Antibacterial soaps are marketed as effective way to get rid of germs and protect you ; If you thought that your hands are safe and clean after washing them with antibacterial soaps, think again….these soaps could cause cancer.
These soaps contains triclosan, a widely used antibacterial and antifungal ingredient that produces the antibacterial feature within soap.
Environmental chemist Peter Vikesland and collaborators based their work on previous research that showed triclosan reacts with chlorine (which disinfects drinking water) and produced chloroform which is suspected to cause cancer.
The Vikesland team experimented with several antibacterial soaps. They added 0.25 gram (about 0.009 ounce) of soap per liter (about 0.3 gallon) of either purified water or tap-water and measured the reaction produced by the mixture after one minute. Their results show that triclosan-containing products (that is, antibacterial soaps) add about 15 to 40% to the amount of chloroform that could potentially touch the skin of users when compared to the use of just tap-water alone. They intend o perform further studies on humans to discover the actual exposures to chloroform during day-to-day activities.
Vikesland questions the use of antibacterial soap when he says:
… people should think about what they are using and whether they actually need it.
Antibacterial soaps are not any better than regular soaps.Washing your hands thoroughly with ordinary soap and warm water is equally effective.
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