WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration proposed banning powdered medical gloves on Monday, saying the powder can inflame wounds and cause scars to form between organs and tissue after surgery.

The powder is added to the gloves by manufacturers to make it easier to put them on and take them off. But experts have known for some time that the powder can cause harm. The agency did not specify the precise percentage of gloves that now have powder, but a spokesman for the agency, Eric Pahon, said it was very small. The proposal is open for public comment for 90 days.

The agency started to warn about the gloves in 1997 but refrained from banning them then, largely because it determined that pulling them from the market at the time could have caused shortages and been disruptive to the practice of medicine. The ban would apply to powdered surgeon’s gloves, powdered patient-examination gloves and absorbable powder for lubricating a surgeon’s glove.