TOXIC TRICLOSAN IS BEING TRICLOBANNED IN BRITAIN

Antibacterial products remain all the rage, and if you look on the label of many of them, you’ll find they share a single increasingly common ingredient called triclosan. You can find triclosan in everything from toothpastes and soaps to cleaners and kitchen implements. In fact, if a product promises to rid your world of germs, chances are it’s using triclosan to do it. Unfortunately, triclosan may be more harmful than helpful. That’s why British supermarkets are taking sensible precautions and banning antibacterial items that contain it.

One of the more popular germicides, triclosan is being added to an ever growing number of consumer products as manufacturers ride the current wave of bacterial fears of an increasingly germ-phobic public. Whether it’s personal care products or clothing, pillows or cutting boards, the majority of the antibacterial products we use are likely to contain this chemical.

Unfortunately, triclosan is a member of a carcinogenic family of compounds called chlorophenols. Chlorophenols are chemically related to dioxins, and, batches of triclosan have been shown to occasionally become contaminated by dioxins inadvertently created during production. Scientific studies have also shown that this antibacterial substance breaks down into dioxins when exposed to sunlight in the general environment.

That’s troubling because a recent study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey tested the water from 139 streams in 30 states for 95 wastewater contaminants and found that triclosan contaminated a hefty 57% of all surveyed sites. The findings were proof that triclosan readily survives conventional wastewater treatment methods and is entering the environment in many locales as more and more people use it.

Triclosan is also entering our bodies and remaining there, a fact that doesn’t surprise experts, given that it’s a chlorinated chemical. Researchers at Stockholm University in Sweden found that three out of five tested samples of human breast milk contained this antibacterial chemical, sometimes in appreciable amounts.

Further tainting triclosan’s reputation is the fact that it doesn’t appear to function in the way that researchers once thought it did. When first introduced, triclosan was thought to be a general biocide, that is an antibacterial chemical that disrupts so many cellular functions at once that bacteria encountering it simply cannot survive. However, recent research has cast doubt on this classification and many scientists now think that triclosan is a specific biocide, one that kills bacteria by targeting very specific cellular functions. This kind of germ-killer is trouble because it can create “super-bugs,” bacteria that have managed to survive their encounter with it and have evolved into a resistant type as a result.

The accumulated weight of such alarming evidence has prompted several major grocery and home product chains in Great Britain to declare their intention to phase out triclosan from their products. The chains, which include Marks & Spencer, Asda, B&Q, and Sainsbury’s, have said that they will work to identify possible alternatives to this chemical in their own private store-label products and make this substitution as soon as they can, in many cases by 2005. By far the most aggressive position was taken by giant general retailer Marks & Spencer, which stated that it will have instituted a complete triclosan ban in the next six months.

The decisions come as something of a turnaround for the British retailers, which for the most part had previously insisted that triclosan was safe. Some observers credit impending European Union chemical restrictions with encouraging the chains to take preemptive action against a material that may be officially banned down the road. Others think consumer pressure from an increasingly well informed and chemically wary public was responsible. Indeed, a spokesperson for Asda said that so many customers had raised concerns about triclosan that the company had even raised the issue with the British Retail Consortium, a national trade group, before deciding on its own ban.

Whether it’s ultimately being sent by shoppers or retailers, the message here is clear: Triclosan is a threat to the environment and human health. Though it’s marketed as an ingredient to enhance personal health, it ironically appears to do the opposite. When you need to kill germs, experts recommend opting instead for safer alternatives based on general, non-chlorinated antibacterial agents like alcohol and non-toxic hydrogen peroxide. They’ll get things clean without making more of a mess.

This article was published in The Non-Toxic Times, December 2003