FDA proposes ban on antibacterial soaps

[Redfairen]

Source: Boston Globe

The US Food and Drug Administration announced a proposed regulation on Monday to ban certain ingredients in anti-bacterial soaps if manufacturers cannot prove that these products are safe to use and more effective than plain soap and water for preventing the spread of infections. Such a move will likely force makers of personal hygiene products to reformulate all bar soaps, liquid soaps, body washes, and dishwashing liquids labeled as “anti-bacterial” and “antimicrobial” to keep them on store shelves.

Antibacterial soaps made by companies including Dial, Lever, and Dove contain chemicals that have a spotty safety record. “Some data suggest that long-term exposure to certain active ingredients used in antibacterial products -- for example, triclosan (liquid soaps) and triclocarban (bar soaps) -- could pose health risks, such as bacterial resistance or hormonal effects,” according to a statement released by the FDA.

Almost all soaps labeled “antibacterial” or “antimicrobial” contain at least one of the antibacterial ingredients that the FDA is proposing to ban. Household cleaning products and some toothpastes may also contain them.

Liquid hand sanitizers, such as Purell, and anti-bacterial wipes do not contain the worrisome ingredients. These “leave on” products contain alcohol to kill germs and aren’t affected by the planned regulation, according to the FDA.



Read more: http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2013/12/16/fda-proposes-ban-antibacterial-soaps/GcpggqoyCcdJGZkRKBMHaN/story.html

[hollysmom]

1. uh ph, Ijust bought a bottle to wash my hands while handling money and stuff in the mall today.

so many people feel they should go out sick.

[CreekDog]

15. is it alcohol based?

that's a way to have an antibacterial that doesn't utilize antibiotic type compounds.

[hollysmom]

18. thank you, yes it is. good to know n/t

[pansypoo53219]

32. money doesn't hold many germs. cocaine yes.

[Beartracks]

34. But what are odds of encountering used cocaine?? n/t

[FrodosPet]

39. On money? Very high

OK, it is leftover cocaine, not USED, and it is supposedly on the majority of U.S. currency.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cocaine-contaminates-majority-of-american-currency

For cocaine users, a rolled up $20 bill may be the most convenient tool for snorting the powder form of the drug. Or so it would seem from a new analysis of 234 banknotes from 18 U.S. cities that found cocaine on 90 percent of the bills tested.

Perhaps that's not surprising given that the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that more than 2 million Americans used cocaine in 2007, which has been linked to ill effects ranging from debilitating addiction to heart attacks. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, for its part, reported in the same year that 6 million Americans admit using cocaine annually, consuming a total of as much as 457 metric tons in a year.

"Cocaine is a powerfully addictive stimulant and one of the most commonly abused illicit drugs in the world," says chemist Yuegang Zuo of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, who conducted the tests and presented the findings today at the biannual meeting of the American Chemical Society, which is taking place in Washington, D.C. That city ranked highest in the survey—95 percent of the sampled bills there bore cocaine contamination—along with Baltimore, Boston and Detroit. Salt Lake City had the lowest average levels of contamination. "The examination of cocaine contamination on paper money can provide objective and timely epidemiological information about cocaine abuse in individual communities," Zuo argues.

~ snip ~

[hollysmom]

36. well, I have people handing me packages to wrap

so that can be pretty germy if they have been handling them for a while, many packages are being held by children. Good thing kids like me, otherwise it could be pretty bad.

[Nay]

2. What are the commercial soaps that do not contain the targeted ingredients? Does anyone

here know of a commercial bar soap that is NOT "antibacterial" or "antimicrobial"? I can certainly start using goat's milk soap from the farmer's market, but I'll be darned if I know of a commercial bath soap that doesn't have that stuff in it....

[FarPoint]

3. Well...I guess the damage is done now for health care workers.

Hand washing done at least 20 times a day for how many years?

[HockeyMom]

5. Disposable gloves

I know you are supposed to wash your hands even after using gloves. Anti-bacterial soaps makes my hands crack and bleed. I bought my own hand soap with me.

[magical thyme]

8. purell and washing with normal soap and water nt

[FarPoint]

31. Purell and/or hand sanitizer can be used max of 10 times between handwashings...

providing no debris is present. That has been utilized all along as the standard...now, that said, health care workers have been using the now dangerous anti-bacterial soap now for years. Like I said...damage is done.

[gvstn]

4. Dove

Won't have it. I'm not sure about the usual "deodorant" bar soaps as I tend to buy the moisturizing type now. I'm fairly sure you won't see the chemicals mentioned unless you buy something specifically labeled antibacterial. So, you should really just need to avoid any thing that says "antibacterial". That was a big craze over the last 10 years. I used to buy antibacterial dish soap because it was orange color and citrus scented but began avoiding it because the chemical used is apparently very questionable over long term exposure.

