Customs And Border Patrol Releases 41 Million Latex Gloves
Customs And Border Patrol Releases 41 Million Latex Gloves
On Thursday of this week, U.S. Customs released a massive shipment of medical gloves they had been holding since September.
By Carly Baldwin, Patch Staff
Mar 27, 2020 10:43 am ET | Updated Mar 27, 2020 2:03 pm ET
https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/22....jpg?width=705Pictured are just some of the latex gloves U.S. Customs and Border Protection had been holding onto, held in warehouses in Baltimore and California. (Ansell Photo)On Thursday of this week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released a massive shipment of 41.3 million medical-grade gloves, which the federal agency had been holding onto since late September of last year (2019).
It took an Englishtown councilman to get the word out that the gloves were being held, and that councilman asked Rep. Chris Smith — Monmouth and Ocean counties' longtime Republican congressman — for help. Smith said he made repeated calls this week to CBP to get the gloves released.
"It took dozens of calls to numerous different federal officials. But it was just too important to give up on," said Congressman Smith.
Ansell, a top manufacturer of protective gear, including latex gloves, made the gloves. In light of a nationwide shortage on gloves and other protective items, they initially asked the federal government release them.
Ansell has a corporate hub in Iselin, and it was Englishtown Councilman Greg Wojyn who first connected Ansell with Smith, and relayed that they needed the congressman's help releasing the medical gloves. Wojyn first made the request Tuesday of this week, and by Thursday the gloves had been released.
32.5 million gloves were being held at the port in Baltimore and 8.8 million more gloves were being held in Oakland, California.
"We needed to act quickly and work with federal officials to get the medical examination gloves released by CBP and into the communities across the country where they are desperately needed," said Smith.
The gloves are being shipped out immediately.
The gloves will be distributed to nurses, doctors and first responders nationwide, not just here in New Jersey. However, in light of the fact that New Jersey has the second highest number of cases of any state in the country, Ansell promised that many of these gloves will be given out here in New Jersey, according to Smith's office.
Renae Leary, Ansell's Chief Commercial Officer of the Americas, thanked Smith.
"Ansell is thankful for the efforts of Congressman Chris Smith and others to expedite the release of 40 million medical gloves into the United States," Leary said.
"Ansell is pleased that the US Customs and Border Protection agency has made the decision to release this supply to healthcare facilities across the United States where it is needed most."
Smith is the congressman for the fourth congressional district, which covers nearly all of Monmouth County, including towns such as Holmdel, part of Middletown, Colts Neck, Rumson, Manalapan, Freehold, Red Bank and Wall Township. The fourth district also reaches into Jackson and Lakewood in Ocean County and Hamilton and Robbinsville in Mercer County, as well as other towns.
For questions about coronavirus in New Jersey, residents are encouraged to dial 2-1-1, or text NJCOVID to 898-211. To reach Rep. Smith's NJ District offices dial 732-780-3035 for Freehold; and 609-585-7878 for Hamilton.
https://patch.com/new-jersey/middlet...n-latex-gloves
