The problem with antibacterial soaps and wipes. Money, cancer and hormone disruptors
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The short answer is “do not use antibacterial soaps and wipes in your skin nor your reproductive organs ” Read on
You use antibacterial soaps and wipes because you have been told they are good for you by the antibacterial drugs market
The global antibacterial drugs market is estimated at $41.76bn in 2016 and $44.54bn in 2021. In Whose Interest? You or the shareholders?
Antibacterial soaps and wipes at best do nothing
“There’s no data demonstrating that these drugs provide additional protection from diseases and infections. Using these products might give people a false sense of security,” “If you use these products because you think they protect you more than soap and water, that’s not correct.”
Theresa M. Michele, MD, of the FDA’s Division of Nonprescription Drug Products.
Antibacterial Soap? You Can Skip It, Use Plain Soap and Water
https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm378393.htm
Do not wipes your reproductive organs with antibacterial products, these will kills your healthy bacteria
“researchers identified microorganisms found in six parts of the reproductive tracts of 110 women”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00901-0
“Changes in vaginal microbes also play a role in sexually transmitted infections, as well as urinary tract infections”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20534435
“This is a place essential to the beginning of life — you don’t expect that it’s a place that’s teeming with bacteria,” Scientists have found tiny organisms living in the upper female reproductive tract, an environment they said was once thought to be sterile.
Wendy R. Brewster, MD, PhD, a UNC Lineberger member, an associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, and director of the UNC Center for Women’s Health Research.
“We found that the upper reproductive tract is not sterile, and that bacteria do actually exist there,”
Temitope O. Keku, PhD, a UNC Lineberger member and research professor in the UNC School of Medicine Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Worst case scenario? Pick one: Increase cancer risk, endocrine and Thyroid Disruptor and drug resistance.
“The lack of an additional health benefit associated with the use of triclosan-containing consumer soaps over regular soap, coupled with laboratory data demonstrating a potential risk of selecting for drug resistance, warrants further evaluation by governmental regulators regarding antibacterial product claims and advertising.”
Consumer Antibacterial Soaps: Effective or Just Risky?
https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/45/Supplement_2/S137/285530
“we speculated that hormone metabolism enzymes, rather than biosynthesis enzymes, might contribute to the inhibition of P, T and E2 production (Sex hormones) after TCS (Triclosan) exposure during pregnancy”
Endocrine Disrupting Effects of Triclosan on the Placenta in Pregnant Rats
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4858197/
“the chemical disturbs thyroid, testosterone, and estrogen regulation, which can create a host of issues including early puberty, poor sperm quality, infertility, obesity, and cancer”
The Dirt on Antibacterial Soaps
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/dirt-antibacterial-soaps
“…this study clearly demonstrates that triclosan suppresses serum T4 (Your thyroid produces this hormone called thyroxine. This hormone plays a role in several of your body’s functions, including growth and metabolism) concentrations in a dose-dependent manner in the juvenile male rat.”
The Effects of Triclosan on Puberty and Thyroid Hormones in Male Wistar Rats
https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/107/1/56/1664314
“One effect of systemic exposure to consumer antiseptic wash ingredients that has come to our attention since publication of the 1994 TFM is data suggesting that triclosan and triclocarban can cause alterations in thyroid, reproductive, growth, and developmental systems of neonatal and adolescent animals.”
Triclosan, allergies and the “hygiene hypothesis”
https://www.wired.com/2013/12/fda-triclosan-rule/
Antibacterial soaps have the potential to create antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The World Health Organization calls it a “threat to global health security.”
Five Reasons Why You Should Probably Stop Using Antibacterial Soap Read
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/five-reasons-why-you-should-probably-stop-using-antibacterial-soap-180948078/
The FDA application included 35 pages detailing toxicology studies on triclosan, including studies showing fetal bone malformations in mice and rats.
The FDA didn’t released the 35-page toxicology summary of Colgate Total and triclosan until early 2014, following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in 2013.
“Colgate dismissed the triclosan experiments done on animals, calling them unnecessary”. Among the pages were studies showing fetal bone malformations in mice and rats. Colgate said the findings weren’t relevant. Viewed through the prism of today’s science, such malformations look more like a signal that triclosan is disrupting the endocrine system and throwing off hormonal functioning, according to the three scientists.
Progression of Breast Cancer Cells Was Enhanced by Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals, Triclosan and Octylphenol, via an Estrogen Receptor-Dependent Signaling Pathway in Cellular and Mouse Xenograft Models
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