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Monday 31 May 2010

The Eyes Have It


On the train we usually look for where there is space. Then a man wanders down from further up and takes a seat nearby who has spent quality time on his grooming. Five seconds later we get the big hit from his ultra macho male deodorant. Bang, brain, whack chest and then her eyes start to water. I have close wrapped sunglasses but soon have irritation on the eyes.

We think about moving, but then he leaves the train. But he leaves the smell that indicates the stuff is still in the air. Despite air conditioning and opening doors it lingers for a while. She wipes her eyes a few times while I am blinking. When we arrive at where we were going we are both in the washrooms swilling faces.

So I think about the eyes and about the sheer power, impact and stick and stay effect of this routine male preparation. He has it 24/7, so do the people he lives with and close associates and he gives it others whether they want it or not.

The eyes are vital yet very vulnerable parts of the human building kit. Also, if they go badly wrong they are intricate and difficult to repair and impossible to replace. Surgeons can do many things to limbs and other parts of the body but some are beyond their best talents and will be for the future.

In the course of the ordinary day the eyes are expect to do a great deal of varied work. They are subject to significant variations in light conditions and all and any of the contamination in the air. They have their own self cleaning and maintenance systems that can cope with most natural substances in the air and have contact with but they can only do so much.

They indicate their problems often by what is happening inside them and in ordinary fashion by being sore, irritated or painful. What I do know is that when we come into contact with the fumes and fragrances in many modern household and personal products our eyes tell us they do not like them and that will tell us that there is the risk of damage.

We are being told daily of the rising rates of asthma, cancers, dementias, stomach troubles and the rest that have many and various causes. We know that there is a profound reluctance to admit that some part of this may be due to the levels of contamination induced by various types of product and their chemistry. But what is happening to all our eyes as well?

There may well be real problems on the way. The fine particle technology now coming into common production use added to the increased strength and powers of penetration and adherence will have a particular effect on the eyes. It is arguable that many people making heavy use of the relevant products will begin to build up coatings of fine metals, cyanides, benzenes and chlorines on the eye surface with all the long term effects.

The natural defences of the eye will not be able to remove it, nor will surgery and, nor will any treatment or chemical application be available that will be effective. At the moment we are at the point on the curve when the rise in problems is slight but steady and the cause unrecognised. It might not be long before the curve begins to turn sharply upward and the rise gains rapidity.

Look out for it, if you can.

Tuesday 25 May 2010

Wearing The Temper Thin


Explaining the problems with fragrances to someone we know as they were online they tapped into Google “Scented Fabrics” and inevitably came up with a long list of pages. Amongst the initial ones were one for a set of products made by “DuraScent” which included a variety of clothing and personal options. The site said that it was possible to chose scent designed to last two weeks or a year.

Another site, “inventables” in its details claimed that the microcapsules that could be used to add fragrances to fabrics could last for at least 35 washes, presumably the typical stronger detergents of today and up to 10 dry cleans. As one looked at many others it was clear that it is becoming routine to add these chemicals to clothing, bedding and many other things.

For those who either do not want this or for whom these chemicals provoke adverse reactions this is almost a nightmare scenario. The theory might be that if you can smell them then do not buy. This is far easier said than done. In many retail outlets now the extent and nature of the “chemical haze” in the air either intended or as a consequence of incidental pollution from people or their clothing will impact on the sense of smell. It will block the ability to smell anything much.

Another feature is the way these products do not simply retain their smell, it is that they transfer it to other substances and the power of the effect seems to be retained. So that if there is other clothing on sale which has not been so treated it is almost certainly to be affected by that which has been and permanently.

If you try to find from any of these producers the chemical content and other features, notably the “disinfectant” you will be very lucky to find an answer. To all intents and purposes the consumer is not told the content, is not advised of the implications of using chemical products at these levels of strength and can be sure that they are both untested and unknown in long term effect.

Consider, if the fragrance/parfum can withstand all those washes, dry cleaning and the effect of ordinary wear and tear for up to two years, then just what is in it and what is happening inside the human body as it enters it? If it smells, then it hits the brain, the lungs and from them to all the other parts. If you can neither escape it or get rid of it by any normal means other than by burning it how much is your system experiencing almost every second of the day and night.

