Antibacterial Cleansers, Triclosan, And The FDA - Here's The Latest Dirt
In October of 2005, an FDA advisory panel concluded by an 11-1 vote that in household use, common antibacterial soaps and cleansers are no more effective in reducing the spread of germs and/or infection than the use of plain soap and water. "There's no evidence they're a good value," Alistair Wood, MD, chairman of the FDA's Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee, told WebMD. "There doesn't seem any good reason to buy them."
Recent research indicates that there may well be good reasons NOT to buy them, but the FDA has yet to issue an opinion or directive.
The active ingredient in most antibacterial cleansers is triclosan, which was registered with the EPA as a pesticide in 1969. While the 2005 FDA report noted points of concern (dating back to 1978) over individual and environmental harm resulting from the use of triclosan, there was no directive given at that time for further research on the topic. In a Consumer Update issued by the FDA in April of this year, the agency acknowledged that "several scientific studies have come out since the last time FDA reviewed this ingredient that merit further review". The review process is ongoing, but the FDA declined to recommend changing consumer use of products that contain triclosan.
Instead, the FDA encouraged consumers to check product labels for the presence of the ingredient triclosan,
and to avoid those products in favor of plain soap and water if they had concerns about harmful effects of triclosan.
This continued lack of action by the FDA resulted in the filing of a lawsuit in July of this year by the NRDC. The suit demands that the FDA finalize a decision against the use of triclosan that has been pending since 1978 . Additionally, over 75 groups have petitioned the FDA and the EPA to ban triclosan this year, and Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) has also submitted a letter of concern to both agencies.
Here is the background:
Continued on the next page
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