Almost $1 Billion Later, the US Still Can't Make a Medical Glove
Almost $1B Later, the US Still Can't Make a Medical Glove
Despite $123 million in federal funding, the Blue Star NBR factory in Virginia stands abandoned, unable to produce nitrile gloves after four and a half years. This failure highlights the immense challenges the US faces in reviving domestic manufacturing for essential medical supplies, even with significant government investment.
A dark gray building full of steel tanks and giant reactors sits at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Southern Virginia, a hulking symbol of an abandoned effort to make more medical gloves in the US.
- Illniyar
The article headline makes it seem like the factories couldn't make the gloves.
But further down it says that the cost was double and factories couldn't get buyers.
These are very different failure modes, and speak to very different solutions.
- dmix
The article mentions access to NBR latex being an issue, but doesn’t explain that this is less commonly produced in America because they produces much more shale gas these days which doesn’t result in enough butadiene needed. So the most important supply chain to build the product is mostly coming out of Asian and European crackers. Giving an advantage to the Malaysian factories on top of the other lower costs of business there.
Which makes you wonder why the government thought it was a feasible investment or if they didn’t care and hand waved it with ‘national security’.
- atombender
- cherryteastain
How are these types of awards usually structured? Are they just grants? If so, doesn't that create a perverse incentive to take the money even if you never intend to deliver the result?
- taneq
Is this the new “China can’t manufacture a ball point pen”? (Which I strongly suspect they can do at this point. :)
- karakoram
A very important question to ask.
Should the US make medical gloves?
- cyberge99
Needs an orthogonal approach. Perhaps Elmer's glue that physician’s can dip their hands in and rinse off?
- black6
Asian manufacturing will continue to undercut Western manufacturing on cost due to the absence of safety culture and the spending that comes with it. The value of human life is higher in the West, and the manufacturing costs reflect that.