KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 2): Only disposable rubber gloves produced by one company in Malaysia are banned from the US, clarified the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma).

In a statement today, the association debunked misleading reports that disposable rubber gloves from Malaysia were affected by the withhold release order by the US Customs and Border Protection.

Gloves from WRP Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd were subject to the order after the authority deemed that they were manufactured by forced labour, which include prison work, bonded labour and child labour.

"Margma would like to keep the public informed that our members take great concern on the welfare of our workers.

"The industry has since last year work on social compliance initiatives in order to continuously improve the welfare of the employees in the rubber glove industry," it said.

"We have formed a Social Compliance Committee and organised national seminar under the purview of the Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council (MREPC).

"There is a lot of compliance to be done and there is a lot of work to be carried out to ensure worker's rights, accommodation and general welfare is protected and for these initiatives, time and expenditure are required and together we have drawn out a program that will make our industry fully in compliance," Margma said.

WRP Asia Pacific is part of the association, which has over 50 members.

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