The two chemicals in question are usually listed on the back of the package under "active" ingredients. Similar to toothpaste where fluoride is listed as the active ingredient but all other ingredients aren't specifically listed.

triclosan (liquid soaps) and triclocarban (bar soaps)

http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/YdeAezYfD5_cpwcWmb7CSg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYwMA--/

[840high]

23. I USE Pear's soap.

[tammywammy]

40. I use SoftSoap liquid soap at my house.

It does not contain triclosan which is why I've used it for years and years. Just proper handwashing (long enough and with warm water) is enough. Looking on their website, I see they do have "antibacterial" liquid handsoap, but I buy the "classic collection" soaps.

Here's the ingredients list from their website: http://www.colgate.com/app/Softsoap/US/EN/Ingredients.cvsp

[truedelphi]

43. Unfortunately this soap contains

At least one ingredient that is best to avoid. It is especially important to avoid this chem if anyone in your house has MS symptoms. (Formaldehyde link to MS has been established.) :
Fromt eh website Ingredient Watch List.
Ingredient Watch List: Tetrasodium EDTA, the Preservative Made from Formaldehyde
Wednesday, March 6th, 2013

If you knew your personal care products had preservatives made from carcinogens, would you want to use them?

We didn’t think so. Yet one ingredient made from a potential carcinogen is found in many personal care products, and is reported by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review to be safe.

It’s tetrasodium ETDA, made from ethylenediamine, formaldehyde—a known carcinogen according to the National Cancer Institute—and sodium cyanide (which is made from the toxic gas hydrogen cyanide).

It gets worse. This ingredient is also a penetration enhancer. That means it breaks down the skin’s protective barrier, making it easier for other potentially harmful ingredients in the formula to sink deeper into your tissues and perhaps even into your bloodstream.

[truedelphi]

42. With the internet's purchasing power, anyone anywhere can buy

The really nice soaps made by Sonoma Soap of Arizona.

Goat milk soaps, buttermilk etc. No harsh chemcials.

[leftyohiolib]

6. i'd rather they worry about the hormonal effect of the hormones going into the food ie: milk

talk about misplaced priorities

[sharp_stick]

10. Well if you ever came

down with an infection from a resistant strain you might not consider them so misplaced.

[leftyohiolib]

12. well if that's the concern then the fda ought to do that with all antibiotics

[sharp_stick]

13. You can't ban them all

they have useful applications. It's the misuse such as putting them in soaps and feeding the prophetically to animals that really screw things up. Well that and the people that stop taking their prescription the minute they start feeling better.

[leftyohiolib]

14. bacteria know when the anitbio's are abused?

[sharp_stick]

20. Yes sort of

Antibiotics are designed to eradicate an infection and they usually do the job pretty well. To use the example of not taking all of the prescription or getting useless prescriptions for viral infections.

The bacteria are placed under stress by the antibiotic and as long as it kills them all returns to normal soon enough. Bacteria that aren't killed eventually develop anti-antibiotic mechanisms like multi-drug efflux pumps against the antibiotics. These bugs are now resistant and spread through the ecosystem becoming more and more common.

This is how we got MRSA (methicillin resistant staph aureus) and VRE (vancomycin resistant enterococci) along with some even dangerous resistant tuberculosis and meningococcus strains. These bugs used to be susceptible to the antibiotics and now we're having a hard time developing new antibiotics because it's not as easy as it used to be.

When we allow ranchers and and factory farms to give antibiotics to otherwise healthy cattle we're allowing the bacteria a really really nice environment to evolve into more severe pathogenic forms.

[leftyohiolib]

24. ok thanks

[darkangel218]

33. Its amazing how bacteria "communicate" with each other & share drug resistant genetical information

Last edited Mon Dec 16, 2013, 03:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Such lil things, so much potential damage.

We carry bacteria on our hands all the time. I agree that overexposure to antibacterial soaps could create resistant strains. I hope the FDA are getting this proposal approved.

[NickB79]

11. I have faith we can walk and chew gum at the same time

One doesn't have to exclude the other.

[CreekDog]

16. why are you saying you can't deal with both?

that's stupid.

should we only deal with one public health issue at a time?

please.

[otohara]

7. Now Ban Gawd Awful Toxic Chemical Fragrances

they make people sick too, they just don't know it yet.

[SoapBox]

29. + 100

[truedelphi]

41. Also + 100. n/t

[TwilightGardener]

9. I stopped using them a couple years ago. I just get regular hand soap now, and no one

in my family has been noticeably sicker for it. Soap, water, and scrubbing is all you need, unless you are a surgeon.

