Wash your hands of Triclosan

The triclo-what? While triclosan is not exactly a household word, “anti-bacterial” is. Marketers have done an incredible job of making us terrified of bacteria – overlooking the fact that our bodies are teeming with it, both the good bacteria and the bad guys. Unfortunately, we’ve become convinced that our first line of defense (our own immune system) simply isn’t up to the task and we wipe our homes and bodies clean of the enemy. How? By using antibacterial everything. Yet many of these antibacterial soaps and gels rely on a chemical called triclosan. According to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, triclosan is a carcinogen and developmental/reproductive toxin. Researchers at Virginia Tech revealed that triclosan, when exposed to tap water, decomposes into chloroform and chlorine byproducts.
Plain old olive oil or hemp soap and water do the job!
Check out these sites for more info:

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ingredient.php?ingred06=706623&nothanks=1

http://www.bodyecology.com/07/09/20/avoid_dangerous_triclosan.php


1 Comment »

Rachel, on February 1, 2009 @ 6:01 pm |

Marketing, marketing… will make you buy anything! Same with cosmetics. Do you think that Revlon or Dior will tell women that 8 out of 10 of the ingredients of the ‘beauty’ products they’re bying is actually a known carcinogen? Simple soap and water is apparently not good enough anymore… too bad :-)



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