Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 6184 |
| Work Detail | The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Friday issued a final rule that will ban many commonly used consumer antiseptic soaps. The director of the Division of Nonprescription Drug Products at the FDA's Center for Drug Research and Evaluation, Dr. Theresa Michele stated that most of the products containing on the label the term "antibacterial" or "antimicrobial" include at least one of the components that are banned by FDA. Manufacturers such as the Henkels Co. that makes Dial have a year to remove the chemicals or take the products off the market. Hand wash products containing these chemicals go down drains and into water treatment plants, where a considerable amount ends up in our groundwater supply, according to Halden's research. The ruling will mainly affect liquid antibacterial soaps, and will have no effect on alcohol-based hand sanitizers or wipes. About 40% of antiseptic hand soaps (both bar and liquid form) contain the chemicals in question, with triclosan, the most common such ingredient, being found in 93% of liquid antibacterial/antimicrobial liquid products. Reportedly, some manufacturers have already started removing these ingredients from their products. But there's still no doubt about it: from this point forward, consider the antibacterial soap bubble popped. Those ingredients are added to many consumer products with the intent of reducing or preventing bacterial infection. Some studies show they can disrupt key hormone activities in our bodies. Some manufacturers began phasing out antibacterial ingredients at that time. At that time, the agency required manufacturers to provide additional data on the safety and effectiveness of the active ingredients in their antibacterial soaps, if they wanted to keep those products on the market. And plenty of people are speculating that the reason that the antibacterial soap industry didn't prove to the FDA that their product is safe is that they know that it isn't. In addition, laboratory studies have raised the possibility that triclosan contributes to making bacteria resistant to antibiotics. The FDA also noted other health concerns related to long-term use of the now-banned active ingredients. Although it remains unclear if these effects can translate to humans, these are harm that health regulators have to consider. The companies did submit more information on three other chemicals in the FDA request that are used in consumer products for washing. They now have one year to fully comply with the new regulations. However, "antibacterial hand and body wash manufacturers did not provide the necessary data to establish safety and effectiveness", according to the FDA's new final rule. |
| Country | United States , Northern America |
| Industry | Chemicals & Fertilizer |
| Entry Date | 15 Oct 2016 |
| Source | http://inewstoday.net/2016/09/fda-bans-some-antibacterial-chemicals-in-soap/ |
