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Anti-bacterial Chemical Back in the Spotlight

By Simon Pitman

08-Jul-2008 - US and Canadian interest groups and environmental agencies are once again lobbying against the personal care anti-bacterial chemical triclosan.

Citing an ongoing risk assessment by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the opposition groups, headed by the Beyond Pesticides organization, highlight concerns associated with the chemical’s impact on the environment.

The group, along with Food and Water Watch, Greenpeace US, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and a significant number of public health and environmental groups, is lobbying the risk assessors to use their authority ‘to cancel non-medical uses of the chemical’.

The EPA’s public comment period closed today, July 8.

“The nonmedical uses of Triclosan are frivolous and dangerous, creating serious direct health and environmental hazards and long-term health problems associated with the creation of resistant strains of bacteria,” said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides.

Triclosan in deodorants and soaps
Triclosan (TCS) and triclocarbon (TCC), two chemicals that are used in anti-bacterial soaps and deodorants, have been identified in estuary sediment samples that date back to the 1960s, according to a recent study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

Further to this researchers at the Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have voiced concerns about the risks exposure to these chemicals can have on aquatic organisms.

Likewise the chemical is said to bioaccumulate in humans, which has in turn been linked to bacterial resistance that rendered triclosan and antibiotics ineffective in treating certain critical medical conditions.

The lobby groups have also pointed to the fact that scientific studies have linked the chemical and its degradates to endocrine system disruption, cancer and increased dermal sensitization.

The issue of Triclosan has proved to be highly dividing within the industry, with many natural and organic personal players, including Aveda and Whole Foods, condoning the action of lobby groups such as Beyond Pesticides.

Targets biochemical pathways
Triclosan works by targeting a biochemical pathway in the bacteria that allows the bacteria to keep its cell wall intact.

This unique function means that demand for Triclosan continues to rise, fuelled by its continued popularity in personal care products.

Indeed, a recent report by the Freedonia Group says that demand for anti-bacterial ingredients for personal care products is set to rise 5 per cent annually to reach a market value of $930 million by 2009.

But despite the lobbying, personal care industry groups have continued to condone the use of Triclosan, claiming that there is no conclusive evidence that it is harmful to humans, as well as pointing to the fact that it can play an invaluable role in protecting against potentially pathogenic organisms.

Courtesy of CosmeticsDesign.com

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