Women Who Rock with Success- March

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T h is, in tur n , com es back to dam age our h ealth again in a var iety of ways as it con tam in ates th e food ch ain an d can
even con tam in ate our dr in kin g water. I r on ically, in tr y in g to preven t th e developm en t of diseases an d illn esses
w ith sy n th esized an tibacter ial agen ts such as tr iclosan , we?ve cr eated som eth in g th at seem s to in ten sif y th e issue
even m or e.
W h at i s T r i cl osan ?
W h at D oes T r i cl osan D o?
Tr iclosan Ch em ical For m ula
Tr iclosan is an ar tif icial an tibacter ial an d an tif un gal agen t (biocide) th at is design ed to h elp kill an d r educe th e
gr ow th of bacter ia w ith in th e body an d on th e sur f ace of th e skin ? at least in pr in ciple. It was cr eated in 1964 by a
Sw iss phar m aceutical com pany (Ciba- Geigy) an d was m ain ly used dur in g th e 1970 ?s as a h ospital scr ub.
Sin ce th en , it h as been in cluded (in sm all am oun ts) in a var iety of dif fer en t dom estic products in cludin g soaps,
sh am poo, deodor an ts, tooth paste, m outhwash es, clean in g supplies an d pesticides to n am e a few. It is also of ten
in cluded in con sum er products such as kitch en uten sils, toys, beddin g, tr ash bags an d even socks W h ile studies
h ave sh ow n th at products con tain in g tr iclosan ar e sligh tly m or e ef fective at r educin g th e ger m coun t th an r egular
soaps, th e tr uth is th at th e dif fer en ce is n ot gr eat en ough to justif y th e h ealth h azar ds th at ar e associated w ith th is
ch em ical. I n f act, as of Septem ber 20 16, th e FD A decided to ban th e m ar ketin g of over- th e- coun ter products th at
con tain tr iclosan .
T h e FD A f in ally caved on ce th ey r ealized th e f act th at m ost of th e m an uf actur er s of products w ith tr iclosan
couldn?t prove th at th e ch em ical was safe for lon g- ter m use. Addition ally, m ost of th e studies don e on an im als
proved th at quite th e opposite was tr ue r egar din g th e n atur e of th is ch em ical. Fr om what I gath er ed, tr iclosan is
dir ectly lin ked to th e for m ation of can cer in m ice an d h as a n egative ef fect on h or m on al balan ces, ultim ately
killin g of f m icr oscopic bacter ia in th e envir on m en t (ocean s, r iver s etc.) th at th e r est of th e food ch ain is depen dan t
on .
Clear ly, even if th ese products con tain on ly a tr ace am oun t of tr iclosan in th eir m akeup, th e f act th at so m any of
th e products we use on a r egular basis in clude th is ch em ical is cause for con cer n . I n f act, doctor s h ave alr eady
begun to con n ect th is com m on place in gr edien t w ith a var iety of h ealth problem s. Tr iclosan wor ks by preven tin g
th e r eproduction of bacter ia m or e th an dir ectly killin g th em of f an d also in h ibits th eir ability to sy n th esize w ith
th e f atty acids in our body ? a con stan t sour ce of en er gy for th ese m icr oscopic th r eats.
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