{"id":2537,"date":"2012-04-18T16:39:42","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T21:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realfoodhouston.com\/?p=2537"},"modified":"2013-03-11T15:39:33","modified_gmt":"2013-03-11T20:39:33","slug":"whats-best-antibacterial-soap-hand-sanitizer-or-just-plain-soap-and-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/2012\/04\/18\/whats-best-antibacterial-soap-hand-sanitizer-or-just-plain-soap-and-water\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s best–antibacterial soap, hand sanitizer, or just plain soap and water?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Products<\/a>We all want to keep our families and ourselves healthy, but, sometimes, what\u00a0appears to be a good\u00a0practice doesn’t really do the job.\u00a0 One type of product\u00a0that doesn’t live up to its marketing is the wide range of\u00a0antibacterial products–the triclosan- and alcohol-based hand sanitizers.\u00a0 They don’t\u00a0appear to keep us healthier, and there\u00a0could be significant health and environmental risks to their use, at least in the case of triclosan.\u00a0 Should\u00a0we use them?<\/p>\n

What is triclosan?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Triclosan is a polychloro phenozy phenol<\/a>\u00a0antibacterial and antifungal ingredient in many consumer products, from hand and dish soaps\u00a0to toothpaste, socks, and even children’s toys (See some of them in the photo from Beyond Pesticides<\/a>, above).\u00a0 It has been used since 1972 in an ever-increasing number of products.\u00a0 Many orange-colored soaps and detergents, if labeled antibacterial, probably contain triclosan.\u00a0Beyond Pesticides has a good list<\/a>\u00a0of products containing triclosan.<\/p>\n

Is triclosan effective?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, triclosan is mostly a marketing success.\u00a0 It’s popularity “has been aided by the false public perception that antibacterial products are best to protect and safeguard against potential harmful bacteria.”\u00a0 However,\u00a0triclosan doesn’t provide much help\u00a0to kill bacteria or to keep us healthy.\u00a0 Many studies<\/a> have found that using triclosan-based products\u00a0is no more effective in removing bacteria, or viruses,\u00a0than washing with plain soap and water.\u00a0 There is also no evidence that using antibacterial soaps prevents illness from colds, flu, skin infections, and gastrointestinal problems.\u00a0 “In laboratory studies, most people who washed their hands with triclosan-based hand soaps had no fewer bacteria on their hands that people who washed with plain soap and water.”<\/p>\n

Even the FDA, which regulates triclosan-based over-the-counter drugs (including\u00a0antimicrobial hand soaps, toothpastes, etc.), says there is no evidence<\/a> that triclosan adds health benefits to consumer products, although they do not currently consider it hazardous to humans.\u00a0 The FDA does admit that more studies have been performed since their last analysis of triclosan and have agreed to review the new evidence.\u00a0 The EPA<\/a>\u00a0regulates the use of triclosan, as a pesticide, in a variety of materials such as\u00a0fabrics, vinyl, plastics (toys, toothbrushes),\u00a0textiles (footwear, clothing), caulking compounds, sealants, rubber, and carpeting.\u00a0 In 2008, the EPA assessed triclosan\u00a0and found that it met\u00a0then current safety standards;\u00a0however, additional data now available has led the EPA to undertake\u00a0“another comprehensive review of triclosan beginning in 2013.”\u00a0\u00a0Any change obviously won’t be made soon since they\u00a0haven’t even begun the review.<\/p>\n

Are there potential health and environmental risks from using triclosan?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Using triclosan-based consumer products is not only not effective for the advertised purpose–killing bacteria–studies have shown that there are some potentially serious effects on health and our environment.\u00a0 The EPA’s Office of Research and Development <\/a>has found that\u00a0the pesticide\u00a0may be toxic to fish and aquatic plants and now requires industrial users of triclosan to “perform environmental modeling and surface water monitoring” and “add labeling statements indicating that triclosan is toxic to fish and other aquatic animals . . .”\u00a0 In addition, studies<\/a> have linked triclosan to a variety of health and environmental\u00a0problems, including “skin irritation, allergy susceptibility, bacterial, endocrine disruption and compounded antibiotic resistant, tainted water, and dioxin contamination to destruction of fragile aquatic ecosystems.”<\/p>\n