It is on the food you buy. It is on the bottles you drink out of. If you have liquids in plastic or other non glass bottles it will not wash off. It is in the cheap clothing you pick up. Your socks/stockings are specially treated. It is now on, in, or part of almost everything you experience.

When the nice clean waiter/waitress puts the plate in front of you it will have a coating of chemical fragrances from their clothing as much as anything else. At least there may well be enough artificial flavourings or enhancers in the food to cover any taste which derive from much the same chemical sources.

Enjoy your meal and have a nice day.

Thursday 20 May 2010

Les Fleurs Du Mal


There are times when I wonder if I am raving mad or is it the rest of them? This is one of those times when perhaps I am one of the very few who are sane. Last April 2009, on 23 April I did a post on The Cynical Tendency, my original blog, entitled “Les Fleurs Du Mal” which was meant to be a satirical comment on life as we know it.

Then I read in “The Mail” of 19th May 2010 that Waitrose has introduced a marketing innovation designed to help the manic consumer spend their money. Basically, it is providing synthetic fragrances with allegedly fresh flowers (probably from mass production plants far away) to assist the human sense of smell which they judge is inadequate for the purpose.

In our local Waitrose the flowers part is adjacent to an area where organic food is on open display. If my knowledge of the chemistry of fragrances is any guide I assume that these synthetic scents will transfer onto organic food either open or packaged.

I will go to a quiet bedroom, draw the curtains, lie down with a cold damp cloth on my forehead and sing quietly to myself for a few hours to prove my sanity.

Quote from “Mail”, 19th May 2010

Scratch and sniff: Waitrose is to pioneer its new labels with long-stemmed bunches of oriental lilies. Traditionally, simply smelling bunches of flowers was enough to convince a wavering buyer which one to buy.

But to ensure a longer life in the vase, stores are selling more and more blooms before they open, which means there is no scent to smell. Now experts have devised a way of giving buyers the best of both worlds - scratch and sniff labels that help them get an idea of the scent.

It could revolutionise the way we buy flowers. From next Monday, Waitrose will be offering long-stemmed bunches of oriental lilies with a scented scratch and sniff label at branches all over the country.

The supermarket enlisted the help of floral fragrance expert Dr Hazel MacTavish-West and perfumer Dr John Heffernan to assess the fragrance of open lily flowers.
Each of the 100 components of the fragrance was analysed and then recreated in a bottle.

The team compared these scents with the real thing. After six attempts they believed they recreated oriental lily fragrance in a bottle. The final step was to capture the fragrance into a print varnish, which is applied to a print label. The varnish is unscented until buyers brush their finger across the label, breaking open the capsules and allowing the fragrance to escape.

Waitrose buyer Emma Coupe said: 'As the oriental lily hides its scent until its petals start to open it was the perfect guinea pig for the trial of scented labels.' A spokesman for the store added: 'This new technology on the scented labels allows customers to sniff the intense aroma before they buy.'

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Blog Post “Les Fleurs Du Mal” Thurday 23 April 2009

More on the way we live. Slinking through town, trying to avoid the many charity collectors, I saw someone from up the road leaving a florists shop. She was one of a couple who bought at the top of the market and had spent a lot of borrowed money on improvements. The front garden was turned into hard standing for the three cars, his, hers, and the big one for the dogs. At the back what did not go under the decking became a barbecue picnic area where they spend happy hours carbonising organic sausages and hand made burgers.

She had bought some flowers, probably farmed in central Africa on irrigated land owned by a company based in the Cayman Islands, purchased from a government agency funded by British development funds and staffed by former peasant tribes dispossessed by law. The flowers will have been conveyed by air freight operating on a just in time distribution system associated with a major trucking firm. As she was leaving, the florist gave the lady’s flowers a good going over with a spray can of fragrances that looked suspiciously like a male deodorant.

The florist continued to spray the outside flowers, and then went inside to give all the stock the same treatment. Not that it was needed because there were a number of air fresheners dotted about. Taking my life in my hands and putting my head through the door, I asked her about the flowers, then about the spray. It seems that despite the flowers being developed for a scent much stronger that in the past, it is not enough, and lasts but days, not weeks. The customers now want flowers that smell strong until the last leaf has withered on the stem. So she sprays them. An antibacterial is in the mix, and in the air freshener, it seems the customers don’t like the idea of bacteria on or near flowers.

