Triclosan, a common antimicrobial in personal hygiene products, causes liver fibrosis and cancer in

So I stumbled across this article today talking about a recent study done on Triclosan, which is commonly found in many anti-bacterial soaps, toothpaste, cosmetics, shampoos, and other items. Link to article

Here are some highlights:

Triclosan is an antimicrobial commonly found in soaps, shampoos, toothpastes and many other household items. Despite its widespread use, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report potentially serious consequences of long-term exposure to the chemical. The study, published Nov. 17 by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that triclosan causes liver fibrosis and cancer in laboratory mice through molecular mechanisms that are also relevant in humans

Tukey, Hammock and their teams, including Mei-Fei Yueh, PhD, found that triclosan disrupted liver integrity and compromised liver function in mouse models. Mice exposed to triclosan for six months (roughly equivalent to 18 human years) were more susceptible to chemical-induced liver tumors. Their tumors were also larger and more frequent than in mice not exposed to triclosan.
The study suggests triclosan may do its damage by interfering with the constitutive androstane receptor, a protein responsible for detoxifying (clearing away) foreign chemicals in the body. To compensate for this stress, liver cells proliferate and turn fibrotic over time. Repeated triclosan exposure and continued liver fibrosis eventually promote tumor formation.

Triclosan is perhaps the most ubiquitous consumer antibacterial. Studies have found traces in 97 percent of breast milk samples from lactating women and in the urine of nearly 75 percent of people tested. Triclosan is also common in the environment: It is one of the seven most frequently detected compounds in streams across the United States.

There are already some previous threads on ATS noting some of the bad things associated with this chemical (increased microbial resistance, distruption of hormones, etc), but this appears to be the first study directly linking it to cancer. I think I am going to go home and throw away all of my household items containing this junk. What do you all think?

Don't worry about it. Just wash your hands after you wash your hands with soaps containing it and wash your hair again after shampooing with it. You might need to take a second shower too.

Seems to me if you have to do it twice, it would be easier to make sure you don't use it. You will save money on the extra soap and shampoo that way.

Sulfur in soaps kills most of the bacteria anyway, I don't know why they need to use it in the first place. It is like some of those disinfectants for cleaning countertops, they take ten minutes to work so you have to wet them with the disinfectant then come back and wipe them off. It would be easier just to wash them down with bleach or ammonia products. As long as you don't use both kinds at the same time and breath the fumes.

I learned a few months back that this was now banned in Minnesota. I can't believe that it's not banned everywhere.

Banned back in May

This is a good reason to switch to Destinyone's goat soap.


Found a list of products with that crap :

www.beyondpesticides.org...

Triclosan kills off the good skin flora and lets the crap bacteria recolonize you. So you end up worse off than if you hadn't used it.

It will also destroy your septic tank, because the stuff builds up in there and never breaks down (more or less), so you end up with a toxic tank that will kill off the "good" bacteria, even if you re-seed it.

Not much of a problem unless you live on a farm like I do when I'm not keeping the world safe for democracy.

Use something like Ivory. You don't need to be germ-free anyway.

originally posted by: Bedlam

Triclosan kills off the good skin flora and lets the crap bacteria recolonize you.

You can guarantee the guy who uses anti-bacterial soap and takes antibiotics at the first sign of a cold is the one who gets Staph or Tinea.