Cold and flu season is emerging, and more than anything, you should just make sure to wash your hands regularly. But what if those germs are the least of your worries?
Triclosan is an antimicrobial ingredient found in many soaps and toothpastes. Turns out, this can mess with liver fibrosis and tumors in mice when combined with other carcinogens. The new study was put together by senior author Robert Tukey of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Triclosan’s increasing detection in environmental samples and its increasingly broad use in consumer products may overcome its moderate benefit and present a very real risk of liver toxicity for people, as it does in mice, particularly when combined with other compounds with similar action,” Tukey said in a press release.
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Triclosan has been under fire for years as a potential endocrine disruptor in animal models that bioaccumulates in the environment, which may pose a risk to marine life. Though these studies have not yet shown cause of human disease at the low exposure dosages that come from hygiene products, triclosan has not been let off the hook. The FDA and EPA have called for further study to better understand the potential risk to human health and the environment.
This potential risk is highlighted by the fact that it hasn’t been shown to confer much, if any, advantage over certain non-antimicrobial products. If triclosan doesn’t even have a clear benefit to offer, it makes any risk seem fairly needless. The researchers report that traces of triclosan can readily be detected in the breast milk of nursing mothers, as well as in urine samples from 75% of adults. Triclosan does not bioaccumulate in the human body, but this does present some cause for concern and further investigation.
For now, the amounts of triclosan in products like toothpaste is minimal, so there’s no need to panic. But with soaps, other products without the ingredient generally work just as well, so no one would be sacrificing added benefits by changing products.
[Photo from flickr user Rachel Titiriga]
