The triclosan-containing soap “performed significantly better after nine hours of exposure”, they found – a rather long period for washing one’s hands. And along with breaking out our boots and sweaters, most of us will mark the changing of the season with a vigorous attempt to avoid the inevitable cold and flu outbreaks by washing our hands a lot to stave off germs.
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Korean scientists have found that antibacterial soap is no more effective at killing bacteria than normal soap.
The most simple and effective way to prevent transmitting all kinds of diseases is to wash your hands with soap and water.
Once the bacteria were done with this unexpected bath, the researchers counted them. They recreated the conditions of human handwashing by exposing the bacteria to triclosan with a concentration of 0.3 percent, which is the maximum allowed by law in Europe, Canada, Australia, China and Japan.
A new study published Sept. 15 in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy put the claims of antibacterial soaps to a rigorous test. In lab tests and in people, surfaces and hands exposed to 20 seconds of washing with normal and antibacterial soaps showed no difference.
To evaluate triclosan’s germ-killing abilities, the team placed 20 dangerous bacteria strains, including Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enteritidis in petri dishes with either antibacterial or regular soap.
“Thus, both advertisement and consumer belief regarding the effectiveness of antibacterial soaps need to be addressed”, they concluded.
The researchers found the ordinary soap and water just as effective as the antibacterial soap.
To test whether triclosan in soap is more effective than plain old soap and water, Rhee first exposed 20 different strains of bacteria to the two different formulations in a lab setting.
They were then told to wash their hands for 30 seconds using either antibacterial or regular soap and 40-degree water.
Germaphobes, we have some bad news for you. “These results suggest that although triclosan-containing soap does have antibacterial activity, the effects are not apparent during the short time required for hand washing”. “However, the use of triclosan remains controversial because various adverse effects have been reported, including allergies, antibiotic resistance, endocrine disruption, acute/chronic toxicity and bioaccumulation; one study even identified carcinogenic impurities”.
The study examined the effect of triclosan (the most commonly used active antiseptic ingredient used in soap) on bacteria in two ways.
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The chemical often used in these products, triclosan, is not harmless.
