Triclosan: Friend or Foe?

By Anonymous

In our increasingly germ-phobic culture, antibacterial products have rapidly gained in popularity. Always on the hunt for new ways to satisfy consumers, companies frequently retool their products, looking for the next best thing in personal hygiene. Triclosan, a heavily used antiseptic and antibiotic that was invented 35 years ago, is now under the microscope because it causes a troubling chemical reaction. Peter Vikesland and a team from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University found in 2005 that chloroform- a chemical once used as an anesthetic but abandoned when found to be toxic-was formed when products with triclosan reacted with chlorinated water. Although toothpaste was not included in the study, many stores in China pulled toothpastes with triclosan from their stock.

Now, two years later, Vikesland and his team have followed up on their original research. The group tested 16 household products, some containing triclosan and some without. All products with triclosan were found to either directly produce chloroform or result in other chlorinated output. Chloroform can cause dizziness, fatigue, and headaches when breathed in and ingesting chloroform over long periods of time can cause liver or kidney damage. Chloroform is also suspected as a carcinogen.

Vikesland urges that “a full risk-benefit analysis of these products should be conducted” to gauge the level of potential harm from triclosan. In the meantime, Palo Alto, California, has banned all soaps with triclosan from city facilities. By contrast, Shane Snyder of the Southern Nevada Water Authority advises against a ban on soaps in the Las Vegas area. “I don’t find the formation of chloroform surprising,” Snyder says. “I think it will form under many scenarios in our daily lives.”

Vikesland believes the issue warrants more study, but, “it’s hard to predict exactly what’s going to happen at an individual’s tap.”

-Environmental Science & Technology, 1 April. (M.E.P.)

Copyright Heldref Publications Jun 2007

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