March 12, 2007

Ansell Healthcare Introduces Encore® HydraSoft® Surgical Glove With Moisturizing Agents that Help Hydrate Skin and Resist Drying

Glycerine, Dimethicone Improve Skin’s Natural Barrier Function; SureFit™ Technology Provides Superior
Protection during Operating Room Procedures

Red Bank, NJ -- Ansell Limited (“Ansell Healthcare”), a global leader in healthcare barrier protective products, has introduced Encore® HydraSoft®, a powder-free, latex surgical glove with an innovative coating that helps retain moisture and hydrate the skin, enhancing the skin’s natural barrier function and resulting in soft, smooth, moisturized skin that resists the effects of drying and cracking.

The Encore® HydraSoft® glove utilizes two moisturizers: skin-friendly Glycerine, which attracts and retains water, and Dimethicone, which prevents the skin from drying out, and the result is moist, re-hydrated skin. This intact skin forms a highly effective barrier that helps prevent the likelihood of developing irritant and/or allergic skin reactions and allows the skin to fulfill its natural functions more effectively.

Encore® HydraSoft® also features other infection control innovations, including Ansell’s patent-pending SureFit™ technology, which provides surgeons, nurses and healthcare professionals with superior barrier protection during operating room procedures. The Encore® HydraSoft® expands the Ansell Healthcare glove portfolio which enables the company to provide a complete solution for surgical glove needs.

“HydraSoft’s coating consistently improves the quality of the skin on the hands of health care professionals, which is critical given that patients depend on those very hands for care,” said Diego Rodriguez, Ansell Healthcare North American marketing director. “From a technical standpoint, the HydraSoft glove delivers not only consistent skin moisturizing, but also low-allergenic properties, effective barrier protection, ease of donning and double-gloving, superior performance via its SureFit technology and, more importantly, consistent higher quality.”

As a leader in infection control, Ansell developed the Encore® HydraSoft® glove to reduce the risk of healthcare professionals experiencing the results of chronically dry and cracked skin caused by frequent in-hospital hand-washing, using alcohol-based disinfectants and frequent and long glove-wearing. Outside the hospital, centrally heated and air-conditioned rooms, water and harsh household detergents and cleaning fluids, sun, wind and weather and a healthcare professional’s age and skin type can all affect skin function.

Dry skin can create a migration path for allergens, irritants and micro-organisms and can lead to infections, as well as irritant and allergic dermatitis. Encore® HydraSoft’s Glycerine and Dimethicone moisturizers help result in soft, smooth and moisturized skin – ideal for resisting the effects of dry and cracked skin.

In end-user trials in three separate U.S. facilities during actual medical procedures, users rated the Encore® HydraSoft® glove good or excellent, and the glove earned a 92 percent rate of acceptance on a variety of criteria, including fit and feel, tactile sensitivity and moisturizing effect.*

The Encore® HydraSoft® surgical gloves’ SureFit™ Technology also provides even greater barrier protection to surgeons, nurses and other health care professionals. SureFit Technology overcomes the “cuff roll-down” typically experienced while wearing impervious surgical gowns designed to prevent fluid penetration. By maintaining the surgical glove securely around the arm, SureFit Technology ensures the integrity of the sterile field by shielding the gown cuff and ensuring the efficacy of the surgical glove as a barrier protection.

Ansell designed Encore® HydraSoft® with a specific thickness that allows for a comfortable fit and excellent tactile sensitivity during surgical procedures with single or double-gloving. Featuring a smooth finish, Encore® HydraSoft® also provides worry-free instrument and suture control. It also expands the flagship portfolio of Encore® brand surgical gloves, which includes:

• Encore® Acclaim® - a smooth, general-purpose latex, powder-free glove for most surgical procedures.
• Encore® MicrOptic® - a smooth, micro-thin latex, powder-free glove ideal for delicate procedures.
• Encore® Orthopaedic - a textured, ultra-thick latex, powder-free glove that provides added strength and thickness for high-risk procedures.
• Encore® - a textured, general-purpose latex, powder-free glove for most surgical procedures.

