New Frog Studies Uphold Triclosan Safety
New Triclosan Test Continues to Demonstrates Efficacy of US WWTP Infrastructure
New Scientific Assessment Confirms Safety of Triclosan
Triclosan Works Better than Plain Soap & Water
National Sewage Sludge Survey Confirms Triclosan Concentrations are Low
Wastewater Treatment Effectively Removes Triclosan
Triclosan: No Effect on Frog Metamorphosis
New Scientific Assessment Confirms Safety of triclosan
A recent assessment of triclosan by the Australian National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme concluded that:
- Under normal conditions of consumer use, the risk of adults and children being exposed to levels of triclosan that would lead to chronic health effects is low;
- The available data in humans and animals provide no evidence that triclosan has the potential to cause harm to breastfed babies;
- There is also no evidence that the use of triclosan is leading to an increase in triclosan-resistant bacterial populations or that there is any increased risk to humans regarding antibiotic resistance.
For more information on this assessment by the Australian Department of Health and Aging, please click here. (November 18, 2008)
Wastewater Treatment Effectively Removes Triclosan: A recent study reveals that triclosan was not found in two important natural waterways impacted by high population density, and the ingredient is adequately and effectively processed by the US wastewater treatment systems. This study, by members of Dr. Rolf Halden's environmental analytical chemistry laboratory, confirms that increased use of triclosan during the past 25 years did not lead to accumulation in key environmental areas, and reconfirms that that triclosan is not a concern for long term environmental presence. For more discussion, click here. (February 4, 2009)
Triclosan Works Better than Plain Soap & Water: The extraordinary results of a new study published in the prestigious, peer reviewed Journal of Food Protection, prove that not all hand soaps are alike in their performance. In fact, this study showed that a leading brand of antibacterial foaming hand soap containing Ciba® IRGASAN® DP300 (triclosan) helps protect people from significantly more illness-causing germs than ordinary soap. For more information please click here. (March 12, 2008)
Triclosan: No Effect on Frog Metamorphosis: The results of a new study indicate that environmentally-relevant triclosan concentrations do not alter the normal course of thyroid-mediated metamorphosis in the standard anuran model(order of frogs and toads). The Research is to be presented at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) meeting in Warsaw 25-29 May 2008. To review the poster click here. (March 12, 2008)
New Triclosan Test Continues to Demonstrates Efficacy of US WWTP Infrastructure: Studies have shown that 90-98% of triclosan in wastewater is typically removed in waste water treatment plants with only small traces detectable in the effluent water that reaches rivers. Now, a new test that is reported to detect triclosan at a concentration down to 20 parts per trillion (ppt)—the equivalent of -one drop of detergent in enough dishwater to fill a string of railroad tank cars ten miles long1- confirms previous reports about the importance and efficacy of the wastewater treatment infrastructure in the US.
The developers of this method, the United States Department of Agriculture2, recently used it to assess triclosan and its derivative, methyl-triclosan, in river water, tap water and sewage samples from three municipal plants in the Red River Basin area shared by North Dakota and Minnesota. The team's wastewater analysis showed that, before treatment, triclosan levels in wastewater sometimes exceeded 3,000 ppt, but after treatment, those levels fell below 500 ppt and river and tap water analyses revealed triclosan and methyl-triclosan levels below the detection limit, highlighting the effectiveness of the elimination processes. (February 4,2009)
New Frog Studies Uphold Triclosan Safety: Recent work by King et al. determined that environmentally-relevant concentrations of
triclosan are not lethal nor does it induce growth impairment or developmental effects in frog embryos following a 96-hr exposure period. Work by Fort el al., using a standard metamorphosis frog model to assess potential effects of triclosan on normal prometamorphic Xenopus laevis demonstrated that environmentally-relevant concentrations do not alter the normal course of thyroid-mediated metamorphosis. This work was furthered with data from a 32-day study to determine if triclosan could disrupt the thyroid axis prior to the onset of active metamorphosis (premetamorphosis) and lead to early onset metamorphosis. Together, these studies provide additional evidence that triclosan does not alter the normal course of metamorphosis in the standard frog model, X. laevis, and is not toxic at the environmentally-relevant concentrations studied. (February 4, 2009)
National Sewage Sludge Survey Confirms Triclosan Concentrations are Low: The U.S. EPA Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey added triclosan to the list of constituents in this routine analysis. Triclosan was measured in sewage sludge with a maximum level of 133 parts per million (ppm), and an average level of 16 ppm. These findings are not unexpected given the common household use of this very important antimicrobial ingredient. While the EPA states that “it is not appropriate to speculate on the significance of the results” at this time, let’s focus on the facts.
Depending on the sludge quality and heavy metals content, sludges are either incinerated, land-filled, or land-applied3. Sludge that is land applied commonly goes to agricultural land (including pasture and range land), forests, reclamation sites, public contact sites (e.g., parks, turf farms, highway median strips, golf courses), lawns, and home gardens. A mass balance, based on all current data and biodegradation rates, safely excludes any risk to humans or wildlife from secondary exposure to triclosan from any environmental route.
To put this into perspective, consider this: in order to ingest the same amount of triclosan measured in sludge (16 -133 ppm) to that which you might ingest from brushing your teeth with an FDA approved triclosan containing toothpaste, you would have to eat 0.05 – 0.5 kgs (approx. 1 lb.) of raw undiluted sludge containing triclosan every day!
For an in-depth discussion of this survey and what it means, go to: http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/biosolids/tnsss-overview.html (February 4, 2009)
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1Concentration Analogies: Explaining chemical concentrations (parts per million, parts per billion) by using
analogies (from : Michael A. Kamrin, Delores J. Katz and Martha L. Walter , for National Sea Grant Program, 199? . Taking the Risk out of Reporting Risk Assessment.
2http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jan09/triclosan0109.htm
3Data based on EPA National Sewage Sludge and Needs Survey, 1988, EPA Biosolids Technology Factsheet, EPA 832-F-00-064
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