Some of the most obvious traces are present in soaps and antibacterial wipes, but can also be found on cutting boards, toys, clothing, furniture, pet food dispensers, and more.
Despite the widespread use of this chemical, disturbing questions persist about its potentially harmful effects, especially for children.
Research has shown that triclosan can alter hormonal regulation and may interfere with fetal development.
Animal studies have also raised concerns about its ability to affect fertility, and bacteria exposed to triclosan may also become resistant to antibiotics. Even an increased risk of cancer has been suggested.
In short, while you disinfect your body and your home to keep your family safe from potentially harmful bacteria, it could actually be causing a lot more harm than good in the long run.
Triclosan removed from the soap, but still present in the toothpaste - selling
Three years ago, Colgate-Palmolive responded to security concerns made by consumer groups to remove their products to triclosan soap. But the company left it in its best-selling toothpaste, Colgate Total. (Colgate Total is the only triclosan toothpaste sold in the United States).
But if triclosan can cause serious health problems when applied topically, clearly using it in your mouth is not safer, since chemicals are easily absorbed into the oral cavity.
For example, zinc-containing denture creams such as Fixodent, Poligrip, Super Poligrip, and others have been linked to zinc poisoning. Toxic effects include serious neurological problems, including neuropathy.
There are even collective lawsuits in progress by people who have been poisoned by their denture creams. As for the toothpaste containing triclosan, Bloomberg reports:
. "Totally is safe, he says Colgate, citing the rigorous process of the Food and Drug Administration approved the toothpaste in 1997 as a nonprescription drug,
However, A closer observation of the application process reveals that in some of the scientific findings, Colgate went ahead to establish that the safety of triclosan in toothpaste was not debatable - and it was not until this year that it was launched at a market."
Toxicology studies were hidden from public opinion According
to the report unveiled on Bloomberg, 35 pages of summaries of toxicology studies done on triclosan were initially retained by the Food and Drug Administration.
They were only available through a request to the Natural Resources Defense Council's Freedom of Information Act (NRDC). Toxicology summaries are now available on the FDA website.
A key point that has been made before is that the FDA relies on company-backed science to "prove" that a drug or product is safe and effective. This despite the fact that industry-funded research is almost never impartial due to obvious and massive conflicts of interest ...
Many people still do not take this into consideration. They believe that when a product is "FDA approved" it means that the FDA has conducted some sort of independent scientific study. No, it is not!
At best, the FDA carefully reviews the studies presented, but only focuses on what is best for them and other strategies that may bias the safety profile. According to the report,
"The recently published pages taken in conjunction with the new research on triclosan raise questions about whether the agency did due diligence on full approval 17 years ago and whether its approval should be part of the new investigation, Said three scientists who reviewed the pages on request from Bloomberg News.
Endocrine disruptor
For example, some animal studies showed that triclosan caused fetal bone malformations in mice and rats. Colgate said the findings were irrelevant. But that bone deformations could affect the hormonal effects, which affect the endocrine system. There were also apparent weaknesses in Colgate's cancer studies.
Chemicals that disrupt the endocrine system are of great concern, as they can promote a wide variety of health problems, including breast, ovarian, prostate and testicular cancer, premature and low birth weight babies, puberty Precocious in girls, and undescended testes in males.
According to Thomas Zoeller, a professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who specializes in the way chemicals affect the endocrine system, it is estimated that there are 800-1000 endocrine disruptors on the market.
But triclosan is one of the top 10 used regularly by most people. Subsequently, the elimination of triclosan can have a much greater impact than the elimination of other chemicals.
Triclosan may affect thyroid function
As Professor Caren Helbing Ph.D., of the University of Victoria in Canada, the chemical structure of triclosan is similar to thyroid hormones and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). This similarity allows it to adhere to hormone receptors. Helbing research shows that tadpole exposed tadpoles suffered atrophied development and deformation in the legs.
The metamorphic process to which these frogs were subjected is mediated by thyroid hormones. Their findings were published in the journal Aquatic Toxicology in 2006, concluding: "Exposure to low levels of triclosan alters the expression of the gene associated with thyroid hormone and may alter the rate of development of thyroid hormone mediated in anurans in state embryonic."
While Colgate cites a Cochrane Review to support evidence of the safety and efficacy of Colgate Total, the opinion in question focused on the effectiveness of toothpaste in combating bleeding gums and inflammation and not in Its long-term safety ... The review, which covers more than 30 studies published between 1990 and 2012 found "moderate quality evidence" that Colgate Total is more effective than other toothpaste in terms of reducing bleeding gums And inflammation, but the authors, Philip Riley and Thomas Lamont, pointed out that the studies did not actually allow them to evaluate any long-term negative effects.
Findings in the urine of pregnant women and the umbilical cord of newborns
In a recent study traces of triclosan, triclocarban and butylparaben were found in the urine of pregnant women and in the umbilical cord of the newborns. All of the women who participated in the study were residents of Brooklyn, New York. This shows that this ordinary exposure to these chemicals is ubiquitous. Surprisingly, triclosan was detected in 100 percent of all urine samples, and 51 percent of umbilical cord blood samples. Triclocarban was detected in 87 percent of urine samples and 23 percent of umbilical cord samples.
Watch out for other chemicals in toothpaste
There are also other chemicals in toothpaste that can do more harm than good. Fluoride is one of them. But many kinds of toothpaste also contain surfactants like sodium laurel sulfate, sodium Laureth sulfate (SLS) or sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES). Surfactants are chemicals responsible for the foaming action of toothpaste.
However, these chemicals can also interfere with the functioning of your palate. As noted in an earlier Lifehacker article, such substances suppress taste receptors responsible for tasting sweet tastes. As they point out in the article, they also "break phospholipids in our tongue." These fatty molecules inhibit our bitterness receptors and prevent these bitter tastes from harming us, but when they are broken down by toothpaste surfactants, bitter flavors increase. "
It is believed that this is the reason why everything tastes so bad after brushing your teeth. Therefore, selecting a toothpaste that does not contain SLS or SLES will allow you to taste the food well after brushing your teeth. This could also be part of why coconut oil works so well for oral hygiene as it helps maintain a more natural balance of lipids on your tongue while still providing potent antibacterial properties.
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