| Dear
EarthTalk: I heard about a supposed dangerous
chemical called “triclosan” that is in many
personal care and other consumer products. Can you enlighten?
-- Carl Stoneman, Richland, WA
| |
Manufacturers
that use triclosan in their products insist that the
synthetic chemical helps reduce infections. But numerous
studies have shown that washing hands with products
containing triclosan was no more effective in preventing
infectious illness than plain soaps. Other research
even links triclosan to various human health and environmental
problems.
© Jack Black's Stunt Double, courtesy Flickr |
Triclosan
is a synthetic chemical compound added to many personal
and household care products to inhibit illness by preventing
bacterial infection. It works by breaking down the biochemical
pathways that bacteria use to keep their cell walls intact,
and as such kills potentially harmful germs if used in strong
enough formulations. First developed as a surgical scrub
back in 1972, triclosan is now used in upwards of 700 different
consumer-oriented products, many of which people use more
than once a day. They include hand soaps, deodorants, toothpastes,
kids’ toys, yoga mats and, of course, hand sanitizers.
Whether
triclosan is actually as effective as advertised, especially
in the small doses found in consumer products, is a topic
of much debate. Manufacturers insist that the product helps
reduce infections. But researchers from the University of
Michigan’s School of Public Health found, after surveying
27 different studies conducted between 1980 and 2006 on
the effectiveness of antibacterial soaps, that washing hands
with products containing triclosan was no more effective
in preventing infectious illness—and did not remove
any more bacteria—than plain soaps. The analysis,
“Consumer Antibacterial Soaps: Effective or Just Risky?”
was published in 2007 in the peer-reviewed journal, Clinical
Infectious Diseases. According to lead researcher Allison
Aiello, triclosan—because of the way it reacts in
living cells—may cause some bacteria exposed to it
to become resistant to amoxicillin and other commonly used
antibacterial drugs, but she adds that more research is
needed to bear out this hypothesis.
Anti-bacterial
soaps and other products utilizing triclosan may in fact
be doing more harm than good for the people who use it regularly.
According to the non-profit Beyond Pesticides, triclosan
has been linked to various human health problems. “It
is associated with skin irritation, has been shown to interfere
with the body’s hormones, and has been linked to an
increased risk of developing respiratory illness, or asthma,
and cancer, as well as subtle effects on learning ability,”
reports the group, adding that 75 percent of Americans are
walking around today with trace levels of triclosan in their
bloodstreams. Tests using lab animals have verified that
exposure to large doses of triclosan can cause irreparable
health damage, but industry representatives say that the
levels found in consumer products are much too small to
do so.
Beyond
its potential human health effects, triclosan can also harm
the environment. According to Beyond Pesticides, some 96
percent of the triclosan from consumer products is washed
down drains where it flows into wastewater treatment plants
often ill-equipped to deal with it. Inevitably some of the
triclosan escapes treatment and is released into local waterways,
where exposure to sunlight can convert it into dioxins,
a highly toxic group of chemicals responsible for contaminating
waterways and wreaking havoc on wildlife.
While
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is finally taking
a fresh look at triclosan after years of controversy, consumers
can do their part by asking the places they shop to stop
selling products containing the controversial chemical additive.
The Beyond Pesticides website offers a customizable sample
letter designed to help consumers convince local retailers
to forego stocking items with triclosan.
CONTACTS:
Clinical
Infectious Diseases; Beyond
Pesticides; U.S.
Food & Drug Administration.
Dear
EarthTalk: I am a bartender in Sacramento
and I would love to be able to use some sort of locally
made or sustainable version of sugar. What’s out there?
-- Ryan Seng, via e-mail
| |
The
rerouting of South Florida’s fragile water table
to irrigate thirsty sugar plantations contributed
to the decimation of the Everglades, one of the nation’s
most unique and diverse ecosystems. Pictured: A Florida
sugar cane and coconut vendor prepares some raw sugar
cane.
© Ashe-villain, courtesy Flickr |
It sure would
be nice if we could obtain all of our food and drink items
from local sources, but sugar provides an excellent example
of why such a desire may remain a pipe dream in the United
States for a long time to come. The sugar we consume that
is produced domestically comes from sugar cane grown in
Hawaii and the Southeast and sugar beet from the Upper Midwest,
Pacific Northwest, California and elsewhere. However, it
is likely milled and refined hundreds if not thousands of
miles from where it is harvested, and then shipped all over
the country—causing untold greenhouse gas emissions—in
various sized packages for our consumption in our coffee,
on our cereal and, for some of us, in our cocktails.
Massive government
subsidies and land giveaways to the sugar industry in the
American Southeast beginning in the early 18th century established
a market for American-grown sugar despite the fact that
the region’s climate was not tropical enough to grow
cane efficiently. To add insult to injury, the rerouting
of south Florida’s fragile water table to irrigate
thirsty sugar plantations contributed to the decimation
of the Everglades, one of the nation’s most unique
and diverse ecosystems—and now the subject of a multi-billion
dollar restoration effort.
While you might
be hard pressed to find commercially available local sugar
anywhere in the U.S., you could make your own. “Years
ago, when sugar was an expensive commodity, many people
of lesser means made their own sugar from sugar beets,”
reports writer Kat Yares on the eHow.com website. “Every
farm and every home garden had a spot reserved for beets,
and a day was set aside to cook the beets down into sugar.”
While very few of us grow our own food these days, growing
sugar beets and making sugar from scratch can be a fun,
educational and tasty project for parents and kids or for
foodies intent on local sourced, preservative-free ingredients.
Yares explains the whole process in her “How to Make
Sugar from Beets” article on eHow.com.
If that all sounds
like too much work, perhaps you can settle for store-bought
organic sugar, which may not be local but which is at least
produced without chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Florida
Crystals, Hain, C&H, Domino and others each offer organic
sugar varieties in many traditional grocery stores coast-to-coast.
There are even more choices at natural foods specialty stores
(like Whole Foods). Believe it or not, there are even vegan
sugars out there—that is, sugars not processed with
animal-derived bone char in the refinement process.
While sugar itself
may be a staple item for many cocktails, some interesting
alternative natural sweeteners, some of which may be locally
sourced in your region, do exist. Agave nectar, honey or
even maple syrup are some options that might just give that
Tom Collins the extra kick it needs to make it stand out
from the other bartender’s drinks down the street—or
in your breakfast cereal, for that matter.
CONTACTS:
eHow;
Florida
Crystals; Hain;
C&H;
Domino. |
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