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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eighth Eye Blind" data-source="post: 239561" data-attributes="member: 49683">I'm going to stretch some logic here because I seriously doubt there's any good data on this but . . . .Avocado is one of the plant species that produce natural latex compounds in its leaves. Humans make things tires and gaskets out of the stuff. The plants use it as a defense mechanism against insects. In a live plant the latex is both sticky and toxic . . . so there's that.I also know that my colleagues working in aquatic biology will not use latex gloves because latex particles have been shown to affect things like tadpole development. Aquatic systems are far more sensitive to toxins than terrestrial ones, though, so most researchers don't worry about it . . . but there's still that as well.What does this mean for dead, dried-out avocado leaves versus a T? I have no idea. I personally doubt there's any real threat from them but maybe it's better to be safe than sorry.</blockquote>