The florist then started to cough, took out a packet and popped a pill, then gave her mouth and throat a good go with an inhaler. Enquiring if it was hay fever, she told me that her doctor had diagnosed asthma with a chest infection, and had been on antibiotics for over a year. Especially as she now had IBS. Eager to avoid any more medical revelations, I withdrew, muttering polite phrases. But I was anxious to be out. I had recognised the air freshener and knew its antibacterial. Not only is it a biocide, capable of taking out all the bodily bacteria in the stomach and the gut, bad, good, or critical to function, but it acts as an effective spermicide as well.

As I went past the window of the shop, I saw the big notice put up to bring in the passing trade. It said “Say It With Flowers”.

Tuesday 18 May 2010

ADHD In Children & Pesticides


It is now suggested that pesticide exposure may contribute to ADHD in children. The issues of pesticide contamination and extent have had a good deal more research than into other fields having a longer history and wide implications, notably for the effect on water supplies.

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This research was reported in the E!Science web site on Monday, May 17, 2010

A team of scientists from the University of Montreal and Harvard University have discovered that exposure to organophosphate pesticides is associated with increased risk of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children.

Published in the journal Pediatrics, the investigation found a connection between exposure pesticides and the presence of symptoms of ADHD. The study focused on 1,139 children from the general U.S. population and measured pesticide levels in their urine.

The authors conclude that exposure to organophosphate pesticides, at levels common among U.S. children, may contribute to a diagnosis of ADHD.

"Previous studies have shown that exposure to some organophosphate compounds cause hyperactivity and cognitive deficits in animals," says lead author Maryse F. Bouchard of the University of Montreal Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and the Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center.

"Our study found that exposure to organophosphates in developing children might have effects on neural systems and could contribute to ADHD behaviors, such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity."

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Is it possible to say that where pesticides go then food additives and other products, notably fragrances, follow?

Monday 17 May 2010

Getting Personal


For those with long long memories there was a film “The Las Vegas Story” with a song by Hoagy Carmichael that became a top hit of the early 1950’s. One of my memories is of hopelessly drunk squaddies laid out front of the Guard Room trying to croon “My Resistance Is Low” to an unsympathetic RSM. Happy times. But I heard it on the radio a couple of days ago and it struck a chord. As you may imagine, the squaddie’s version also differed from the original. This is a modern variation.

“My Resistance Is Low”

I spray my trunk with Stinks and my gonads both glow,
Another big big spray and my sperm count is low,
Maybe I should desist I’m so vain that I know,
But so I stink like this I give it more go.

The cans like magic, it seems to say,
Get smelly, get smelly, my body get smelly,
And somehow I go all the way.

Can’t you see that I want to stink more than you’ll ever know?
I’m olfactory with a capital “O”.
So no need for persistence or keeping your distance,
You know my sperm count is low.

The cans like magic, it seems to say,
Get smelly, get smelly, my body get smelly,
And somehow I go all the way.

Can’t you see that I want to be smelled more than you’ll ever know?
I’m olfactory with a capital “O”.
So no need for persistence or keeping your distance,
You know my sperm count is low.

So no need for persistence or keeping your distance,
You know my sperm count is low,

My gonads both glow,
My brain has gone slow,
And my sperm count is low.

Thursday 13 May 2010

Just Take One Of These


Scratching round the press for anything but politics this week there were two stories that left me startled and with that sinking feeling again that yes it is very bad and I did not want to be but it seems so obvious.

One was about children with behaviour issues who were difficult to control and were both over active and apparently over stimulated. According to the report the drug Ritalin is now being prescribed by doctors to around 750,000 children. Not long ago when a psychologist I knew quite well was asked he assured me that the drug was not given unless a number of criteria had been met.

In the past I have had too many rows with the “mind men” over cases where I suspected something else was possible only to have brain tumours diagnosed at a later stage not to be slightly worried about what appears to be mass medication of large numbers of children.

