review on toxic antibacterial chemical triclosan

FDA finally gets around to conducting safety
review on toxic antibacterial chemical triclosan, already in consumer
products for four decades


(NaturalNews) After more than 40 years of complete inaction in
evaluating the potential side effects of the antibacterial chemical
triclosan, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is finally
getting around to conducting a review of this pervasive chemical
additive, which is now found in more than 75 percent of all conventional
hand soaps. And to many experts familiar with the nature of triclosan,
this review could not have come soon enough, as it is becoming
abundantly clear that triclosan is ineffective at best, and dangerous at
worst.

A number of recent studies on triclosan, most of which
were conducted on animals, have revealed that triclosan is an apparent
endocrine disruptor. This means the chemical interferes with the body's
normal production and regulation of hormones, which can lead to all
sorts of health problems ranging from decreased fertility and impaired
thyroid function to developmental disorders and mood alterations. Two
different studies on rats, for instance, found that triclosan lowers
testosterone and sperm production in males, and impairs estrogen and
thyroid hormone production in females.

"To me it looks like the
risks outweigh any benefit associated with these products right now,"
says Allison Aiello, a professor at the University of Michigan
(UM) School of Public Health. A 2007 UM review found that, based on
independent data compiled from 30 different academic sources, triclosan
is no more effective at preventing illness or reducing bacteria on hands
than plain hand soap. "At this point, it's just looking like a
superfluous chemical."

Tentative FDA guidelines from 1978 admit that triclosan is neither safe nor effective

The
interesting thing about the whole triclosan issue is the fact that the
FDA never actually approved the chemical for use in consumer products.
In fact, a draft review compiled by the agency back in 1978 stated that triclosan
was "not generally recognized as safe and effective." Though this draft
was never finalized and approved, the FDA still technically recognizes
the fact that triclosan is neither safe nor effective, at least as far
as the science is concerned.

"I think the FDA is behind the curve," says Dr. Andrea Gore from the University of Texas at Austin, author of a study conducted by the Endocrine Society
that exposed the hormone-disrupting properties of triclosan. "At what
point do you draw a line and say we need to take this out of products
that are being applied to our skin? What is enough evidence?"

The
FDA has been dragging its feet for decades in reviewing triclosan,
despite the onslaught of independent data that has emerged over the
years demonstrating its dangers and uselessness. Even though it lacked
the proper safety data to do so, the FDA did, in fact, approve the use
of triclosan in Colgate Total toothpaste back in 1997. But to this day,
the agency has never shown that triclosan actually works as claimed, and
its website even admits that the chemical still has not been shown to work in soap as an effective sanitizer.

"When
FDA first started evaluating the rules governing triclosan's use,
Richard Nixon was still president," Representative Edward Markey
(D-Mass.) is quoted as saying by Yahoo! News. It is only because of a lawsuit filed by the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council
(NRDC) that the FDA is even reviewing the chemical's safety now, though
this review has already been delayed at least two times.

Source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/040247_triclosan_anti-bacterial_soap_FDA_review.html