What chemical makes extracts to make an antibacterial liquid soap?
You have 2 weeks only to answer this. For my Investigatory Project. No IP, you don’t graduate.
The FDA recognizes only a limited number of chemicals as antibacterial additives. Triclosan is the one used most frequently. Any soap that does not contain one of the FDA’s recognized antibacterial chemicals cannot be labeled or sold as antibacterial.
But antibacterial soap is way overrated and way overused. In fact, so much of it goes down our drains everyday that alarming amounts of triclosan have begun to show up in the ocean food chain. Studies have shown that plain old soap gets your skin just as clean as antibacterial soap, and there is no risk that using it will promote the development of super germs that have become resistant to triclosan. Natural alternatives such as tea tree essential oil are far safer and far better for the environment.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:20 pm
The FDA recognizes only a limited number of chemicals as antibacterial additives. Triclosan is the one used most frequently. Any soap that does not contain one of the FDA’s recognized antibacterial chemicals cannot be labeled or sold as antibacterial.
But antibacterial soap is way overrated and way overused. In fact, so much of it goes down our drains everyday that alarming amounts of triclosan have begun to show up in the ocean food chain. Studies have shown that plain old soap gets your skin just as clean as antibacterial soap, and there is no risk that using it will promote the development of super germs that have become resistant to triclosan. Natural alternatives such as tea tree essential oil are far safer and far better for the environment.
References :
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=dolphin-development-antibacterial-soap-triclosan
http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=5990