OK, yes, I said ‘tricksy’ and, yes, I love The Lord of the Rings (my little tribute to Gollum).
Another silly tidbit about me: Prior to beginning this post, I spent nearly 20 minutes debating whether or not to first recategorize all my old posts according to this revamp plan I’m following. As laid-back and wingin-it as I have become with four kids, that detail-oriented, and uber-organized, pre-motherhood nature still likes to poke through now and again. I decided I’d better silence that voice and get on with my ‘Week 1: Ingredients’ post for now. Will sleep on the idea of bothering to recategorize at some point or not – let alone figuring out how! 
I suppose it’s incorrect to somehow suggest that I’m not still detail-oriented. That’s the part of me that digs into labels and researches to find the hidden impacts of the choices we make – on ourselves, our neighbors all over the world, and the planet on which we all depend together. You might think that this is obsessive and unhealthy, but I actually find it quite freeing and exciting. More on that in a couple weeks, when I touch on the ‘Deeper Whys’ of green living.
For this first week of August, in our official ‘new and improved’ (hee-hee) category around ingredients, let’s talk about Triclosan. This is a very common ingredient in antibacterial hand soaps and wipes. It’s also used in toothpastes, antiperspirants, and other non-personal care items such as clothing, bedding, and more. It is an endocrine disruptor and a good example of an ingredient that is problematic both via its journey through our skin (it’s in clothing and bedding, too?! sigh…) and down our drains.
As an endocrine disruptor – meaning it messes with our hormones – there are looming concerns over triclosan’s potential toxic and carcinogenic effects on people. And it is highly toxic to marine life – aquatic systems on which I might remind you, in case you haven’t thought about grade school science for a long time (as I hadn’t until a little over a year ago), we are dependent.
Truth is, we don’t need all this antimicrobial stuff. It may be weakening our immune systems and creating super bugs (which we then can’t defeat) all at the same time. If you don’t want all the details, just know to read your labels and avoid Triclosan (and its cousin Triclocarban). If you want more information, here are a handful of good resources.
Breast Cancer Fund on Triclosan
Dr. Mercola’s recent article on Triclosan’s damaging effects to people and planet.
Triclosan’s MSDS (material safety data sheet)
For natural alternatives and defenses, check out things like essential oils and probiotics. In our home, we make our own hand sanitizer (2/3 aloe gel, 1/3 water, tea tree oil and an aromatic oil of choice – peppermint, eucalyptus, lemon, orange, whatever you prefer. How many drops of oil depends on your container size). Oregano oil is amazing for so many things. We really enjoy Miessence’s certified organic (entirely untouched by synthetic chemicals) foaming hand soap and its refill concentrate. We also really like their dish soap, which is so effective, concentrated (a little goes a long way), and contains only one synthetic ingredient – the biodegradable, corn and coco based surfactant. And of course, their probiotics (my kids prefer this one).
I’ve heard that somewhere around 80% of your immune system is in your gut. If your gut is healthy and functioning well with friendly good bacteria being fed nutritious real foods, then you’ll be able to fight off the bad bugs you come in contact with here and there.
I used to be quite the germophobe. Hand sanitizer, antibacterial soaps and wipes, the whole works. While I’m still no big fan of slimy trash cans and less-than-clean public toilets, I feel so much more comfortable with the world around me – all the bad bugs included – now that I know how the immune system works, how to keep it healthy in my own body and the bodies of my kids, and natural germ fighting methods that aren’t toxic to our bodies or the waterways. And I’d say, anecdotally and thankfully, we’ve been a lot healthier since making these changes.
Skip the Triclosan.
yuck. How do you know if this stuff is in something? I’m assuming that it would be listed as an ingredient in soap and other personal care products? I doubt it would be listed on sheets, clothes, etc? If not, how do you avoid it? I’m assuming that it would *not* be in things made with organic cotton? What about non-organic cotton, or other materials? Any ideas on what to do?
Label reading wherever possible is the first defense. It should be listed on personal care products, but you’re right, Jenny, many of the other consumer products (yes, like clothing and bedding) don’t have labeling requirements like personal care items. And it’s in SO many things (check this out http://www.ewg.org/node/26752).
Because it’s in so many products, I think the best approach is to take care of what you can, don’t stress about the rest, and make other changes as possible along the way. The first areas to start with are products that directly come into contact with our bodies or get washed down the drain most frequently. Finding triclosan-free curtains, for example (if I were buying new curtains), might be lower on my priority list.
As for clothes and bedding, it should definitely NOT be in organic cotton products. You can also look for “transitional” cotton, which is supposed to be produced organically but doesn’t yet meet requirements for official certification (3 years?), but I don’t know what kind of oversight there is on companies using that label. You’d probably have to do some additional inquiries to make sure it’s trustworthy.
http://www.kidbean.com/what-is-transitional-cotton.html
Since labeling does not appear on so many of these products, the only other option is to contact the company and ask whether they use triclosan. While you’re at it, it’s probably a good idea to ask for a complete ingredient list to check for other nasties.
ok thanks Lacey, good ideas/info…!