Antibacterial Compounds In Everyday Products May Affect Fetuses' Lengths
By Shweta Lyer, Aug 10, 2014
From hand sanitizers and body washes to detergents and dish
soaps, we love everything that comes with the antibacterial
label. But is the overuse of antibacterial products doing more
harm than good? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) certainly
thinks so, as it's considering a ban on common antibacterial
compounds that are also known to harm the environment. What’s
more, scientists have found that the chemical compounds in
antibacterial products have found their way into fetuses in
pregnant mothers.
Researchers reported their findings at the 248th National
Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the
world's largest scientific society.
"We looked at the exposure of pregnant women and their fetuses
to triclosan and triclocarban, two of the most commonly used
germ-killers in soaps and other everyday products," said Dr.
Benny Pycke, a research scientists at Arizona State University,
in a press release. "We found triclosan in all of the urine
samples from the pregnant women that we screened. We also
detected it in about half of the umbilical cord blood samples.”
Triclosan was first registered as a pesticide back in the
1960s. But with a potential to be used as an antimicrobial
ingredient, it began being manufactured into antibacterial
products. Recent
studies have shown the serious health implications that
triclosan and triclocarban present in animals, and possibly in
humans, too. In the lab, these compounds were shown to disrupt
hormones essential for neural and reproductive development and
produce drug resistance in bacteria.
While its true that the human body can flush out these
compounds, constant exposure may still leave traces inside the
body. "If you cut off the source of exposure, eventually
triclosan and triclocarban would quickly be diluted out, but the
truth is that we have universal use of these chemicals, and
therefore also universal exposure," lead investigator Dr. Rolf
Halden said in the release.
While scientists have not been able to replicate lab results
showing the effects of these compounds on people, State
University of New York's Dr. Laura Geer found another
interesting outcome during the study. The study showed that
women with high levels of the antimicrobial compound butyl
paraben, found in cosmetic products, gave birth to shorter
newborns. It's yet to be seen how these compounds will affect
people in the long-term. But if their findings are confirmed in
larger studies, it could mean that widespread exposure to these
compounds may cause subtle, but large-scale effects on birth
size.
Currently there are more than 2,000 over-the-counter products
that contain these compounds, including toothpastes, soaps,
detergents, carpets, paints, school supplies, and toys, the
researchers said. Besides harming the human body, these
dangerous compounds are no good for the environment either. Our
ecosystem, especially lakes, accumulate large amounts of
triclosan due to the release of sewage water. In turn, marine
life is harmed.
Because of these implications, several governments have
considered banning products that use these compounds. Minnesota
became the first state to pass a ban on the use of
antimicrobials in certain products. The ban is expected to take
effect in January 2017. The
Canadian Environmental Law Association has also urged the
Canadian government to ban these two compounds. Meanwhile,
companies like Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble have also
announced the discontinuation of these compounds from some of
their products. At the federal level, the FDA and Environmental
Protection Agency have recommended a scientific review of these
compounds, and with sufficient evidence may consider banning
them.
Source: Geer L, Halden R, Pycke B, et al. Human biomonitoring
of prenatal exposure to triclosan and triclocarban in a
multiethnic urban population from Brooklyn, New York. At
The 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical
Society. 2014.
