Although we have nearly competed our annual journey through the bog of cold and flu season, sniffles and sneezes still hang heavy in the air. And let’s face it: no one wants to be ill, nor does anyone really have the time to be ill. With all of these contagions, though, what does one do to combat the ever-present threat they impose? We scrub our hands and common surfaces down with antibacterial cleansers and soaps, washing away all of the bacterial and microbes we so deplore.
Now, I understand how busy we all are and I know that illness is, now-a-days, a rather foreboding risk. But I’d like to ask you this: have you ever considered where your “germ-slaying” soap ends up when your done using it (for the thirty seconds that you do)? If I told you that it remains in our water even after it has been treated, would you believe me?
Properties and Threats
In 2016. the FDA published the article “Antibacterial Soap? You Can Skip It, Use Plain Soap and Water” to elaborate on the true composition and effects of antimicrobial soaps and detergents. The article begins by discussing recent research findings which determined that antibacterial soaps and cleansers are no more effective than their “regular” counterparts. These references are followed by a general announcement which declared that the active ingredients in antimicrobial soaps were to be taken off of the public market for their recently-discovered impacts on the global water supply and subsequent ecology.
Following these introductory measures, the FDA detailed the effects of antibacterial products’ active ingredients. While there are nineteen chemicals used for primarily antibacterial purposes, triclosan and triclocaraban are the two most prevalent in over-the-counter soap products. Both compounds are organic in nature and are dominantly composed of carbon and chlorine atoms in lengthy succession. Though the title “organic” makes these molecules seem benign, the former, triclosan, is of questionable impact on ecosystems and environmental first made its way into broad-spectrum use by way of farming- as a pesticide.
Unfortunately, the FDA stopped their explanations of the compounds there, an article published by Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences entitled “Say Goodbye to Antibacterial Soaps: Why the FDA is banning a household item” shares that multiple studies have found that triclosan affects the hormone signaling processes in animal and human cells. This same article further shares that scientists worry triclosan may be responsible for generating drug-resistant bacteria and documents that even the most basic bacteria found on human skin is known to become resistant to the chemical after prolonged use. Such concerns join those posted in the Smithsonian article “Five Reasons Why You Should Probably Stop Using Antibacterial Soap,” including those that involve enhanced risk of allergy development in children as a result of diminished exposure to bacteria and the contamination of freshwater sources (links first cited in the Smithsonian article).
Environmental Implications
A further article posted by the Columbia eBlog Environmental Leadership, Action, and Ethics shared the results of an Environmental Science & Technology publishing on the necessity of triclosan regulation within the United States. This document went on to discuss the chemical’s presence in drinking water samples and its subsequent appearance in 75% of US urine and 97% of US breast milk samples. Further data in the same article indicate that there is between a six-of-ten and a ten-of-ten probability of finding triclosan or triclocaraban in any US stream in the event of random sampling.
This outstanding presence in two of the most essential biological samples clearly illustrates that the molecule remains in fresh water after it has been directed through water processing functions. As stated by Environmental Leadership, Action, and Ethics’ piece, 25% of all original triclosan sample remains in treated water and makes its way into ecosystems. Once introduced into the environment, the chemical leaks into the sediment and soil as well as other “sludge” reservoirs, where it persists for decades. In these locations, the chemicals can be absorbed by all members of the ecosystem and there wreck havoc. Triclosan is known to alter the photosynthetic processes of algae and other plants and to affect the behavioral characteristics of fish, thereby inhibiting their ability to survive. Such protracted presence within any ecosystem can lead to any number of impacts on the structure and function of the ecological flow and of the prevailing food web, and the EST article further elucidates that studies are being and have been completed to determine the precise implications of thee chemicals’ presences.
Antibacterial chemicals have not just been found in fresh water sources, however; data collections have located particular antimicrobial molecules in the systems of aquatic life ranging from worms to dolphins. The magnitude of the antibacterial chemical issue can be seen quite clearly in their appearance in fresh and salt water samples alike. Although the FDA has inhibited the sale and use of many antimicrobial substances, those amounts which have already been introduced into the world’s water supply will remain for quite a number of years and will impart numerous, yet-unknown impacts during that time. It is now that we must consider what, precisely, we are running down the drain- and later taking into our bodies- and how those products may affect our precious life source and the innumerable organisms it renders to life.