The other one was that 36.000,000, yes million, people had been prescribed on the NHS with PPI drugs, Proton Pump Inhibitors and the Daily Mail report went on the say that:

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PPIs increase the risk of pneumonia, osteoporosis, broken bones, kidney problems and infection with C.difficile, the superbug that afflicts thousands of older hospital patients every year.

The report found that while PPIs were effective in several conditions, there was evidence they are excessively used to treat indigestion when other prescription medicines costing half as much would work just as well, without such severe side-effects. There were 36million prescriptions written for PPIs in the UK last year a threefold rise since 2000.

Doctors have previously warned the NHS is spending £100million unnecessarily each year over-treating indigestion patients with PPIs around one-quarter of the total expenditure on the drugs. A report in the British Medical Journal found overuse of the drugs flouted NHS guidelines, because doctors were reaching for the 'top weapon in the armoury' to treat even mild cases of indigestion.

Dr Mitchell Katz, of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, writing in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, said overuse of PPIs was a major problem.
He said: 'That proton pump inhibitors relieve dyspepsia is without question but at what cost and I do not mean financial.'

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Pause a little and reflect on the reaction of a drill corporal to a squaddie who drops their rifle in the middle of an Adjutants Parade. You might understand my reaction.

It is quite simple, when watching things on satellite there are many advertisements. A high proportion are for chemical products and for junk food. Quite a few are for stomach problems. As the advertising is expensive the companies must sell a great many products to a great many people. This is confirmed when I visit a chemists shop and look at the long aisle of such products and see them also in supermarkets.

On the aisles of the supermarkets there are vast amounts of manufactured and pre-prepared foods. If you look at the contents there is a huge array of “fillers”, stabilisers, colourings, texture effects salt, sweetening agents and in particular both flavourings as such, largely synthetic, and flavour enhancers notably MSG. Again looking into the trolleys at the checkouts there are very few people without products including some or almost all of these.

Comparing these to the food I had when young, not only at home, but also in various catering establishments the increased chemical load is astonishing. What I do know personally is that with the increase in these so did my wind problem increase. Now that circumstances have forced us back to a pre 1950 diet the problem has almost gone and when it does occur ususally I can identify the cause, almost always eating something where I was unaware that it contained something unwanted.

So what is happening? Quite simply the way the NHS works at family doctor level is to be able to put a label onto a problem, usually a catch all word or phrase for the identifiable effects and then shove an approved prescription drug at the patient. In a few cases something quite serious may be spotted but often all too late.

What the NHS does not do is look for causes and address itself to getting rid of them. The Coeliac Society suggests that there are many more people with gluten problems than are identified. Getting a test done for gluten too often involves a major campaign. My own NHS Primary Care Trust refused to test for Anaphylaxis contracted in an NHS Hospital as a result of NHS treatment. There are a range of intolerances and allergies, testing for which is almost absent from many NHS areas. Doctor’s in the UK don’t do “causes” only pill popping for the most part.

So vast amounts of taxpayers money is going on medications without any attempt to inform or advise people or to establish what the cause might be. Children who are people in the process of highly complex development that involves the natural body chemistry are being stuffed with stimulant junk and then when they get jumpy are stuffed with medications whose side effects are unpredictable.

But popping pills and selling junk foods “add value” as opposed to other approaches and this is the governing mantra of government, science, and the management of the health service.

Monday 10 May 2010

Chemicals & Cancer - USA President's Panel Report


An authoritative report by the President's Cancer Panel, validates the concerns of independent critics who have warned about the serious health hazards posed by toxic chemicals which are blamed for the alarming rates of cancer.


The panel criticizes the government's lackadaisical regulatory approach to protecting the public from industrial pollutants, calling it "reactionary" rather than "precautionary." This prestigious panel reports directly to the President.


Three shocking facts confirmed by the report:


1.“With nearly 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, many of which are used by millions of Americans in their daily lives and are un- or understudied and largely unregulated, exposure to potential environmental carcinogens is widespread.” Only a few hundred of the chemicals have been tested for safety.


2. "300 contaminants have been detected in umbilical cord blood of newborn babies...to a disturbing extent, babies are born 'pre-polluted.'"

