Latex

Latex is the milky fluid tapped from certain plants and processed into rubber and rubber goods. Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis, family Euphorbiaceae) is native to Brazil but became an important cash crop wherever it was introduced during the colonial period, with Asia today contributing about 90% of world production and Kerala leading Indian production, followed by Tamil Nadu. Tyre and automotive-parts manufacturing alone consumes about 70% of the world's rubber output, and rubber more broadly goes into footwear, wire and cable insulation, raincoats, household and hospital goods, shock absorbers, belts, sports goods, erasers, adhesives and rubber bands; hard rubber serves the electrical and radio-engineering industries, while concentrated latex is moulded into gloves, balloons and condoms, and foamed latex becomes cushions, pillows and life-belts. Natural rubber was originally too soft and defect-prone for many of these uses until Charles Goodyear invented vulcanization in 1839, discovering that heating rubber with sulphur under pressure at 150°C fixed these defects; t …