US Warning On Antibacterial Soaps

Dear FDA,

Thank you for your interest in our fine line of soaps.

We have switched our antibacterial agent to alcohol.

Bug off!

I like Alcohol too, kills 99.9‰ of the bugs and as a secondary benefit gives a cheap drunk too!

Although it been an excellent advertising ploy, I never have used antibacterial soaps, mainly I'd rather keep my immune system up to par.

If ever there was a market that could be perpetually driven, it would be the pharmaceutical market. Got to redesign those antibacterials to combat the super-bugs the old antibacterials spawned

Normal soap is good for probably at 99% of human needs.

Being OVER hygenic was never a good idea as the body must learn to fight its own battles. Many believe, I am one of them, that such products bring far more harm than good, especially for children whose bodies are trying to produce good safe antibodies for future health and safety.

Only Doctors and Nurses need to be cleaner and they use alcohol based products.

We have an old saying in the UK:- "Everyone must eat a Peck (old term for a basket!) of dirt before they die!"

I just say "OK, but not all in one day!"

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/You+have+to+eat+a+peck+of+dirt+before+you+die

I just get the hand soap that's the cheapest.

I'm pretty sure my six year old's immune system is progressing nicely, considering that we have a dog that still likes to wallow in anything that stinks.

The thing that gets me about this, is that I think the FDA has better things to do, which are being ignored.

Several things that have been green lighted, that I think warrant, (at least), further study:

High fructose corn syrup in everything.

Glyphosate in everything.

Aspartame in all diet drinks.

Growth hormones/antibiotics in the meat that everyone is eating.

I want the FDA to do their job, and hand soap is not a priority...it's busywork to make it look like they're doing something important.

Can't blame it all on the FDA, tho' (this time):

"In March, a federal appeals court approved a lawsuit by the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council, aimed at forcing the FDA to review the health impacts of triclosan."

Hmm...they don't say if the lawsuit forced them to go after the soap companies.

Anyway, I was mostly blaming them for NOT going after the things they should be.

The whole concept of, "GMO food is safe, because Monsanto told us it's safe", should either apply to everybody, or the FDA should do their jobs, and conduct their own studies.

It's certainly not a lack of money that's preventing them from carrying out studies on things that may really be making people sick.

Another neat study, could be to find out if it's evolution, or is the massive use of hormones in our food animals, causing girls to start developing at 10-11 years old, or earlier. It didn't used to be that way.

Your six year old is profitting nicely from your "habits". Well done to you and your wife....

Neither of my children (28 & 30) has anything that resembles a problem from years of non bacterial, soap, sprays or anything.....just normal hygiene.

They also did not suffer from most of the childhood ailments that result from not washing their hands at the right time either.....the only time my eldest got diahorrea, it was when I took my wife to the USA for a holiday and the Oma had her at home in Germany.....

Oma it turned out did not believe in washing her hands after the toilet......Sarah ended up in hospital!

Oma never did learn hygene of any sort it seems, so thereafter she was not allowed to handle the kids until I or my wife had overseen the hands being washed!!! Normal soap of course! Problem resolved.

I agree 100% with your assessments. My first born now 40 suffered from being too clean and indeed it was a fault of mine, being too protective! During his first 6 years, he's always very sickly. During those years and month is not going to pass without him seeing his doctor!

My second born is entirely a different situation and the only difference was in their upbringing, I just let my daughter rolled around, played with dirt, etc. She is now 35 and thank God she never got sickly as her older brother... Our body is really a big mystery that even with the advancement in medicine still remained as such!

The FDA really sucks, just a placebo when compared to a drug in my opinion..

"Triclosan has been used since 1972, and it is present in soaps (0.10-1.00%), shampoos, deodorants, toothpastes, mouth washes, and cleaning supplies,^[7] and is incorporated into an increasing number of consumer products, such as kitchen utensils, toys, bedding, socks, and trash bags.^[8][9] It is also found in health care settings in surgical scrubs and personnel hand washes.^[10] Triclosan has been shown to be effective in reducing and controlling bacterial contamination on the hands and on treated products. More recently, showering or bathing with 2% triclosan has become a recommended regimen in surgical units for the decolonization of patients whose skin is carrying methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus (MRSA)^[11] following the successful control of MRSA outbreaks in several clinical settings. Use in surgical units is effective with a minimum contact time of approximately 2 minutes.^[12][13]

Antimicrobial hand soaps including those containing triclosan have been shown to provide a significantly greater bacterial reduction on the hands compared to plain soap.^[14] In addition, the transfer of bacteria to objects was significantly reduced following washing with antimicrobial hand soap containing triclosan compared to plain soap.^[15]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triclosan}

As with most chemicals and drugs, they should be used in certain situations, such as when preparing foods, when an illness or bacterial infection is present....These should not be used as soap for everyday use unless you are in a position of coming in contact with the public everyday.....

http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/

So what's the point of all of this?

Doesn't the FDA have access to wiki?

Some doctor was just on a morning news show, that said, that nothing works unless hands are washed for at least 30 seconds.

The EPA statement on triclosan:

The EPA concluded that total exposure to triclosan did not present risks of concern for human health, including allergy, cancer, reproductive, endocrine and neurotoxic effects.

I am only slightly concerned with the addition of isothiazolinthione to shampoos. If this were over done it can be a skin sensitizer and liver toxin (and it is a cumulative exposure type toxin), but this is at concentrations 1000x or more what is in the soap. At normal usage concentration in toiletry products, there is little concern, but I keep wondering why I am growing a third eye.

Thanks for posting and I agree with you completely, these chemicals only NEED to be used in hospitals and clinics.

For normal people in a normal home, they are unneeded and possibly dangerous in several ways in the longterm and we must wait and see what the new study brings.

I only use disinfectant sprays (I have never looked at the contents, that I will do in the future!) when there are people in the house that I have little or no control over their washing habits, and/or they or us are coughing and sneezing, then I disinfect all door knobs and similar daily, till they leave!

Also thanks for the informative link about hand washing, especially good to see that I have been following the correct procedures with regard to hand washing, no biggie, but basically its just common sense anyway to my mind.