3. 41% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives.

The panelists--who were appointed by President George W. Bush--indicate that the purpose of the report was "to let people know that we're concerned, and that they should be concerned."

The President's Cancer Panel urges the government to take meaningful steps by legislating and enforcing regulations to rein in industry-generated health threats. Tougher laws, serious enforcement by regulatory agencies, and a radical change from the current--industry influenced--policies that presume chemicals to be safe unless strong evidence emerges to the contrary, are recommended.

Pregnant women and young children are particularly vulnerable to chemical pollutants.


Consumers are to avoid plastics containing BPA; to ingest organic food grown without pesticides, chemical fertilizers and growth hormones; to filter drinking water; and to store water in glass or stainless steel containers.


The report, therefore, lends support for legislation that will curb industry generated pollutants:

Sen. Diane Feinstein's legislation to ban bisphenol-A (BPA) which is used in plastics; and the Safe Chemicals Act proposed by Sen. Frank Lautenberg.


Vera Hassner Sharav on "New Alarm Bells Re Chemicals and Cancer" on Saturday 8 May on the web site of Alliance For Human Research Protection referred to by the One Click Group of the UK.

Saturday 8 May 2010

Are You Sitting Comfortably?


This is one of those things not normally discussed in polite company.

Quote From E! Science News of Monday 25 January 2010.

Considered a dermatological nuisance that was long gone, skin irritations caused by toilet seats appear to be making a comeback in pediatricians' offices, according to research led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center investigator Bernard Cohen, M.D.

"Toilet seat dermatitis is one of those legendary conditions described in medical textbooks and seen in underdeveloped countries, but one that younger pediatricians have not come across in their daily practice," says Cohen, director of pediatric dermatology at Hopkins Children's. "If our small analysis is any indication of what's happening, we need to make sure the condition is on every pediatrician's radar."

Analyzing five cases from the United States and India in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics, Cohen and colleagues said the culprits responsible for the reemergence of the condition are harsh cleaning chemicals and exotic wooden toilet seats — making a comeback as bathroom décor —especially seats covered with varnishes and paints.

Cohen says children can develop irritation after several uses of a wooden seat or repeated exposure to residue from harsh cleaning chemicals. He urges pediatricians to inquire about toilet seats and cleaners used both at home and at school any time they see a toddler or a young child with skin irritation around the buttocks or upper thighs.

The researchers say most cases are fairly benign and easy to treat with topical steroids, but because many pediatricians don't suspect the cause and don't treat it properly, the inflammation can persist and spread further, causing painful and itchy skin eruptions and unnecessary misery for both children and parents. Persistently irritated skin is vulnerable to bacteria and may lead to more serious infections requiring oral antibiotics. Indeed, missed and delayed diagnoses were a hallmark of every single case described in the review.

"Some of the children in our study suffered for years before the correct diagnosis was made," says lead researcher Ivan Litvinov, Ph.D., of McGill University in Montreal, and a student of Cohen's. To prevent toilet-seat dermatitis, Cohen and colleagues recommend:

Use of paper toilet seat covers in public restrooms, including hospital and school restrooms

Replacing wooden toilet seats with plastic ones

Cleaning toilet seats and bowls daily

Avoiding harsh store-brand cleaners, which often contain skin irritants like phenol or formaldehyde.

Rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide, effective and gentler on the skin, could be used instead.

Source: John Hopkins Medical Institutions

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A problem does not have to be seen in order for it to exist.

Saturday 1 May 2010

Bacteria And Antibacterials - Good And Bad


There are real issues concerning the indiscriminate and extensive use of some antibacterials in common use. The item below from articles.mercola dot com web site run by Dr. Mercola concerns itself with Triclosan, a substance that is found in many products. A parallel substance is Chlorhexidine, warning flagged by the FDA of the USA in 1999. This is known to cause Anaphylaxis and is highly dangerous at that level.

