After more than half a decade of various proposals, investigations, and dithering, the FDA today has announced that it’s changing the rules. 19 active ingredients in your hand soap — most notably including triclosan, until recently very common — are going to be heading off the market. [More]
triclosan
Walmart Encourages Suppliers To Remove 8 Controversial Chemicals From Products
By 7.20.16
Walmart has a huge amount of power over which products end up on the market. The mega-retailer is now encouraging suppliers to remove eight chemicals from their products. The substances aren’t banned, exactly, but suppliers will have to discolose their presence on any products containing them starting in two years. The list consisted of substances which may be harmful to people, to the environment, or to both. [More]
Study: Popular, Ineffective Antibacterial Chemical Found In 100% Of Pregnant Women, May Interfere With Fetal Development
By 8.13.14
That “antibacterial” hand soap sitting next to your sink? The chemical that supposedly makes it work is called triclosan, and it’s in tons of products. A new study also finds that it’s in tons of our bodies — and in the bodies of pregnant women, it might be interfering with fetal development. [More]
Minnesota Bans Widely Used (But Pretty Much Useless) Antibacterial Soap Ingredient
By 5.20.14
In spite of the fact that the FDA has said that soap containing the antibacterial chemical triclosan is really no better at preventing the spread of germs than simply washing your hands with regular hot soap and water, it’s still widely used in soaps, cosmetics, deodorants and some toothpastes. And so the Minnesota state legislature recently voted to ban the use of triclosan. [More]
Avon To Phase Out Triclosan From Products
By 4.1.14
Four years ago, the FDA admitted that triclosan — an antibacterial and antifungal chemical used in numerous soaps, cosmetics and other products — doesn’t provide any additional benefit to simple soap-and-hot-water hand-washing. And while the agency mulls over proposed rules that would require companies that use triclosan in soap to prove their products are safe and more effective, some companies are responding to customer demand and phasing out the use of the chemical on their own. [More]
FDA Finally Solving The Burning Question Of Whether Antibacterial Soap Is Safe
By 5.3.13
You put it on your hands, wipe your utensils with it before they touch your food, slather it all over your body and generally dunk yourself in it throughout your life — but is antibacterial soap safe? Or rather, is its resident germ-killer, triclosan, ineffective or even not good for you? The Food and Drug Administration is working on an answer. [More]
Study: Hand Sanitizer Not Terribly Good At Fighting Cold Or Flu
By 9.13.10
Only a few months after the FDA said that “antibacterial” soaps containing Triclosan might be just as effective as regular ol’ soap, a University of Virginia study claims that alcohol-based hand sanitizers don’t really put a ding in the number of people who catch a cold or the flu. [More]
Lawsuit Asks FDA To Regulate Sperm-Damaging Antimicrobial Soap Chemicals
By 8.1.10
Thirty years ago, the FDA considered regulating two toxic chemicals that can damage reproductive organs, sperm quality, and hormone production. Rather than do something, the agency instead did nothing. Last week, the National Resources Defense Council sued the agency, asking them to finally finish the job and regulate the chemicals triclosan and triclocarban. [More]
FDA: Your Antibacterial Soap May Be No Better Than My Regular Soap
By 4.8.10
Responding to concerns from Congress, the FDA announced today that they are in the process of reviewing how consumers use triclosan, an antibacterial agent used in soap and many other products. And while the FDA says it doesn’t have enough info to tell people not to use soaps containing triclosan, it also doesn’t see any evidence that adding triclosan to soap makes any difference. [More]