A 2010 study<\/a> suggests that “children with higher exposure to triclosan are more frequently diagnosed with allergies,” although the allergies may be related to the Hygiene Hypothesis<\/a> rather that the toxicity of triclosan.\u00a0 Multiple animal studies<\/a> have found links to\u00a0thyroid hormone\u00a0disruption.\u00a0 Triclosan may\u00a0prevent use of normal thyroid hormones because it mimics them and binds to the hormone receptor sites, blocking use of the normal hormones.<\/p>\n

Triclosan has been found in “both the bile of fish living downstream from waste-water-processing plants and in human milk.”\u00a0 Triclosan is also appearing in dolphins near South Carolina and Florida.\u00a0 Triclosan residues have been found in “sediment that was over 30 years old,” which suggests that it remains in the environment for a long time.<\/p>\n

What about alcohol-based hand sanitizers?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Sanitizer_front\"<\/a>\"Sanitizer<\/a>Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are frequently used when soap and water are not available.\u00a0 I carry a small bottle in my car as many of you probably do.\u00a0 Are they effective?\u00a0 Well, maybe.\u00a0 Research<\/a> has shown that they do not “significantly reduce the overall amount of bacteria on the hands, and in some cases they may even increase it.”\u00a0 The manufacturers can claim 99.9% effectiveness because laboratory tests were made on inanimate surfaces very unlike human hands.\u00a0 An additional problem with these sanitizers is that\u00a0alcohol just doesn’t cut through dirt and grime like soap and water.\u00a0There are two ways to help increase effectiveness for hand sanitizers–when you just can’t find soap and water:\u00a0 (1) Use enough of it.\u00a0 CDC guidelines say that “If your hands are dry within 10 or 15 seconds . . . you haven’t used enough.”\u00a0 (2) The sanitizer “must have between 60 and 95% alcohols–ethyl, ethanol, isopropanol, etc.–less just isn’t enough.”\u00a0 My brand of sanitizer just barely makes the grade at 62%.\u00a0 Does yours?<\/p>\n

What can we do?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

To reduce the possible health and environmental damage, we can try to avoid using triclosan wherever possible.\u00a0 It helps that\u00a0the U.S. requires manufacturers to indicate on the label if the product contains triclosan.\u00a0 So, we need to read labels, not\u00a0just for food, but\u00a0for all the products we use.\u00a0 I’ll probably continue to use the alcohol-based hand sanitizer when I don’t have soap and water available, but I’ll try to use more of it.\u00a0 My hands were always dry right away, too\u00a0quick to\u00a0be effective, according to the studies.<\/p>\n

Update July 2, 2012: I found this excellent post at the MommyPotamus: Hand Sanitizer Recalled For Containing Burkholderia Cepacia Bacteria<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Update March 11, 2013:\u00a0 Minnesota’s governor has issued an executive order that state agencies and institutions will no longer buy cleaning products that contain triclosan.\u00a0 It’s a step in the right direction. (source<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Wikipedia: Triclosan<\/a>
\nU.S. EPA: Triclosan Facts<\/a>
\nU.S. FDA: Triclosan: What Consumers Should Know<\/a>
\nBeyond Pesticides: Triclosan<\/a>
\nConsumer Antibacterial Soaps: Effective or Just Risky”?<\/a>
\nEnvironmental Working Group: Pesticide in Soap, Toothpaste and Breast Milk – Is It Kid-Safe?:\u00a0 Triclosan No Better Than Plain Soap<\/a>
\nAre Anti-Bacterial Soaps Worth It?<\/a>
\nHand sanitizers no substitute for soap and water<\/a>
\nHand Sanitizers, Good or Bad?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all want to keep our families and ourselves healthy, but, sometimes, what\u00a0appears to be a good\u00a0practice doesn’t really do the job.\u00a0 One type of product\u00a0that doesn’t live up to its marketing is the wide range of\u00a0antibacterial products–the triclosan- and …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,330],"tags":[161,160,159,84,162,158],"class_list":["post-2537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-poisons","tag-antibacterial","tag-bacteria","tag-hand-sanitizer","tag-health-2","tag-labels","tag-triclosan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p70SEj-EV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2537"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4433,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537\/revisions\/4433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}