March 9, 2014 at 6:12 pm
Aaron CarrollOur latest episode of healthcare triage addresses the antibacterial soap, specifically the recent decision of the FDA to crackdown on the use of antibacterial ingredients without more data:
If something has a benefit, and no harms, then you should likely use it. But if something has no benefits and potentially real harms, then you shouldn’t. The latter is the case with antibacterial soap. Although the stuff is ubiquitous, there’s tons of data showing it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to, while possibly causing us some harm. Watch this week’s episode to learn about the difference between efficacy and effectiveness, why bacterial counts really don’t matter here, and why the FDA made the right call. Then, as always, feel free to attack Aaron in comments or on Twitter.
For those of you who care here for references, here they are:
- Consumer Antibacterial Soaps: Effective or Just Risky?
- A Meta-Analysis of the Published Literature on the Effectiveness of Antimicrobial Soaps
- FDA Taking Closer Look at ‘Antibacterial’ Soap
- The Impact of Bisphenol A and Triclosan on Immune Parameters in the U.S. Population, NHANES 2003–2006
- Occurrence of triclosan in plasma of wild Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and in their environment
- Are Pharmaceuticals in Your Watershed? Understanding the Fate of Pharmaceuticals and Other Contaminants in Watersheds
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