Elkton, Maryland, July 29, 2008 – W. L. Gore & Associates announces that their breathable GORE® CHEMPAK® Selectively Permeable Fabric is the first and only breathable CBRN barrier component-recognized to the NFPA 1994 [2007 Edition] Class 3 standard. Tactical users can now benefit from comfortable CB protection because this fabric is available in the Blauer WZ9430 Major Incident Response Team suit, which is part of the first breathable, certified NFPA 1994 Class 3 protective ensemble. Having recently announced the first and only breathable CBRN barrier that is component-recognized to NFPA 1971 [2007 Edition] standard CB option, Gore continues to demonstrate its leadership in providing breathable protective barriers for ChemBio personal protective equipment (PPE).
GORE® CHEMPAK® Selectively Permeable Fabric is both liquid-proof and air-impermeable, which provides protection for the user against liquid, aerosol, and vapor TICs and CWAs. At the same time, this barrier fabric improves total heat loss by allowing moisture vapor from perspiration to escape from the garment, thereby reducing heat stress and increasing comfort. These characteristics allow first responders wearing suits made with Gore’s fabric to stay active on duty for longer periods of time without compromising their safety. In addition to this, the fabric is constructed with a unique, intrinsically stable, non-carbon-based laminate, giving it a longer service life and ensuring lasting protection that end-users expect when using Gore products.
Gore has a long-standing tradition of not only creating outstanding products but developing these products with the end-user in mind. As Joe Staudenmayer, a CB-focused product specialist at Gore, says, “Gore’s long-term commitment in developing ChemBio applications for our products is now coming to fruition. We engineer all of our products to meet the specific needs of the end-user, a philosophy we call ‘fitness for use.’ With this approach in mind, we developed GORE® CHEMPAK® Selectively Permeable Fabric and tailored it to meet various military and emergency response CB requirements such as NFPA 1971 CB option and NFPA 1994, Class 3. By drawing on our expertise in protective barriers and then collaborating with those who use our products, we were able to customize our fabric to meet the demands of responders in various situations.”
This new fabric is the latest addition to Gore’s line of protective fabrics for emergency responders, which also includes GORE® CHEMPAK® Ultra Barrier Fabric used in a variety of protective ensembles as well as CROSSTECH® Moisture Barriers used in garments, footwear, and gloves for fire, EMS, technical rescue, and law enforcement. For more information about Gore’s ChemBio products, call 800.431.GORE or visit GoreChempak.com.
With more than $2 billion in sales and 8,000 employees worldwide, W. L. Gore & Associates specializes in fluoropolymer innovations that improve the quality of life. Gore has applied its world-renowned expertise to thousands of high-performance solutions in pharmaceutical, consumer, industrial, electronic, medical, and surgical markets. Specifically in the protective fabrics arena, Gore has been a pioneer in developing high-performance barrier products for use in firefighting, EMS, technical rescue, law enforcement, military, and domestic preparedness applications. The company operates more than 45 facilities worldwide with headquarters in Newark, Delaware, USA.
