I'm glad you brought this up, I don't think it gets talked about enough.

I feel like a lot of people use disposable gloves that aren't thick enough. You see youtubers like Pete (gci turf) using 9mil gloves. If you actually read the PPE section on herbicide labels, you'll see they often recommend 14 mil+ gloves. Examples would be the prodiamine label or this glyphosate product label.

Most nitrile gloves aren't this thick. I would recommend getting chemical gloves from the cleaning aisle of your average department or hardware store (you know, those longer yellow ones..but you can find them in black).

So to actually answer your question..maybe those are good enough? Not every label specifies glove thickness. I prefer to not think about if one product or another is ok with thin nitrile gloves, because not all of them are and it's easier to just use the same gloves for everything. I just play it safe and use thick chemical gloves like these. I don't know what the consequences are of using thinner gloves, so I don't bother risking it.

 

Do you just wash those? if i spill roundup on them will it become inactive after a while?

 

Yeah, I wash them over my driveway or an empty mulch bed. I do assume herbicides become inactive after they dry off (gly doesn't even affect plants after it has dried) but I don't touch the outside part of the glove to be safe.

 

This would be great to know. I keep hearing ads on the radio about people coming down with cancer from exposure to roundup and it does put worries in my head. I use latex exam gloves which I'm sure are not good enough.

 

I generally wear the 5 mil ones you can get at Harbor Freight. I do have the arm length thick rubber ones though and maybe should wear them more often.

 

This would be great to know. I keep hearing ads on the radio about people coming down with cancer from exposure to roundup and it does put worries in my head. I use latex exam gloves which I'm sure are not good enough.

I don't want to take this thread too far off topic, but I'd recommend watching Matt Martin's overview of this:

It's hard to get a balanced view on this topic since "chemicals" is a scare word nowadays and the media has a vested interest in stirring things up. I think his video does a good job of giving a more educated perspective.

Either way, your caution is still justified!

 

Chemical penetration of gloves is a function of time. Even thin nitrile gloves will give you protection from most herbicides/ fungicides for a brief period (10 minutes minimum most are hours to no penetration). The thicker they are, the longer you have to change them before the solvent penetrates the glove to your skin. The 14+ mil recommendation is for a reusable glove that is cleaned off after each use.

 

I work in a chemical plant closely regulated by OSHA, and we buy 9 mil think nitrile for our workstations and they are more than enough. We all change gloves with every new chemical to prevent cross contamination, very much like we do at home and in our yards.

Like @OnyxsLawn said if you have the same pair on for 3 hours and are handling glypho maybe a cause for concern. If you mix up a batch and go spray and 30 minutes elapse, this is normal and within the design condition of your average nitrile/latex disposable glove.

 

Chemical penetration of gloves is a function of time. Even thin nitrile gloves will give you protection from most herbicides/ fungicides for a brief period (10 minutes minimum most are hours to no penetration). The thicker they are, the longer you have to change them before the solvent penetrates the glove to your skin. The 14+ mil recommendation is for a reusable glove that is cleaned off after each use.

What about double gloving with the thinner ones? Does that increase protection from absorption, or just insure against breaks?

 

I work in a chemical plant closely regulated by OSHA, and we buy 9 mil think nitrile for our workstations and they are more than enough. We all change gloves with every new chemical to prevent cross contamination, very much like we do at home and in our yards.

Like @OnyxsLawn said if you have the same pair on for 3 hours and are handling glypho maybe a cause for concern. If you mix up a batch and go spray and 30 minutes elapse, this is normal and within the design condition of your average nitrile/latex disposable glove.

You could be right, but I'm sure you also know that different chemicals penetrate gloves at different rates. It's likely that the labels that explicitly ask for 14 mil gloves recommend this based off of characteristics of the specific chemicals in the product. I suppose they could also be guarding against the worst case scenario of constant exposure over hours, which is unrealistic for a homeowner applying to their lawn and therefore wouldn't apply to us average folk.

But how can you really know?

 

From a brief literature search it does not appear that anyone has actually tested for glove penetration on glyphosate in particular. Some related classes of chemicals showed 1% penetration after 8 hours continuous exposure with a 5 mil nitrile glove. Glyphosate in particular is a charged molecule and in aqueous solution so its penetration through polymeric gloves will be even less.

The label recommendation is for a reusable glove that is is exposed repeatedly. Disposable gloves aren't subject to this kind of exposure and so can be much thinner while still providing complete protection.

If you are really worried just change your gloves any time they get wet.

 

What about double gloving with the thinner ones? Does that increase protection from absorption, or just insure against breaks?

Yes this would increase protection but not to the level of a glove twice as thick due to the additional trapped boundary layer between the gloves. You are better off wearing one pair and changing twice as frequently for the same cost of gloves.

 

Bringing this one back. Seems like a good topic.

Had used a thick piece of foam quite some time ago as a spill mat. You could see the sethoxydim burn right through it in a matter of minutes.

 

i think the answer to this depends on whether you are a homeowner or a professional applicator. when i spray at home, i get maybe a few drops on my disposable gloves. for the two or three times a year i might spray, the chemical exposure is miniscule. if your getting the same exposure 3x a year on the 40 lawns you are maintaining as a profession, yes, get the best PPE you can find.

 

To be honest I dont worry much about it, the only PPE I wear is rubber boots.

I try really hard not to get any herbicides/pesticides/fungicides on my hands and check wind speeds prior to spraying.

 

I wear this pair:
https://www.amazon.com/ThxToms-Gloves-Resist-Strong-Alkali/dp/B01EAIR384

The lining is not absorbing so they do get wet inside when using on hot days.

 

if you are concerned about this, look for green nitrile 13-15 mil reusable gloves, they are usually sold in 12" length, as pairs. You can wash/rinse with cleaner and resuse.

If you are looking for basic protection and then move on, any glove covering is going to help, nitrile in 3-5 mil range is fine, you could even use a vinyl glove.

The biggest concern you should have is inhalation, IMO. I would be wearing eye and face coverings more closely than gloves.

 

double gloving helps from breaks, suppose it can also help with potential absorption/permeation but really not the reason.

if someone is highly concerned about permeation through the product, buy exam/medical grade, they have a higher standard with regards to potential holes that could result in permeation.

 

I deal with / spray chemicals that are much worse then glypho every week if not every day. We use venom steal gloves from Lowe's. It's the best glove I have found so far. And the stuff I am dealing with has much higher consequence then glypho I'm talking about coughing blood, nervous system damage, death. I poisoned myself with one of the chemicals last year with a faulty chem filter and almost went to the icu with how much blood and junk I was coughing up. Venom steal. Use them