[kestrel91316]

19. Even we surgeons don't scrub with soaps containing triclosan.

My surgical hand scrub is chlorhexidine-based.

Triclosan is just evil stuff - it's persistent like DDT.

[truedelphi]

37. Over the eyars, it has cracked me up to watch fellow Americans

"Sanitize" even their frying pans and their roasting pans with this crap.

[kestrel91316]

17. GOOD.

[xxqqqzme]

26. Agree.

I have only used Dr Bronner's for years. Hand washing just has to be consistent and thorough.

[MynameisBlarney]

21. Good. I've always just used regular old soap and warm water

that worked just fine before some marketing schmucks sold everyone on the notion that anti-bacterial soaps and cleansers are the only way to prevent infection.

Now, they're greed has only helped create superbugs.

THANKS OBAMA!

[Oscarmonster13]

22. not to mention

they are screwing up the water supply too...

cleanliness is next to godliness, but regular soap does the trick...I don't waste my money on that crap.

[tclambert]

25. Aren't all soaps anti-bacterial?

Oh, just certain ingredients they want to ban. That makes more sense.

[truedelphi]

44. Soap itelf doesn't kill bacteria.

All conventional soap does is help to make the bacteria slippery so it washes away with the water you use at the same time as the soap.

Anti bacterial soaps contain chems that kill bacteria. However, there are unpleasant and risky side effects of using them.

[Jesus Malverde]

27. This seems to have replaced hand washing at many hospitals...nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

28. My main question, "Who came up with the color of urine for 'anti-bacterial'?"

[Jesus Malverde]

30. 2007 - Antibacterial Chemical Disrupts Hormone Activities, Study Finds

A new UC Davis study shows that a common antibacterial chemical added to bath soaps can alter hormonal activity in rats and in human cells in the laboratory--and does so by a previously unreported mechanism.

The findings come as an increasing number of studies -- of both lab animals and humans -- are revealing that some synthetic chemicals in household products can cause health problems by interfering with normal hormone action.

Called endocrine disruptors, or endocrine disrupting substances (EDS), such chemicals have been linked in animal studies to a variety of problems, including cancer, reproductive failure and developmental anomalies.

This is the first endocrine study to investigate the hormone effects of the antibacterial compound triclocarban (also known as TCC or 3,4,4'-trichlorocarbanilide), which is widely used in household and personal care products including bar soaps, body washes, cleansing lotions, wipes and detergents. Triclocarban-containing products have been marketed broadly in the United States and Europe for more than 45 years; an estimated 1 million pounds of triclocarban are imported annually for the U.S. market.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071207150713.htm

[otohara]

45. Include Fragrances, Pesticides, Cleaning Products

Fucking glut of cheap flowerey shampoos, conditioners, lotions, laundry products, plastic bags, drier sheets.... We slather them on, sleep with them, breath them daily. I tried to talk a woman out of buying a cheap AXE Body Spray gift set...it has the same effect as nerve gas.

All have hormone disrupting chemicals.

My air "freshener" consists of distilled water and some drops of Australian Lemon Myrtle.

[paulkienitz]

35. none too soon

It's been getting harder and harder to buy liquid soap that isn't made of toxins rinsed out of Fukushima.

[Jamastiene]

38. Knowing this is especially helpful to people like me too.

I have, I forget what it is called, but a problem when it comes to antibiotics. They do not work for me. I was on antibiotics for the first five years of my life because of a closed, deformed urethra when I was born. The surgery to correct it was tough and getting well afterward was tough. So, I stayed on antibiotics the first five years of my life.

No treatment of antibiotics, no matter how strong, seems to fight bacterial infections I get even as late as a couple months ago. It has been that way my entire life. My dentist prescribed a fairly strong course of antibiotics for me for a bad infection and it did not knock out the infection in a broken tooth that had to be extracted. To top it all off the tooth had four roots and was broken in half down into my jaw socket, which made it super hard to pull. The infection was not gone when I went back to get it pulled. The infection was actually only slightly treated. When I told him about how antibiotics don't really help me all that much because of my tolerance or whatever it is called, he finally made the decision to go ahead and pull it. That got the infection, the cause of the infection, and the tooth out of the way. I'm all better now.

It has been that way for me all of my life. Now, I find out the soaps I am using are possibly creating resistant strains of bacteria that will be even harder for my body to fight?

How long have the companies making these soaps known this and which politicians are going to stand in the way of the FDA proposal to ban these ingredients? I'm not one for frivolous lawsuits but, those responsible, who already knew this and did not change the ingredients, need to be sued within an inch of their life.

[Enrique]

46. this was the first thing Hitler did