About Ansell
With its regional headquarters located in Red Bank, New Jersey, Ansell Limited (“Ansell”) is a global leader in healthcare barrier protective products. With operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, Ansell employs more than 11,000 people worldwide and holds leading positions in the natural latex and synthetic polymer glove and condom markets. Ansell operates in three main business segments: Occupational Healthcare, supplying hand protection to the industrial market; Professional Healthcare, supplying surgical and examination gloves to healthcare professionals; and Consumer Healthcare, supplying sexual health products and consumer hand protection. Information on Ansell and its products may be found at www.ansellhealthcare.com or by calling 800.952.9916.

*Test results available from company.

For more information, contact:
Diego Rodriguez
Ansell Healthcare Products LLC
732.345.5974
DRodriguez@ansell.com


Christopher G. Bacey
SGW-PR
973.263.5181
cbacey@sgw.com

March 2007

Bioterrorism Survey of Operating Room Nurses Shows Value Of Self-Study for Increasing their Preparedness and Knowledge

Improvements of up to 100% seen in some cases; Anthrax, botulism among threats

Red Bank, NJ -- For Immediate Release -- Survey research findings by Ansell Limited (“Ansell Healthcare”) to be released as a “poster” presentation at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) 54th Congress March 11-15, 2007, in Orlando show that self-study training modules taken by operating room attending nurses at health care facilities can significantly increase their perceived level of knowledge and preparedness for a bioterrorist threat, often by at least twice as much.

A survey of attendees at a previous AORN Conference1 indicated that the operating room nurses’ ranking of their “perceived level of knowledge and preparedness” after completing a self-study module on protection from biological agents increased from a rating of 4.8 to a rating of 7.3 (on a scale of one to 10) among those nurses whose facilities offered training on bioterrorism threats. In comparison, among nurses whose facilities did not offer such training, the perceived level of knowledge and preparedness increased from a rating of 3.0 to a rating of 6.5.

As part of the survey, the nurses were asked to rank their perceived level of knowledge and preparedness for a biological attack in one of the six Category A2 agents in their hospitals. They were then given a self-study module on “Biological Agents & Barrier Protection.” After reading it, they were again asked to rank their perceived level of knowledge and preparedness.

“This survey shows that the self-study module is a highly satisfactory method of educating healthcare workers about bioterrorism attacks,” said Janie Thomas, RN/BSN, clinical consultant at Ansell Healthcare. -more-

“Methods such as self-study not only are a good way for hospitals that currently do not have such training to educate their healthcare professionals, but also can serve as an adjunct to any existing training,” she added.

The study found no statistical difference in the level of preparedness by region. It also found that 90 percent of respondents believed there are differences in barrier properties between various gloving materials, and that 79 percent did not believe vinyl-only gloves were an adequate protection against bioterrorist agents.

“This effort is another example of how Ansell is committed to partnering with the facilities it serves in order to ensure that the highest quality training is available for the health care professionals, especially in terms of barrier protection from bioterrorism, biohazards and infectious diseases,” said Diego Rodriguez, Ansell Heathcare North America marketing director.

For more details on the “Effects of (a) Self-Study Educational Approach to Bioterrorism Preparation” presented at the conference, contact Janie Thomas at Ansell Healthcare.

About Ansell
With its regional headquarters located in Red Bank, New Jersey, Ansell Limited is a global leader in healthcare barrier protective products. With operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, Ansell employs more than 11,000 people worldwide and holds leading positions in the natural latex and synthetic polymer glove and condom markets. Ansell operates in three main business segments: Occupational Healthcare, supplying hand protection to the industrial market; Professional Healthcare, supplying surgical and examination gloves to healthcare professionals; and Consumer Healthcare, supplying sexual health products and consumer hand protection. Information on Ansell and its products may be found at www.ansellhealthcare.com or by calling 800.952.9916.

For more information, contact:
Diego Rodriguez
Ansell Healthcare Products LLC
732.345.5974
DRodriguez@ansell.com

Christopher G. Bacey
SGW-PR
973-263-5181
cbacey@sgw.com

1-The survey was returned by 290 operating room attending nurses from 44 states at the 2005 AORN Congress in New Orleans, LA.
2-The following diseases are listed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as high-priority biological diseases: anthrax, smallpox, botulism, tularemia, viral hemorrhagic fever and plague. (Source: http://www.bioterrorism.uab.edu/CategoryA/default.html)