Soap power: Handwash chemical linked to cancer
Washing your hands with antibacterial soap may be dangerous, a new US study reveals. A chemical found in many liquid handwashes and other basic household products like shampoos and toothpaste has been linked to cancer.
Triclosan is an antimicrobial agent of broad-spectrum and one of the most common additives used in a wide range of consumer products, from kitchenware to toys. Studies have also found traces of the chemical in 97 percent of breast milk samples from lactating women and in the urine of nearly three-quarters of people tested. Triclosan is also common in the environment, being one of the seven most-frequently detected compounds in streams across the US.
#triclosan ingredient found in soaps, shampoos, toothpaste can cause liver fibrosis & cancer.
— ♥¶♥ (@PoohVishwanath) November 18, 2014
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Researchers from the University of California, San Diego School
of Medicine, have found that triclosan causes liver fibrosis and
cancer in laboratory mice through molecular mechanisms that are
also relevant in humans.
"Triclosan's increasing detection in environmental samples and
its increasingly broad use in consumer products may overcome its
moderate benefit and present a very real risk of liver toxicity
for people, as it does in mice, particularly when combined with
other compounds with similar action," study leader Professor
Robert H. Tukey stated in a press release. The full study has
been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on
Monday.
Ditch your antibac soap! New research via @ucdavis & @UCSanDiego professors shows that #Triclosan causes liver tumors http://t.co/qWQKkgfbUT
— Val Engler (@ValEngler) November 17, 2014
Tukey found that triclosan disrupted liver integrity,
compromising liver function in mouse models. Mice exposed to the
chemical for six months (roughly said to be equivalent to 18
human years) were more susceptible to chemical-induced liver
tumors. Their tumors also proved to be larger and more frequent
than in mice not exposed to triclosan.
The researchers say triclosan may cause harm when interfering
with a protein responsible for detoxifying foreign chemicals in
the body, the so called constitutive androstane receptor. As a
result, liver cells proliferate and turn fibrotic. In the long
run, continued liver fibrosis boosts tumor formation.
The 'dirty' side of soap: #Triclosan, a common #antimicrobial in personal hygiene... http://t.co/vzIG3hZ844pic.twitter.com/VoHSXnTgiV
— Trending Cancer News (@cancerolizer) November 18, 2014
Triclosan is under scrutiny by the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA). The agency stated on its website that while
it currently doesn't have evidence that triclosan added to
antibacterial soaps and body washes provides extra health
benefits over soap and water, "consumers concerned about
using hand and body soaps with triclosan should wash with regular
soap and water."
The US scientists also recommend avoiding products that contain
triclosan, except for toothpastes where the amount used is small.
"We could reduce most human and environmental exposures by
eliminating uses of triclosan that are high volume, but of low
benefit, such as inclusion in liquid hand soaps," one of the
researchers, Professor Bruce D. Hammock of the University of
California said.