The extent of use of these inevitably will create side effects for some and the potential for more serious reactions in others. These can be difficult to diagnose and unpredictable which impacts on the nature of risk. Also, there is the issue of what happens in combination. One research project found that Chlorhexidine and Cetrimide together can lead to cirrhosis of the liver. Why are they still in common personal and other products rather than specialist uses and why is so little active research being done?
Quote

The U.S. FDA has begun a review of the safety of triclosan. Triclosan is an antibacterial chemical which is found in many consumer products, such as soap and toothpaste. Massachusetts Democrat Edward Markey has called for strict limits on the use of triclosan. "Despite the fact that this chemical is found in everything from soaps to socks," said Markey, "There are many troubling questions about triclosan's effectiveness and potentially harmful effects, especially for children."

One study showed that the chemical can alter hormone regulation. A number of other studies have demonstrated that bacteria exposed to triclosan could potentially become resistant to antibiotics.

Although the US FDA claims it “does not have sufficient safety evidence to recommend changing consumer use of products that contain triclosan at this time," there’s actually no shortage of such evidence. So even though the FDA is taking its time to investigate the matter further, you can elect to take proactive measures, right now, to protect yourself, your family, and indeed your community and the environment as a whole.

Best of all, these proactive measures are simple, more effective, and more inexpensive than continuing to use high-priced antibacterial soaps and other personal- and household products containing triclosan.

Are You Disinfecting Your Way to Poor Health?

In an ironic twist, while you’re disinfecting your body and your home to keep your family safe, you may actually be creating far more dangerous problems than those you’re trying to avoid. For starters, a child raised in an environment doused in disinfectant soaps and cleansers, who is given antibiotics that kill off all of the good and bad bacteria in his gut, and kept away from the natural dirt, germs, viruses and other grime of childhood, is not able to build up natural resistance to disease, and becomes vulnerable to illnesses later in life.

This theory, known as the hygiene hypothesis, is likely one reason why many allergies and immune-system diseases have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled in the last few decades. But it doesn’t end there.

One of the most common antibacterials is triclosan, a chlorinated phenolic compound. Triclosan has been found to have both estrogenic and androgenic activity and has been linked to hormone disruption in animals. One 2006 study found that triclosan induces changes in the thyroid hormone-mediated process of metamorphosis of the North American bullfrog, while a 2007 study demonstrated, for the first time, that triclosan decreases circulating concentrations of the thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4), in rats.

This effect could be a potential health hazard for each individual that chooses to use triclosan products, but the widespread use of triclosan is also contributing to a much bigger problem that affects everyone.

The Health Threat of Antibiotic-Resistant Disease

Triclosan, a potent wide antibacterial and antifungal agent used in a large number of everyday products such as soaps, detergents, toothpaste, deodorants and antiperspirants and other cosmetics, has been used for about 30 years. It can now even be found in clothing and children’s toys
.
Many of its defenders use this as a measure of its safety, when in fact there are clear signs that in this time-frame health problems have arisen as a result of its widespread, everyday use.

Sure, people aren’t dropping like flies when using it, so it’s not an immediate threat to your health. But there’s nothing subtle about its effects when viewed from a larger, long-term perspective, which we now have.

Antibiotic-resistant diseases, for example, have sharply increased and now pose a greater threat than modern plagues like HIV/AIDS. The widespread, excessive use of antibacterial products, in addition to the routine use of antibiotics in our food supply, is likely a significant part of the problem.

Even the more conservative American Medical Association (AMA) stated in the year 2000: “Despite their recent proliferation in consumer products, the use of antimicrobial agents such as triclosan has not been studied extensively. No data exist to support their efficacy when used in such products or any need for them, but increasing data now suggest growing acquired resistance to these commonly used antimicrobial agents. In light of these findings, there is little evidence to support the use of antimicrobials in consumer products such as topical hand lotions and soaps.”

That was literally TEN YEARS AGO, and nothing has been done to curb its commercial and personal use. If anything, it has proliferated virtually unchecked, and antibiotic-resistant disease has climbed right along with it.

More recently, in 2006, the Emerging Contaminants Workgroup of the Santa Clara Basin Watershed Management Initiative (SCBWMI), issued a white paper on triclosan, where they explain, in layman’s terms, the mechanism by which triclosan may cause resistance:

“Unlike bleach and soap that destroy and dislodge bacteria microbes, triclosan works by interfering with a specific bacterial enzyme. Non-specific antiseptics, such as alcohol, merely break open the cell and, therefore, are not the type of chemical to which bacteria could develop resistance.

