Abstract: An aqueous, plasticizer-retardant pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) is made from an aqueous latex emulsion having an average particle size diameter of not substantially above about 100 nm and made from a mixture of ethylenically-unsaturated monomers and oligomers that include one or more of N-(iso-butoxymethyl) acrylamide, N-(n-butoxymethyl) acrylamide, N-methylol acrylamide; and emulsified in the presence of an emulsifier consisting essentially of: In structure I, R1 is an alkyl, alkenyl, or aralkyl group containing between 6 and 18 carbon atoms, R2 is H or R1, R3 is H or a propenyl group; A is an alkylene group of 2 to 4 carbon atoms, n is an integer ranging from 1 to 200, X is H or SO3M, where M is an alkali metal, an ammonium ion, or an alkanolamine cation. Preferably, the ethylenically-unsaturated monomers include 2-ethylhexyl acrylate.