With the back to school rush, you can walk down the aisle of any office supply store or back to school section of your supermarket and think you’re shopping for surgical ward supplies. The antimicrobial chemical triclosan, which has been linked to hormone disruption, allergies and thyroid problems, is now being applied to everything from pens and pencils to scissors. It’s being marketed as being safer for kids thanks to its antibacterial properties, but is this really the case? The bulk of triclosan that floats around in the environment and most likely in the body comes from the personal care products that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, triclosan levels in humans has increased by as much as 50 per cent since 2004, and it’s now even been identified in human breast milk. There’s currently no evidence to show how much triclosan is lost from products such as lunch bags, binders and sports clothing. But this lack of knowledge could be damaging the health of millions.
The number of products containing triclosan, and its relate chemical triclocarbon, have increased significantly over the past few decades. These chemicals are no longer just restricted to soaps, hand cleansers and toothpaste. They can be found in anything from workout clothing, sports equipments, towels and sheets, including the back to school supplies that your children are using day in, day out. There’s much evidence to suggest that using this chemical to prevent bacteria is a bad idea. Beyond the research that shows that triclosan damages the thyroid, researchers have found that overusing this chemical could increase the superbug bacteria strains that are becoming resistant to modern medicine. Aside from these alarming health concerns, there’s yet more reason to avoid triclosan in school products. It’s also a rip off. You pay more for the products that contain triclosan and there’s not actually any evidence that it works or is any good for people. Consumers currently use on-fifth to one-tenth of the amount of triclosan that hospitals use to kill germs just in everyday products. The concerns is that overusing these chemicals could render valuable antibiotics useless due to the resistance our bodies will build up.
Companies marketing triclosan may not make it clear, but washing your hands with regular soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitiser is safer and more effective than applying antimicrobial chemicals such as triclosan to your skin. This is because there is little to no evidence to suggest that triclosan impregnated soaps and products for the household have any advantage. Because triclosan is in so many products, we’re even eating it. It’s finding its way into the water supplies and, as such, into the crops that we’re later eating. The safest way to avoid this is to learn the code words for this ingredient. Products listed as microban are often to blame, but the best way is to call the manufacturer and ask. You should also choose safer sanitising methods, which happen to be using water and soap to wash your hands! If you’re not by a sink, opt for a hand sanitiser than has alcohol in it. There are plenty of ways to stay safe, but it will require reading labels more thoroughly and not necessarily relying on the marketing that many of these product provide in order to get your information.