Double
Trouble Dirty Dozen
David Suzuki, a known environmentalist has put
triclosan on his personal dirty dozen list due to its effect on environment and
humans alike1. Although we’ve
been destroying the environment for years, we have become increasingly more concerned
about the household chemicals we are dumping into our water, and recently added
a new WHMIS symbol reflecting environmental harm2. Often the environmental impact is overlooked for
products that are preservatives and antibacterial agents such as triclosan as they
are used in household supplies2,3.
You may be
wondering what kind of products you can find triclosan in, and you’ll be
surprised to know it can be found in most soaps, dish soap, hand sanitizer and deodorants4.
Unfortunately, triclosan can be absorbed into the skin, and be excreted by
feces, however unfortunate fact number two is that 26% of it is washed off into
our water affecting the environment2. Although, waste management facilities are
able to remove the majority of triclosan from the water, the remainder proceeds
into our rivers and lakes and can be converted to one of four dioxins4.
In its triclosan form, it has been recorded to disrupt hormone regulation in
aquatic life4. Specifically,
we are seeing an increase in the male fish population due to triclosan
mimicking male sex determining hormones – scary!5. In other cases, algae populations are
diminishing and frogs are having wide stream developmental problems5.
In addition, triclosan is known to
accumulate in our body tissue and doesn’t degrade for many years1. This
can personally affect us, as fetal development is speculated to be impacted by
triclosan such that improper brain development, and placenta malformation (the
organ that links mother to child), occurs5.
As if it wasn’t bad enough, after reacting with
sunlight triclosan converts into four members of the dioxin family4. These four molecules differ only in the
location of the chlorine molecule on the molecules structure, in which some
locations are more toxic to the environment than others6. The level
of toxicity of these 4 dioxin molecules is unknown for the environment or for
ourselves5. However, we do know these molecules are considered
persistent organic pollutants suggesting they stay in the environment for many
years and don’t begin to decay until on average 11 years later6. Probably
most shocking is the World Health Organization recognizes Dioxin as a dirty
dozen chemical (and they mean business)6, so I’m personally going to
try and avoid these products in hopes they don’t end up in my watering hole.
Hazardous to
the environmental. Digital image. Web. 6 February 2018. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/GHS-pictogram-pollu.svg
References:
1David Suzuki foundation,
one nature. (2017). The Dirty Dozen: Triclosan. Retrieved February 6th
from https://davidsuzuki.org/queen-of-green/dirty-dozen-triclosan/
2 Pubchem. (n.d). Triclosan.
Retrieved on February 6th 2018 from https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/5564#section=Computed-Properties
3 Michalak, I. and Chojnacka,
K. (2014). Biocides. In Encyclopedia of Toxicology (3rd Edition),
p. 461-463.
4 https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-386454-3.00472-3.
University of Minnesota. (2010). U of Minnesota study finds rising levels
of dioxins from common soap ingredient in Mississippi River sediments. http://www.axeb.org/news/files/mcneill.html
5 Defence, Environmental. (2012). The Trouble with Triclosan: How a Pervasive Antibacterial Chemical Is Polluting Our world and Our Bodies.Toronto: Environmental Defence, Canadian Electronic Library/desLibris.
Web. February 6th 2018.
6 Wolrd Health Organization. (2016). Dioxins and their effects on human health. Retrieved on February 6th 2018 from
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs225/en/
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