule. Because of a leaf blight outbreak that destroyed the rubber trees in Brazil in the 1920s, rubber was made from guayule. Because in the 1940s the war with Japan made it impossible to import rubber from Malaysia, guayule was used to produce latex. Guayule rubber was abandoned as a source of domestic rubber quickly after Brazilian trees recovered from the leaf blight and World War II ended. Lobbyists worked to keep oil-based synthetic rubber on the market and rubber producers in Southeast Asia were able to produce rubber more economically, despite guayule’s natural allure.

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.

The problem with latex allergies became unavoidable because of AIDS: Enter the 1980s. With the demand being so high then and still now, guayule natural rubber is an invaluable product when requiring hypoallergenic products for anyone.