On the other hand, triclosan’s mode of action is different from alcohols and peroxide. Triclosan is fat-soluble and easily penetrates the bacterial cell wall. And once inside the cell it attacks an enzyme that is used to produce fatty acids that are vital to cell function.

This mode-of-action could ultimately lead to the development of antibiotic resistance. Through continual use of triclosan, non-bacterial strains would be killed, leaving only the bacteria whose enzyme system has evolved to resist the presence of triclosan.

Some microbiologists fear that the commercial and personal overuse of triclosan could reduce the effectiveness of currently useful antibiotics. For instance, an antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis targets the same enzyme system.”

A fairly recent article published in the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science states that at as of the end of 2009, two types of drug-resistant tuberculosis have been recognized.

So-called “multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis” (MDR TB) is resistant to at least two of the four first-line drugs, and “extensively drug resistant tuberculosis” (XDR TB) is resistant to three, plus at least one of three additional second-line drugs.
Sadly, a vast majority of antibiotic-resistant diseases like these could have been prevented, as they are in large part man-made – the result of fuzzy logic and dollar signs for eyeballs.

The very idea that we must protect ourselves from any and all bacteria at every turn, by eradicating them from every orifice, inch of skin, every utensil and every surface you ever come in contact with, is fundamentally flawed.

And we’re now living with the ramifications of this misguided line of thinking, which, by the way, was not driven to these extremes by health scientists, but rather by corporate interests.

Unfortunately, over the years a majority of people have fallen for the flashy advertising promising safety and better health in a germ infested, dangerous world.

Antibacterial Products Actually LESS EFFECTIVE than Plain Soap and Water…

As the AMA stated ten years ago, there was, and still is, little or no evidence that these antibacterial products outperform the good-old-fashioned techniques like washing with soap and water.

What there is, however, is evidence that the old anti-germ strategies are more effective than modern antibacterials! In a recent press release, Dr. Sarah Janssen of the Natural Resources Defense Council is quoted as saying: "It's about time FDA has finally stated its concerns about antibacterial chemicals like triclosan. The public deserves to know that these so-called antibacterial products are no more effective in preventing infections than regular soap and water and may, in fact, be dangerous to their health in the long run."

Keeping Yourself and Your Family & Home Clean, Safely

I strongly encourage you to think about ditching all of your chemical disinfectants, including your antibacterial soaps, laundry detergents and bath and kitchen cleansers, in favor of more natural alternatives.

Remember, no study has shown that a vigorous program of home disinfection leads to a reduction of illness in a family. Yet, studies have shown that disinfectants can cause you and your family harm.

For those times when you need to do a bit of cleansing, one of the best non-toxic disinfectants is simple soap and water. You can use this for washing your hands, your body, and for other household cleansing.

The most effective hand-washing technique involves three steps:

Use warm water

Work up a good lather all the way up to your wrists for at least 10 or 15 seconds
Don't forget to get all surfaces including the backs of your hands, wrists, between your fingers and an area often overlooked, your fingernails

An all-purpose cleanser that works great for kitchen counters, cutting boards and bathrooms is 3% hydrogen peroxide and vinegar.

Simply put each liquid into a separate spray bottle, then spray the surface with one, followed by the other.

In tests run at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, pairing the two mists killed virtually all Salmonella, Shigella, and E. coli bacteria on heavily contaminated food and surfaces when used in this fashion, making this spray combination more effective at killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine bleach or any commercially available kitchen cleaner.

The best results came from using one mist right after the other -- it is 10 times more effective than using either spray by itself and more effective than mixing the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide in one sprayer.

Sunlight is another powerful disinfectant, and drying your laundry in the sun is one of the best ways to save energy and wind up with fresh, clean linens and clothing.
There’s really no need to expose your family to dangerous chemical disinfectants. As an added bonus aside from the health benefits, using this type of natural homemade cleanser is much less expensive than commercial varieties.

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There is plenty out there on the web on all this if you want to spend the time. Google Scholar has a good deal as well on a broad searching.