Monday, December 16, 2013

Hurrah. Finally.

As you probably know, I've been yammering about this for what feels like forever.

After years of mounting concerns that the antibacterial chemicals that go into everyday items like soap and toothpaste are doing more harm than good, the Food and Drug Administration said on Monday that it was requiring soap manufacturers to demonstrate that the substances were safe or to take them out of the products altogether.

The proposal was applauded by public health experts, who for years have urged the agency to regulate antimicrobial chemicals, warning that they risk scrambling hormones in children and promoting drug-resistant infections, among other things.

Actually, I did not know about the hormone thing. My beef has always been about the latter worry.

[Added] My message, now with authoritah!

The agency also said there was no evidence that the substances were any more effective in preventing infection than plain soap and water.

Rhetorical question: how much luck have you had trying to buy plain soap lately?

3 comments:

Jack said...

Relevant xkcd.

Don McArthur said...

Costco sells gallon dispenser refills of plain soap., and has for years.

bjkeefe said...

Heh. Thanks, Jack.

Good on Costco, Don, but they are a rarity. Places where you don't need a membership card, like the typical grocery store, sell very few non-antibacterial soaps, especially the liquid kind.

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