Antibacterial Soaps Are Pernicious For The Environment

By Team Home Health Beauty Tips on November 22, 2014

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Cleaning hands with antibacterial soap may subject you to a potentially hazardous chemical, namely triclosan, reveals a UCSF study. The theme of many antibacterial soap adverts goes something like this: Since you’re surrounded by a plethora of microbes, you are likely to acquire those from your immediate environment and fall ill unless you wash your hands with an antibacterial soap, particularly your precious little ones. But the study led by the UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) claims that the antibacterial soaps may be detrimental to overall health that what makes us believe that these ads are just a marketing strategy capitalizing on the people’s fears.

Antibacterial Soaps

Higher levels of triclosan – an anti-bacterial chemical that’s currently under the review by the USFDA due to its presumed harmful effects on both humans and marine life – were noticed in the individuals who regularly used these soaps as part of this study. In this research, which consists of 38 doctors and nurses from two different hospitals, researchers analyzed urine samples of these health care practitioners after identifying them as Hospital I and Hospital II.. The medical professionals from Hospital I, who washed their hands with an antibacterial soap containing 0.3% triclosan, were observed to have relatively elevated triclosan levels in their urine compared to other health care providers from Hospital II who used only plain water and soap.

Triclosan, an active ingredient virtually used from soaps and toothpastes to cosmetics and toys, is expected to pose numerous health risks and disrupt hormonal levels, including thyroid. The study subjects were also interrogated whether they were using popular commercial toothpaste that contains triclosan. And the partakers who tried it were noticed to have more triclosan levels than the individuals who don’t use. But the researchers concluded that the antibacterial soap is more accountable for elevated triclosan levels than the triclosan-containing toothpaste.

Toothpastes

Paul Blanc, MD, co-investigator and a professor of Medicine at UCSF, opined that an-tibacterial soaps may pose many health risks, with triclosan being the main culprit. He further recommended that just plain soap and water is a good way to disinfect your hands. This research piece was appeared in the August edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Another concern with anti-bacterial soaps is that the accustomed use of these soaps can make you resistant to antibiotics.