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Widely Used Antibacterial Chemical May Impair Muscle Function
New submitter daleallan writes "Triclosan, which is widely used in consumer handsoaps, toothpaste, clothes, carpets and trash bags, impairs muscle function in animal studies, say researchers at UC Davis (abstract). It slows swimming in fish and reduces muscle strength in mice. It may even impair the ability of heart muscle cells to contract. The chemical is in everyone's home and pervasive in the environment, the lead researcher says. One million pounds of Triclosan is produced in the U.S. annually and it's found in waterways, fish, dolphins, human urine, blood and breast milk. The researchers say their findings 'Call for a dramatic reduction in use.' It's in my Colgate Total toothpaste, and in fact, preventing gingivitis is the only use that may be worthwhile, although this makes me think twice about continuing to brush with it."
This isn't the first time Triclosan has been in the news over safety concerns.
Need to stress this, Triclosan is not the only drug found in waterways
A lot of other substances that human being are using ended up in waterways and they are having all types of side effects on ecology around us
I read an article about 10 years ago that nano-silver particles that we human are using - to kill bacteria, -somehow entered the waterways and end up killing a lot of microbial lifeforms, and the chain reaction (according to the articles that i read, can't find the links to them anymore, sorry) was worrying
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
there's lots of things which harm only some kinds of life.
Your eyes are protected by Lysozyme: enzymes which attack bacteria but it doesn't harm your eyes.
Lots of things are harmful to one organism and not another: Theobromine is deadly to dogs but fairly harmless to us except in extreme quantities because we have enzymes which can handle it.
Oxygen will kill many types of bacteria but we need it to live.
Many anti-bacterials are simply far far far less toxic to us than to bacteria so it's not that surprising but it makes an awful rule of thumb.
acutely depresses hemodynamics and grip strength in mice at doses 12.5 mg/kg
Every end has half a stick.
You should URGENTLY call poisons information if someone eats significant amounts of toothpaste. The Fluoride can and has killed people.
You would be better off giving it a grape or an onion. Chocolate is fairly weak in killing a dog than that of cocoa itself. An onion actually causes the blood cells in a dog to "pop" which means a deader dog in a shorter time.
In context.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22885664
Urinary levels of bisphenol A, triclosan and 4-nonylphenol in a general Belgian population.
'Geometric mean concentration was determined for bisphenol A at 2.55ug/l and for triclosan at 2.70ug/l'
Now, Triclosans molar mass is around 300.
0.52uMol/l is therefore 300 times this - 150ug/l.
So, this is lots higher - 50 times - that in the general population.
(Assuming urine and blood are of similar concentration, I can find no papers on this in 2 mins)
However, 50* is not a stupid amount to exceed dosages by, especially given that it's likely that some humans will exceed the average by at least 5 times.