20150518 - antibacterial soaps

The Dirty Truth About Antibacterial Soaps

May 18, 2015

Not all soap has a clean reputation.

According to a new study by University of California researchers published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the active chemical in most antibacterial soaps, triclosan (which gives most antibacterial soaps and hygiene products their antibacterial properties), causes liver fibrosis and promotes cancerous liver tumors.

What they found: Lab mice that were fed steady levels of tricloasan for six months developed serious liver issues, possibly by gumming up the processes by which the liver normally filters out toxins. What’s worse, the researchers believe that it would probably do the same kind of damage to humans.

“Although animal studies require higher chemical concentrations than predicted for human exposure, this study demonstrates that [triclosan] acts as a … tumor promoter and that the mechanism of [triclosan]-induced mouse liver pathology may be relevant to humans,” the study concludes.

 https://www.yahoo.com/health/the-dirty-truth-about-antibacterial-soaps-118285569345.html