Wash your hands, brush your teeth, get liver cancer?
A common ingredient in antimicrobial soaps and toothpaste has been linked to liver fibrosis and tumours in mice.
© mathom – 123RF.com
IFLScience reports that regular, large doses of the chemical triclosan caused the tumours when given in conjunction with other carcinogens, according to a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In the study, the mice were given food that was 0.08% triclosan by mass every day for six months (which is equivalent to about 18 human years.)
According to IFLScience, this is hundreds of times higher than what you get through normal usage of soap and toothpaste, but is in line with studies of this type.
The mice who were fed this diet ended up with more and larger liver tumours that grew quicker than the control group.
The triclosan mice also ended up suffering from fibrosis, as their livers tried to replace the cancerous cells and ended up unable to function.
Triclosan is also associated with higher risk of food allergies, and forming endocrine disruptors (it may make men shoot blanks in large enough doses).
While it doesn't appear to form enough to harm humans, the Swedish Naturskyddsföreningen recommends avoiding it in toothpaste due to its adverse effects on the environment.
A study by the University of Michigan in 2007 found that normal soap is actually as effective as the anti-microbial stuff, without the associated health risk.
"What it means for consumers is that we need to be aware of what's in the products. The soaps containing triclosan used in the community setting are no more effective than plain soap at preventing infectious illness symptoms, as well as reducing bacteria on the hands," Allison Aiello of the U-M School of Public Health told Phys.org.
Source: The Times
Source: I-Net Bridge
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